Eating out in Zakynthos…. yummy!

In Zakynthos you can find many eclectic tastes ranging from local cuisine stemming from the heart of the Mediterranean to the other sides of the globe like Indian or Mexican.

The choices are many all around the island with restaurants serving specific cuisines or even restaurants, where you can taste whatever you wish. The Local and Greek cuisines are the most abundant in terms of establishments and why shouldn’t they be, it would be shame to visit Greece and most particularly Zakynthos without tasting the dishes that were born in our grandmas kitchens and now are served with the freshest of ingredients right on your table.

One of those dishes would be Rabbit Stifado, a Local Dish and a truly traditional Zakynthian Recipe.

A sample of the ingredients include: Rabbit, onions, tomato sauce, garlic and lets not forget one of the finest local products, the olive oil and the local cheese (called “ladotyri”). The original marinate used by mothers throughout time consisted only of Vinegar and Salt. They left the rabbit in it to soak through the night. In most restaurants you will find a slightly modernized version that includes local red wine and many spices, which make the whole dish a little bit more “flavoury”. In most cases the dish will be accompanied by Spaghetti mixed it with the marinate sauce that the rabbit is cooked in, but you can also get it served with french fries.

Another Local dish you shouldn’t miss is Ragout. At first, “Ragu” in French, was boiled vegetables in a pot when later the hand history to put the pasta loving Italians into the mix. Taking advantage of this way of cooking vegetables, they decided to make sauces from vegetables and meat, mainly for their pasta. So Ragout are meat or vegetable sauce simmering in the pot for several hours. In Italy, it was natural to combine perfectly with any kind of pasta and to obtain different variations and names, such as the well-known Bolognese and Napoliten.

Zakynthos, influenced throughout its history by Italy and the Venician occupation of the island, it could not ignore the influence on such culinary delights, combining them always with the Mediterranean cuisine and the Greek element. Thus the Zakynthian variant of ragout is a plate of pasta and tomato sauce with large pieces of beef or pork, in combination with herbs and vegetables simmered together for hours in a large saucepan.

Other than those fine local tastes you can try any and all cuisines on the several establishments you can find on Virtualzakynthos.gr.