Olives & Olive Oil

The island of Crete is covered with olive trees. Virtually every family has at least some trees. The olive harvest season occurs in November and December, and every single member of the family helps with the harvest. Most villages have an olive pressing factory. Some villages even have very old presses with huge stone wheels that have been preserved for cultural value. Today's olive press factories are modern, but it is still possible to stop into one during the season to see the liquid gold being produced.
Olive oil is used in copious amounts for cooking and in salads, although most restaurants use sunflower or similar oil for cooking fried foods like french fried potatoes.
Olives themselves are commonly served as mezes with raki. They are an ingredient in many salads, and an olive paste is often served with bread.
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Honey & Yogurt
There are also bee hives all over Crete, and many families make their own pure honey. Yogurt, much thicker and creamier than commercial yogurt in the Unites States, is often served as dessert with honey drizzled on it.
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Cheese
Feta cheese is a Greek product protected by a protected designation of origin in the EU. To qualify to be sold as true feta in the EU, the cheese must be made in a certain manner in a certain area (parts of mainland Greece and the island of Lesvos). However, it is produced and used extensively in Crete as it is elsewhere in Greece. It is served on salads, in particular the ubiquitous Greek salad. It is an ingredient in cheese pies and spinach pies, called "spanakopita." It is also and ingredient in the traditional Cretan "dakos," a hard bread rusk, soaked with olive oil and topped with crumbled feta, chopped tomatoes and olives. It is also served in bite sized portions drizzled with a bit of olive oil and served as one or more mezes (appetizers), usually servied with raki or tsikoudia.
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You will also find a very good variety of delicious locally produced Cretan cheeses, such as:

Graviera: (Greek: Γραβιέρα) The standard hard cheese; there are many types and tastes. Taste before buying, as early cheese (cut before mature) will have a spicy taste, when a mature one will be salty and milk-sweet.

Myzitra: (Greek: Μυζίθρα) A fresh cheese made of ewe's milk. It is sometimes made of goat's milk (in which case it is called "katsikisia") or mixed milk. A good goat's one will taste like these expensive French "chèvre frais".

Anthotiros: (Greek: Ανθότυρος) from the words "anthos" (flower) and "tiros" (cheese) it is a very mild, soft spring cheese made when the sheep pastures are still full of flowers. The closest popular cheese is the Italian mascarpone as they are both high in fat and are both creamy in texture (unlike mozzarella which is high in protein and chewy in texture).
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Meat
Snails cooked in various ways (one of the most traditional dishes of Crete), Smoked ham (apaki) and smoked sausages (loukaniko), traditional mountain goat or lamb cooked in various ways, cretan pilaf (chicken and lamb risotto served with goat's butter), souvlaki (pork meat, lamb, chicken or fish on skewers).

Side dishes

Dips and sauces

Salads and Vegetables:
Dakos (Greek: Ντάκος - Cretan rusk with tomato, feta cheese, olives, oregano and olive oil), Horta vrasta (boiled greens with olive oil and lemon juice). Xoriatiki Known as the Greek Salad, Sheperd's Salad Salad with a east style twist, Salata Marouli Romaine Lettuce Salad, and Lahano Salata A traditionally tart cabbage salad are other types of Cretan salads.
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Soups:
Kotosoupa A chicken based soup with a lemon sauce Fakkes Tomato soup in a lintel base Fasolatha A hearty been soup in a tomato base Nisiotiki A hearty seafood soup.
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