For centuries Europeans and Americans have been using animal fat for cooking, mainly butter and pork fat.  Cretans have never known these fats and have exclusively used olive oil in their kitchens.  When Robert Pashley, an English traveler came to Crete in the first half of the 19th century, he was astonished at the consumption of olive oil:  "I am told here, as in every other place where I have made enquiries, respecting the consumption of oil by each Cretan family, that it may be estimated at 4 oaks (a little over 5 kilograms) a week at least.  A mother will hardly give bread to her children without pouring them out some oil into a dish, that they may moisten the staff of life, and render it more savory, before eating it.  Oil is used on all kinds of vegetables, as well as in preparing every sort of meat and fish.  In short, it enters into every dish in Crete, and though all Greeks use a good deal of it, there is a much greater general consumption of it in this island than elsewhere."

The deeply rooted and continuous relation of Cretans with olive oil goes far back in Antiquity.  For centuries, olive oil has been curing both body and soul.  It is an indispensable element of the daily diet.  Oil is generously poured on all casserole food, on boiled food, roasts, and fried food and even in the delicious sweetmeats and pastries.  Raw, it is used for salad dressings and bread and rusks are often soaked in its delicious and lovely glossiness.