In Cretan village life, as in all our lives, food plays a major role. Karen Olsen’s Island Almanac (Mystis 2022) is replete with scenes of feasting. This companion volume, Seasons: Cooking through the Cretan Year, offers the reader a chance to explore the tasty dishes celebrated there—roast lamb, fisherman’s soup (kakavia), rakomelo liqueur, and many others—plus tips on curing olives, freezing herbs, and preserving lemons. With many illustrations and a lively text, Olsen invites us to “mix a little love of adventure with the recipes on a page—that is the way that miracles are performed.
