Four noodles of Chios

The island of Chios is known for many local foods, which, as it is commonly known, are partially adopted from both the Greek and the Middle East cuisines, as for hundreds of years those two regions were one country sharing the same culture.
But what else Chios has are well known dishes prepared in a special, regional way. And so, pasta, a staple Italian food, is made by Chians in a very distinct manner (or at least it is believed so).

The historians specialised in food often emphasise the very strong connection the Chios island has with the Italian cuisine. To find out the reason, not surprisingly, one needs to immerse in the history.

As an isle situated on the one of the most commonly attended trade routes of the medieval Europe, it would have many Genoese merchants coming and going for hundreds of years; the Genoese would be trading goods, inter alia their very best pasta, which was carried by them mainly as their provisions of food. Thanks to the merchants, nowadays Chios can take pride in four various types of pasta, which, even though originated in Genoa, have not been preserved in any other place but the island of Chios. 

Koulouridia are short, flat noodles, which are often compared with the Italian tagliatelle as they seem quite similar. The dough is made only from flour and water, so that it is soft, delicate, and light. The pasta is rare to get in the taverns of the cities, nevertheless a desperate foodie can find it easily in small villages hidden in the mountainous interior of the island. 

Traganas is a kind of noodle shaped in the mincer so it gains rolled-oats-shape. The dough, however, contains not only flour and water, but also goat milk, yogurt, and salt. It gets cooked faster, as its pieces are tiny. 

Skouloukaki, by Italians known as vermicelli, are extremely thin, circa two-centimetres-long pieces of pasta. They are often used for soups, so that it makes them more filling as served on one-course dinners.

But if you want to try skouloukaki you need to remember that sometimes it can appear under the name of fides. Nowadays, the name is rarely used, and if, it is so only among the elderly. As, again, food historians' theories assume, the origin both of the pasta and its name has to be sought in Italy; in the 13th century's Genoa, the cooks would be preparing pasta called fidej or fideus for the sailors and merchants who used to put it into barrels, so that they could take it easily for their long voyages to the East.

Nowadays, as the Ligurian pasta called fidelini is considered to be related to the Genoese fidej, it is also a very close relative of the Chian skouloukaki. 

The last noodle to be presented is cherisia makaronia, meaning in Greek a 'homemade pasta'. Made of wholemeal flour, water, and olive oil, it is shaped in small rolls reminiscent of Italian bucatini. The process of its shaping requires not only much practice, but also a special technique, which today unfortunately gets more and more abandoned. 

That's, however, not the only reason to try cherisia makaronia and the other local noodles as soon as such opportunity appears; there is something more about their taste... a dash of the wind in the Genoese sails, a drop of history, and finally, a bit of love added by the old women kneading the dough according to the family recipe passed down from generation to generation.

Joanna Broniewska 

The article is based on the information found in the book Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table by Christopher Bakken.