The Lost Islands

Think you’ll all know the way it goes as soon as the top of November is imminent – Christmas is coming and planning wants to start out. For me, it’s the freezer to get the primary survey. All these leftovers stashed away again in the summertime make their second look. That is, in fact, aside from the UFOs – Unidentified Frozen Objects. How come you all the time assume you’ll bear in mind what that little scoop of brown/beige/purple foodstuff is? So very sure of its identification, that you could’t see the purpose of placing a label on it… Admittedly, even when defrosted, some objects are even much less recognisable and are consigned to the bin – the place they in all probability ought to have been to start out with! But a minimum of now, there’s a great deal of house for the Christmas stuff and, finally, for the following spherical of leftovers. It’s a particular lifecycle.

Then it’s the flip of the shop cabinet. Amalgamating all these ends of packs of pasta and rice into single baggage, is so satisfying. It’s good to search out out that you just undoubtedly WON’T want anymore farfalle/penne/ fusilli till a minimum of the top of subsequent 12 months !

So having performed all this I’m at the moment feeling very virtuous, that was till tackling the shop of pulses, made me fairly unhappy.

Pulses are the spine of Greek house cooking. At least as soon as every week a dish of lentil or bean soup shall be on the menu – in any case fatal is usually referred to as the Greek nationwide dish. The Greeks don’t make hummus clearly however Duva (puréed yellow peas) is a agency favorite and very easy to cook dinner. Black-eyed beans make a unbelievable salad, and slow-cooked chickpeas are an absolute delicacy on the island of Sifnos. It was discovering a bag of chickpeas in my stash of pulses that made me a bit tearful They had been from certainly one of my favorite London outlets, ‘Isle of Olive’simply off Broadway Market in Haggerston.

Paulina and Gregoris opened up this gem of a store again in 2011 however I didn’t come throughout them till a few years later. And what a fully pleasant discovery it was. Their remit was to convey genuine, well-sourced Greek merchandise to the English market. They had a ardour for Greece’s distinctive gastronomy and needed to convey to the UK market the substances and flavours that folks sampled on their holidays, however struggled to search out right here. For me this place has been an absolute life-saver. No longer did I’ve to fill my suitcase with Duva and hilly after a visit to Greece. At this ‘island’ in East London you possibly can discover a few of the finest Greek produce out there anyplace. They launched me to some fantastic makers – Ergonand Daphnis and Chloe spring to thoughts. About a decade in the past,they had been a part of the combination of companies and cooks in London who knew the time to shout loud about Greek delicacies had arrived.

As I mentioned after I reviewed ‘Isle of Olive’ again in 2015,

‘The owners, Paulina and Gregoris have obsessed about quality in their shop and it shows – this is a Greek deli that would sit comfortably in the smart parts of Athens or Thessaloniki.’

Last Saturday ‘Isle Of Olive’ closed for good.

They have mentioned that there have been numerous causes that drove them to this choice, however the principle one was Brexit. The difficulties for small meals importers have change into too onerous and complicated. After all, should you needed to spend your life coping with mountains of paperwork, I assume you wouldn’t open a deli.

Their imaginative and prescient had all the time been ‘to work directly with small artisan producers and source unique products from every corner of Greece’. Over on that facet, these small producers simply don’t have the arrange and wherewithal to undergo all of the convoluted paperwork to export their produce outdoors the EU.

So somewhat than compromise and rely on the extra ubiquitous large wholesale importers, Pauline and Greg have determined to maneuver on. There shall be lots of people who’re simply as unhappy about their choice as I’m.

Obviously, this Brexit ‘benefit’ doesn’t simply apply to ‘Isle of Olive’. The new import/export rules apply to all meals companies. For the smaller ones, the obstacles are more and more proving to be simply an excessive amount of and they’re dropping out. The similar points are affecting florists and nurseries too. I can’t assist however really feel that that is making our lives poorer.

I can already hear individuals muttering that it is a ‘first world’ downside and that ‘Isle of Olive’ gained’t be the one enterprise taking place within the midst of a value of dwelling disaster… and that there are larger and worse issues taking place …Sure.

But loosing this pretty deli appears to me emblematic of our occasions. Starting up an unbiased enterprise like this takes plenty of guts and a selected ardour. You have to have a imaginative and prescient and perception that you could supply one thing totally different. These ventures convey us slightly little bit of happiness, and a way of neighborhood that you just don’t get from shopping for on-line or from an enormous grocery store. Being in a position to style one thing made in some distant Greek village makes a connection – a hyperlink – that’s actually rewarding and joyful. All of the method, from the efforts of the maker, to the endeavour of individuals like Paulina and Greg to supply it and convey it to their prospects in UK, is a fantastic factor. These are the companies that convey us variety and individualism and, let’s face it, boost our lives. Surely, it’s these small, accessible pleasures which are treasured and needs to be cherished extra.

Back in 2015 I signed off the overview by elevating a digital glass to ‘Isle of Olive’ and I do the identical now.

‘Grávo Paidia !’ Well performed!’ Thank you for bringing these superb Aegean flavours to London and I ship my finest needs for the longer term.

So I’ve one final bag of ‘Isle of Olive’ chickpeas to cook dinner – in all probability at Christmas. With the worth of vitality in the mean time, Sifnian slow-cooked chickpeas might be not the ‘go-to’ recipe for on a regular basis in the mean time… however will probably be Christmas and these are….had been…unbelievable chickpeas.

Here’s the recipe.