Our story
Our name MYRTIÁ:
the plant that inspired me
Talking to Kyria Vaso, a very good friend and fabulous cook, about our new venture, she mentioned the mirto liquor from the myrtle berries (μυρτια/myrtia) and gave me a sip to try. I loved it, the aroma and colour, and all excited I asked her where these myrtia bushes were so I could make some of my own. They were there right in front of me, right on the plot of land where we planned to open our new venture, there were the myrtle bushes, quietly waving in the afternoon breeze, being ignored. I had no idea that as we were walking around, pacing out the buildings, our legs were brushing against a local food ingredient. And so I wondered: what else exists on Ithaca that I am unaware of?
This set me off on a new quest, an exciting journey of local discovery - reading, researching, making, experimenting and gleaning as much valuable oral history from the yiayias and aunties as I could. Even our local priest sat down with me to share what he knew.
And the journey led me on beyond myrtia: to carob trees and making carob syrup (an ancient Greek ingredient, did you know we grow carob here in Ithaca?), to marinating capers and their leaves, to pickling rock samphire and grape hyacinth, and foraging for wild garlic, asparagus, wild greens and edible flowers
In fact, the yiayias have told me their hortopita should have 33 different types of local wild horta, leaves we’re crushing underfoot as we race to the top of a ridge to take a photo of the beautiful view beyond!
This “awakening” in me of the food right in front of us, ignored and unused, has taken me looking high and low. Yes, I am like a woman possessed!
And beyond the natural local ingredients, there are also traditional cooking methods and techniques to be captured, learnt, shared and passed on to the next generations. My aunt has made us a traditional tserepa (after a cousin fished an old battered one out of a neighbour’s barn) made of local white clay and goats hair. The tserepa is used like a sort of mobile wood oven for roasting dishes under its white hot lid.
The myrtle bush was the beginning of all this for us. The plant is said to symbolise passion, fertility and feminine beauty, and this passion I want to take forward into our venture, and to share with our guests. It has transformed our food project into something of a mission for us, to be custodians of Ithaca’s food story for now, nurturing and maintaining the local food culture and legacy.
We are called Myrtia as a tribute to the inspiration our beautiful island daily provides us, just sitting there under our feet. Myrtia is inspired by Ithaca, all of it.
Poppy Pagoulatos
