Dakos Salad-the Cretan Way

The delicious Cretan salad, Dakos is probably Crete’s signature dish. However, the famous salad is known by other names across the island. For instance, some refer to the salad as Koukouvagia, meaning owl whereas others have named it kouloukopsomo, meaning puppy bread!

What’s all the fuss over this salad? Well it’s a superb example of Cretan cuisine as it is simple, healthy and delicious like all other local dishes. Dakos can be part of the Greek Mezze or served as a main dish. The salad reminds everyone of the Italian bruschetta as it is based on rusks (paximadi). The rusks are soaked in olive oil in order to soften and topped with myzithra (Cretan Cheese) and fresh cubeb tomatoes. The salad is the sprinkled with oregano, salt and pepper and seasoned with Cretan olive oil!

It’s time to eat!