Foodies or not, the local cuisine and delicacies in Corfu are something that you should not miss tasting. Most of the dishes, sweets, pastries, fruits, and drinks listed here can easily be found all over the island. In restaurants, at pastry shops, in shops selling local products… Some, though, like Tzaletia, Kolopimpiri, and Bourou-Bourou, are only cooked at home and not that often anymore. Others are seasonal but still…
Wandering around the island, you will easily see that Corfu’s local cuisine is a distinctive mixture of the Mediterranean diet. Orchards, vineyards, fishing boats, and flocks of sheep and goats are all evidence of the locals’ agricultural habits. Salads, vegetables, fish, a little meat, cheese, virgin olive oil, and plenty of fruit are part of the daily dinner.
Bearing the influence of Italy, the Balkans, and England, and based on the traditional ancient Greek cuisine, the Corfiots cook masterpieces. They are particularly fond of red pepper (paprika), garlic, onions, and parsley. Typical dishes include bourdeto (fish in paprika sauce), Bianco (fish in garlic sauce), Pastitsada (beef in red sauce with spaghetti), Stakofisi (cod with onions), cuttlefish with pasta, vegetables in red paprika sauce, and sofrito.
Food in Corfu is accompanied by exquisite wine, especially “Kakotrygis” wine, known since the time of Thucydides. Local desserts are not as easy to find as they are nowadays; they are rare delicacies made by local, experienced specialists.
This is our list of “Must Taste” while on the island:
Mandolato
Glucose, honey, sugar, meringue, rosewater, and brown almonds. Mandolato, Mandoles, and kumquat are the trademarks of Corfu Island.
Tsitsibira
A traditional Corfiot drink, free of preservatives… It is made from fresh lemon juice, sugar, and pepper roots imported from India or China. Very similar taste to ginger beer.
Noumboulo
Made from a fillet of pork marinated in wine and spices and smoked for 30 days.
Salami
Made from pork meat and fat cut into cubes with garlic and spices, wrapped in animal intestines, and smoked. Left hanging to mature for 30-40 days.
Freskamenta (pavlosika or fragosika)
Sweet, aromatic, tasty fruit from the cactus plant (prickly pears) is very popular with the Corfiots. Best to eat chilled from the fridge.
Tzintzoles or tzitzifa
Small, tasty, deep red fruits with a pip. Best to eat fresh. But the locals, as inventive as always, also leave them to dry in the sun or boil them in must, or bake them in the oven. The results of the last three ways can be preserved in preserving jars for up to a year.
Fogatsa
Typical Corfiot Easter cake.
Loukoumades
Usually made on the name days of Corfiots and, of course, the Eve of Saint Spiridon day.
Sikomaida
Made from chopped figs left to dry in the sun, hand-kneaded with almonds, must, orange peel, nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon, fennel, and ouzo. It is then wrapped in fig leaves and left to dry for days to weeks. Served cut into pieces to accompany a Corfiot’s afternoon coffee.
Tzaletia
A kind of doughnut made from cornflour and water with raisins, hand-kneaded and fried. Served dusted with sugar.
Bourou-Bourou
Spaghetti is broken into short lengths with tomato sauce, onion, olive oil, chopped potatoes, and lots of red pepper.
Kolopimpiri
Boil well-drained spaghetti with fresh olive oil and lots of black pepper.
Savouro
Fried fish, usually sardines or whitebait, with a sauce made from rosemary, vinegar, garlic, and raisins.
Stakofissi
The delicious specialty of sun-dried cod. Which is soaked in water for several days. Then they cook it in a white sauce with pepper, spices, fresh, finely chopped garlic, salt, chopped potatoes, water, and olive oil. It is the traditional dish for Palm Sunday.