marina's blog

I dare you to walk past Kostas' bakery at No 18 Eleftheriou Venizelou Street in Zakynthos town and manage not to give in to your sense of smell. Kostas' approach to baking is similar to that of an artist creating a rich tapestry of colour and sensations. He says, "bakery is the art that sweetens the sour moments of our life". Kostas is very mindful of his work being close to nature since all the ingredients he uses come from natural sources. He likens the poiesis of baking to that of a lover and the journey through the senses (smell, taste, touch, seeing and hearing). If you think Kostas' poetic language is just hot air wait till you experience some of his scrumptious creations. We visited Kostas' bakery 'To Paradosiako' (translating into 'Traditional') and asked him to show us a traditional Zakynthian recipe.

...who was 8 years old during the great earthquake of 1953. He clearly remembers the sound of the church bells been shaken by the troubled earth. At the time of the earthquake he was at the family 'ktima' (land) helping his parents with the usual farming chores.  Luckily only one wall of the family house came down during the shake, but Kyr-Andreas knew of many families that lost loved ones and their property  not only to the great earthquake but also to the uncontrollable fires that followed. Days later, when the whole island was flattened to a rumble the Air Forces delivered food supplies during a rescue operation. Kyr-Andreas talked about parcels of food (including bread and Dutch cheese) as well as crates of water 'parachuted' from the sky to the islanders...