EUBOEA, the largest island in Greece after Crete, is considered to be a mini-paradise for connoisseurs of food. Thanks to its rich fisheries, livestock farming and agricultural production, your dinner plate can be graced with the freshest of local dishes. The prefecture of Euboea is a blessed land that enjoys a variety of unique goods, a strong cultural identity and age-old culinary traditions. The cuisine of Euboea is rich, but also famed for its simplicity, diversity, strong flavors and fresh ingredients. Among the regional dishes are meats deliciously combined with vegetables and with recipes, handed down through the generations, made from: • Meat: Lamb in country-style dishes, kontosouvli, exochiko, or with local sausages, gardoumba, kokoretsi, bekri meze, lamb with pasta, kokoras krasatos • Seafood: astakomakaronada, psaromeze, fried shrimp, octopus in wine sauce, seafood spaghetti • Pasta: Kourkoubines or goglies, trahana • Spicy appetizers, pita with wild greens, tiropitaria, local cheeses • The regional sweets are delightful “soutzouki” and traditional, Kimi-style baklava, local pasteli, handmade spoon sweet, fresh and dried figs smoked in aromatic steam, almonds and more. • Local wine

Famous for its products and recipes. Visitors come, from all Greece, and enjoy their excursion in the area by visiting the beautiful taverns that offer local dishes. The quality of the local meat, as well as, many meat recipes, are very well-known. • Meat: in the grill or in the spit, kokoretsi, gardoubakia, sausages, kontosouvli and cutlets (paidakia), are only some from the dishes that, those who know the Viotia cooking, prefer. In a lot of restaurants, cooked dishes are also offered such as lamp “frikase”', rabbit “stifado”, “kokotakia”, “coq au vin”, goat boiled and lamp "kleftiko». • Gourmets prefer also the local pies. The women of Viotia prepare the pastry and make herb pies, cheese pies, fried pies (tiganopsoma), frumenty pies. • Many areas of Viotia are famous for the cheeses such as the cheese “formaela” from Arahova that is produced exclusively there and it is a product of quality. The cheeses “sahanotiri” and “opsimotiri” are local cheeses produced in all areas of the Prefecture. The cheese “opsimotiri” is prepared by sheep's yoghurt (yoghurt of three days), which is mixed with salt and is left to ferment for three days. • Moreover, In Viotia you will find, the exceptional olive oil (if you are lucky, you will also find the green olive oil), • The local wine: The wines from the vineyards of Askri are also exceptional. • The “raki” (in Distomo you will find the most famous “raki”). • The evenings in the winter, you will enjoy eating bean soups, soups of vegetables, frumenty and noodles, • While in the summertime you have to taste the fresh fishes from the Corinthian gulf. The ingredients used to the recipes of Viotia, are produced from local cottages or biological cultivations. • Viotia produces olive oil, horticultural products and cereals. • and tomatoes dominate in the plain of Thespies. • The honey is exceptional because of the particular technique of apiarists of Viotia.

Famous for its • Cheese, as there are many cheese factories in the area which, in addition to feta, also make other dairy products such as milk, other types of cheese, psomotiri which is strained yogurt with flower milk and feta, yogurt. Cheese factories can be found in Vounihora, Pendeoria, Amfissa, as well as in the mountains of the prefecture of Fokida.

Here is a list of some appetizers, main dishes and desserts of the Mountain of Centaurs: • Tsitsiravla are the young sprouts of wild pistachio trees collected in April and pickled with vinegar and a touch of garlic. One of the best meze dishes for tsipouro that you will certainly want to take back home. Thankfully, deli stores in Volos sell home prepared tsitsiravla. Warning! They never taste as good as they do in Pelion! • A deep orange cheese spread known as “kopanisti Volou” will brighten up your table and your dining experience. Served best at Mezen the innovative tsipouro restaurant in the city of Volos. • Kolitsianoi is a sea flower (sea anemone) that is battered, deep fried, and served as meze only in the hard core authentic tsipouro restaurants. • Boubari is a locally made spiral looking sausage baked in the oven and served with potatoes. The sausage is filled with rice and beef meat including the heart and lungs. Enjoy it at the village of Agios Georgios! • Spetzofai’s flavor lies in the sweetness of the home-grown tomatoes simmered in extra virgin Pelion olive oil, the spiciness of the local sausage, and the aroma of the Volos’ green peppers. At Climax in Xinovrisi they serve it just right and the view to the Aegean Sea is unforgettable. • “Spoon sweets”! Try the Pelion small apple called “firiki” and pair it with a cup of Greek coffee at the plateia of Makrinitsa overlooking the city of Volos. • The queen of desserts, tall, elegant, and celebratory, blonde baklava is a wedding sweet. If you’re lucky, tavern owners sometimes serve it as a treat at the end of the meal. With almonds instead of walnuts and dozens of super thin homemade phyllos, these small diamond-shaped “skyscrapers” crowned with cloves. • Go to the festival (Cherry Festival in Stagiates (July) - Pear Festival in Milies (Aug) - Apple Festival in Zagora (Sept)- Chestnut Festival in Xourichti (Oct)