Ikaria | Meni Valle
Ikaria: Food and Life in the Blue Zone
By Meni Valle
Intro: Welcome to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors.
Meni Valle: Hi I'm Meni Valle and my latest cookbook is Ikaria: Food and Life in the Blue Zone.
Suzy Chase: What if there was a place, an idyllic island where residents don't go to gyms, don't take pills or adhere to fad diets, and yet they live longer and have a quality of life many of us could only envy. This amazing place is in the Aegean Sea and it's called Ikaria, a beautiful Greek Island named after Icarus, a mythological figure who fell into the surrounding sea when his wax wings melted in the sun. I first learned of Ikaria from you and this gorgeous cookbook. When did you first learn of Ikaria?
Meni Valle: For me it would have been about five or six years ago, and I was just doing some research into the Mediterranean diet, which I'm very, very interested in. I'm coming from a big Greek background as well. And I just stumbled across some work and interviews and things about Ikaria and the blue zones and I delved more into that because it was just fascinating. I wanted to learn more about the food and what it was about their eating that was helping with their longevity but even when I found out about the food and learned more about the food, there was so much more I learned about the joy of Ikaria.
Suzy Chase: So it's been said that this Island is the most shining example of all the blue zones. What exactly is a Blue Zone?
Meni Valle: The Blue Zones are places in the world that have been identified where people are living a very long life, either free or very little chronic disease. They're living a long life, you know, many residents over 80, 90, over 100 but leaving a really healthy life. So there are five places in the world that have been identified they are, they are Ikaria, obviously from Greece, Sardinia, Okinawa, Costa Rica at Loma Linda in California. And even though these are all very culturally diverse, they do have common threads and their common threads are things like the plant-based diet exercising, naturally in that I mean, walking to work or working in their gardens and walking most places actually and the most important one I find was that really strong sense of community, which they all seem to have.
Suzy Chase: The inhabitants of the small Greek Island live on an average 10 years longer than the rest of Western Europe. Can you talk a little bit about speaking with the locals and how they cook and eat and what were some takeaways for you?
Meni Valle: I've spent quite a bit of time in Ikaria. My first visit was in 2017 and I've been going back every year, except for this year, of course. And I've gotten to know quite a few of the locals that have almost become family and there was a woman that lived about two doors down from where I normally would stay. Her name is Monica and she's 90 and I remember the last time we sat down and had coffee with her when I was there last September. And I did say, you know, Monica, tell me about your day. What is it about your life here? She said, I get up in the morning the first thing I do is guide into my garden, I look after my plans, I talk to my flowers, water, the garden, do everything I need to do. Then it's breakfast, which is normally something simple, like some herbal tea, a bit of toast with their beautiful Ikarian honey, their local honey, which is also been quite well known for their medicinal purposes too and their health benefits. And then she said I'll go out to the garden, do my work again out there, look after the house. And then I start on my lunch and start cooking and they have their main meal of the day around 2pm and that would always be so lots of vegetables, maybe a little bit of meat, maybe a little bit of fish, but mainly plant based veggie dishes or bean dishes, lots of salads. And then in the afternoon, so rest and they do take the time. This is the thing they talk about a lot is make sure you take the time needed to rest, do not rush through your day. If you need to rest, you take that time so they always rest in the afternoon in the evening, she said it's a light dinner could be just a bit of yogurt or fruit, but the other thing she said in the evenings if we say we might go for a walk, if someone has their light on in their house we'll stop and say hello and walk in and have a bit of a chat sit with some friends, have a glass of wine, maybe have a chat so they've got this slow pace life. And those are the things that I've come away with this slow pace. They're always with other people too you don't find them, that thing was really interesting, you don't find people that are on their own very much or lonely as we have in our modern world. They don't have any old people's homes, for example, it would be shameful for them to put their old people in a home. Everyone sort of lives together. They look after each other, the older people, the grandparents and the older people that the ones with the wisdom and the ones they do look to quite a lot for everything. So I think for me, I took away the slow pace, that sense of community that looking after each other, they do actually have a genuine care for the people in their village and everyone on the island.
Suzy Chase: I'm curious about two things you just brought up the local herbal tea and the honey. Um, can you talk a little bit about Liza, the beekeeper, after you talk about the local herbal tea?
Meni Valle: So when I was in Nas which is the place, I normally will stay with Thea and Illia, they did say to me, you must go visit Liza she's the beekeeper not far from Nas and she has got a beautiful honey farm. So we did, we went up and knocked on her door basically and opened with open arms. And with very little notice she was very happy to show us around and we sat and tasted some of her honey bread. One of the most exciting experiences there, quite a highlight, was when she took us out to the bees and smoked the bees and she actually put her hand inside and removed some in her hand. And when she was holding them, I did ask her what does that feel like? And she said it actually feels like holding soft cotton. She was very passionate about her bees. She talked about them like they were her family. She's very knowledgeable in beekeeping and her honey. And she talked about the different honeys that they've got there and the different varieties. The thyme honey, I think was my favorite. They've got a lot of seasonal honeys as well, but all delicious in their own way. And she said, you know, a teaspoon of honey every day, that's her little secret, I suppose that as you will live to a hundred, but they were beautiful. And she was an incredible, incredible, passionate woman about her honey, and like I said, she treated her bees like family.
Suzy Chase: I would love to hear about how you gathered the recipes for this cookbook.
Meni Valle: I've been to Ikaria now three times. So while I was there, I was cooking in the inn many times, I'd go in and just peek in the morning and see what she was doing and we would go forging, we would go to farms. And I've got to know quite a few of the locals there. And we always would sit and talk about food over a coffee or a piece of cake. And they're all very generous and talked about what they make and how they eat. And it would always invite me to their home, please come and have lunch and we would I'd go and we'd sit and we'd talk. And many times we'd cook together. So over the last four years, probably I've been sort of collecting those recipes, but also seeing how they did things and put those recipes together. It has been quite interesting and also I just love the way the story is behind the recipes as well when they talk about the food they make and why they do certain things. Beans, for example, are a big part of their diet, whether it's black-eyed beans or chickpeas, that kind of thing. They do have them a lot. And there was one lady who was saying to me, when we have our beans, we always serve with pickles on the side. And I said oh yeah is there a particular reason for that apart from they taste good together. So when we serve our bean dishes, whether it's a salad or a stew casserole, we always serve some pickles on the side, whether it's a pickled zucchini or a mushroom or whatever that might be or cabbage or whatever. And that is because apart from the fact that they taste good together, they actually need helps them with their digestion of the beans. So that was interesting to hear too, because obviously all the recipes in the book everything's meant to go together, it's about sharing a big sharing table. So, you know, it's about picking recipes out of the book that you like and putting them on a big table and just sharing it. And the pickles go with the bean dishes. A lot of the sides like the tzatziki or calamari or other sides there will go really well with the vegetable dishes like fried zucchini, tzatziki. So it would be just a dish in front of you that you would eat individually. You would share a lot of these dishes. So I love the way they do that too. And the different breads they make and the way they make their phyllo which is different from the way my mother used to make it because when mum came from Northern Greece and she made her phyllo like quite different to the ladies, what they do in Ikaria and I find that really interesting as well, because even though most people wouldn't know of a phyllo pie and a spanakopita which is quite well known but every place in Greece makes it their own unique way, they have their own techniques and I find that interesting. I love learning about that and listening to the stories that are behind those dishes.
Suzy Chase: What are a few things you can always find on the Ikarian table.?
Meni Valle: You will always find on the Ikarian table bowls of salads, fresh bread, beautiful fresh local cheese, which they make their goats cheese. You would always find some of their local wine. There's always, the bean dishes, the salads, like I said, the vegetable dishes the cheeses, pickles, olives, and they have local olive oil as well. Very healthy kind of food obviously, and everything is designed to be eaten together on the big sharing table.
Suzy Chase: The other day, I made your recipe for Collard Greens with Potatoes on page 69. Can you describe this recipe? And can you say it in Greek for me because I'm not even going to try.
Meni Valle: Okay. The Prasino Kolaro Me Patates that's just a very rustic dish not only simple, but really, really healthy, nutritious it's collard greens potatoes and it's a stew and if you don't have a particular ingredient you can use other ingredients as well. I love this. Simply served with some olives and cheese and some fresh bread it is a meal on its own, or you can have it as a side if you want, you know, with a bit of grilled fish, some meat, but on its own it's just delightful. It's just simple, and I was saying a little while ago to someone they're really, really simple dishes. And they said, well, there's complexity in simplicity. So it might be simple, but it's very, very good as well. So using the best seasonal ingredients you can get when they taste the best of course, that's, I think, the key to any of these dishes in the book.
Suzy Chase: So I wanted to ask one more question about the people. They're so sharp and they're living such long healthy lives. Do you think there's a genetic component to this mystery? Or do you think it's just all lifestyle?
Meni Valle: I'm not sure about the genetic component to be quite honest, Suzy, I think really it is lifestyle. I really do. Ikaria is a textbook example of a Mediterranean diet, but in a holistic sense, it's the food they eat, not just what they eat, how they eat it. And by that, I mean, by sitting down at the table and sharing that food with family and friends, that strong sense of connection of community and sense of purpose and having people around, I think those are the things that contribute to their longevity. They did talk about technology and, just said, yes, you know, we have mobile phones here of course its internet just like everybody else you know, we have all that, but we use it in a different way. We're not obsessed. And our teenagers aren't glued to their mobile phone devices, or they spend a lot of time outside whether it's gardening or just outdoor activities. I really believe it's their lifestyle, their philosophy of life. They also are very famous for their Panigiri which is a festival and they have these quite often from about March to about October, and everyone in the island, or most people in the island will gather in a village and they'll have roasted goat wrapped in paper. They come to the table, you have your salads, you have your local wine they drink, they have a band, everyone's dancing from about 9:00 PM till about 9:00 AM the next morning singing and they have a lovely time. But the main thing about these Panigiri's and the thing that really struck at the most apart from having a fantastic night and a lot of fun and energy out there is that all the money raised in these festivals goes to a common cause on the Island. So if any family might need some medical help or to get to the mainland or a school might need some repairing or some roads need repairing all the money goes to that cause. So again, it's that sense of community and it's illustrated every single day that I saw there, I saw people helping each other. And I remember something that Monica had said to me, the 90 year old lady, she said Meni you need to be where your heart is full. And that really was something I think about quite a lot. And she was an amazing person and full of energy at her age and she always would say to me, don't ever stop smiling and be where your heart is full. And I think that kind of says it all about Ikaria, that slow pace, that community, that eating fresh, seasonal food, the joy they find in the little simple things in life. That's what it's all about. So that's their magic and their soul.
Suzy Chase: Now to my segment called Last Night's Dinner, where I ask you what you had last night for dinner.
Meni Valle: Last night's dinner was a simple Greek salad. I had some beautiful tomatoes that I had bought from the market. So it was just tomatoes, cucumber. I had some lovely feta cheese that I put in and I just had some fresh bread I had bought yesterday morning from a bakery that I love, and it was a very, very simple dinner last night, just a Greek salad. So it's my go-to.
Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media.
Meni Valle: My website is many menivalle.com.au, and you can find me on Instagram @Meni.Valle. You can find me there.
Suzy Chase: You need to be where your heart is full definitely sums it up. Thank you so much Meni for coming on Cookery by the Book Podcast.
Meni Valle: Thank you so much. Lovely chatting with you, Suzy.
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