Off Season Greece: Author Anastasia Miari on Corfu's thriving food scene and why spring is the best time to savour the isle

Having spent the best part of a decade preserving Greece's age-old culinary heritage, Corfiot author Anastasia Miari shares her inside tips for the island she was born and raised on.Getty ImagesThis is part of Off-Season Greece, a collection of guides highlighting the year-round appeal of Greece's most popular destinations, courtesy of our favorite local tastemakers. In this edition, we speak to food writer and author Anastasia Miari.Whenever I’m feeling disconnected from myself or from Greece—the place my mother’s family is from and whose traditions I grew up with—I muster up the energy to make a comforting Greek meal. But, whether it’s my yia yia’s old-school-style avgolemono soup, my mom’s traditional pastitsio, or my thea’s Americanized spanakopita, the recipe is rarely ever already written down. As with so many other cultures’ time-tested family dishes, they’re usually passed on by doing; surmising how many box grater’s-worth of tomatoes you'll need or eyeballing the number of glugs of olive oil to add.Anastasia Miari, food writer and author of Mediterranea Marco ArguelloEnter Anastasia Miari, a food writer and author who has spent the better part of a decade traveling all over the Mediterranean to document not only Greek recipes but create an extensive, photographic encyclopedia of the many octo- and septuagenarians (and their often-remote villages) who passed those very dishes—and their way of life—to younger generations. Nowadays, when I want to try a new or lighter Greek dish than the handful of rib-sticking ones I know, I crack open my stained copy of Yia Yia, Miari’s first cookbook. Better yet, when I want to explore the cuisine of the broader region—Moroccan tajin, Turkish breakfast, Sicilian pasta—there’s now also her newer iteration, Mediterranea.A fishing port off Corfu Marco ArguelloTo say Anastasia is an expert in all things Greek would be an understatement—she was born and raised on the Ionian island of Corfu in Greece’s northwest, and is currently renovating a historic cottage on the Cycladic island of Tinos to enjoy with her family in the summers (and filming a web series about it all). Here, the British-Greek Corfiot shares her guide to the Italian-leaning island’s Venetian traditions, natural splendor, and seasonal dishes—all of which are best experienced in the off-season.A hilly Greek village, overlooking the calm Ionian Sea Getty ImagesWhat would you say is the sweet-spot time of the year to visit—when the travelers have not yet arrived, but local life is buzzing?I would say May, springtime. Because of all this rain that we get then, the island is fully in bloom in May—it's stunning. It's like being in a Disney movie here.What do you love most about being there during this season?If you have in mind to do the Corfu Trail, which is a hiking trail that runs all the way from the south of the island to the north of the island, the month of May is a particularly incredible month to come in, because you tend to have the best weather, but it's also not incredibly hot. You're still able to hike, especially in the morning and evening hours.Stuffed vegetables, as featured in Anastasia's cookbook Marco ArguelloDining with views of the sea, alongside Anastasia's yia yia in Corfu Marco ArguelloWho’s around this time of year? Is it all locals? Greek domestic visitors? Are there any travelers at all?Corfu is really interesting, because it doesn't have this sort of off-season, on-season vibe as much as the Cycladic Islands do. What I mean by that is the island doesn't shut down when it isn't summertime. We have a university, and we have a music school on the island, and because it is very cosmopolitan, and because it's so big, we tend to retain our residents. People don't tend to move to Athens or to Saloniki as much as they might in more remote Cycladic islands.So, of course, there are a few travelers, but it's not as many as you'll find in July and August. And I think it's usually people who love to hike and people who like to be in nature, so it's a different kind of traveler.The rocky coast of Corfu Marco ArguelloWhat’s notable about the locals? Do they have any of their own unique traditions or a reputation amongst Greeks for anything in particular?What's notable about the locals in Corfu is that, supposedly, we're the craziest in all of Greece? Other Greeks tend to say that Cretans and the Corfiots are the crazies of the nation. But I do think we are quite distinct in Corfu, because we have this incredible heritage that comes from Italy, and we love to align ourselves with the Italians. The Venetians came and colonized 500 years ago, and many vestiges of our Venetian past are still visible, not just in the architecture and in our food.The Old Town of Corfu, lined with historical buildings Getty ImagesWhere would we find you eating?The places that eat in the summer tend to also be open in the winter, and I think that's great because you are always able to rub shoulders with local clientele. One of my favorite places to eat is Marina's Tavern in Corfu Town, because they do all of the classic yia yia, home-cooked dishes in a really great style. So I love eating a pastitsada or a stifado at Marina's, and all of the traditional home-cooked dishes that they serve.What’s the seasonal dish to order at this time of year?The dish to order is tsigarelia, which are like wild greens that you find at that time of year. And here in Greece, we sauté them with lots of spices. Again, this is a sort of vestige of the Venetians, and [a result of] our being put on the spice trail by the Venetians. So it includes lots of spices like cinnamon, cloves, and cayenne pepper. So cigarella, that's a great dish to have.Grilled fish from Anastasia's cookbook Marco ArguelloAre there any areas of the island that really come alive during the off season?In the off-season, I think Corfu Town is the place to be because even everyone else from the rest of the [surrounding] island tends to sort of congregate in Corfu Town. It’s really popping off, especially because of the universities there. There's a high concentration of people hanging out in town, it's very much alive. Any coffee shop you go into will be full of people. Again, Corfu isn't one of those sort of Disneyland islands that shuts down in the winter and opens up this sort of like fake display of life in the summer. It's very much alive all year round.Tsigarelia, a dish of wild greens often paired with onions, tomatoes, and the like Marco ArguelloHow does the weather change the destination during this time of year, and what are the (dis)advantages of that?Corfu is one of the wettest islands in Greece, so if you try and come in May, you’ll have the occasional rain shower. But generally, it's just a very pleasant temperature and really great to experience the best of the island, which is its nature. September or October can be the trickiest months.What does a perfect Saturday in the off-season look like to you?It's fantastic to go into the mountains and visit mountain villages on weekends, because I think much of the coastline has been marred by mass tourism. The real secret and beauty of this island is actually inland, in the mountains.The historic Merchant’s House, offering stellar views of the Albanian Riviera Do you have any favorite activities during this time of year?It absolutely has to be hiking. And I think the most incredible way to live and experience this island is by doing the 112-mile Corfu Trail. You don't have to do the whole of it, of course. You could just pick one part of the whole trail because it takes like seven days to hike it in full. It took me a bit longer, but you can pick a section of the trail and do just that. It's unmissable, really.Where to stay: Snugly in a pine-studded cleft beneath Mount Pantokrator, the island's tallest mountain, The Merchant's House has six guestrooms carved out of the stunningly renovated stone-walled shell of a 14th-century Venetian building. High ceiling rooms with chunky stone walls are far from medieval; however, there are Coco-Mat mattresses and large balconies with spectacular views over to the Albanian coast opposite.This article was originally published in Condé Nast Traveller UK.Shannon McMahon-Hamdy is the Senior Editor leading Destinations, Condé Nast Traveler's guides vertical. She has a background in news and destination features, and previously reported on travel and the coronavirus pandemic for The Washington Post, as well as local and national news for Boston.com. A former resident of Seville, Spain, ... Read More