Crete's food changes as you drive across the island. Each region claims its own specialty, and locals will fight you if you say the wrong town makes the best version. This isn't a comprehensive food tour—it's four dishes that actually tell you something about where you are on Crete, from Chania in the west to Sitia in the east.

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Chania: Bougatsa With Mizithra

In Chania, breakfast means bougatsa—flaky filo pastry filled with mizithra cheese, not the cream version you'll find elsewhere in Greece. The mizithra here is slightly sour, made from local goat and sheep milk. Two shops on Apokoronou Street compete for bragging rights: Bougatsa Iordanis (since 1922) and Bougatsa Chania. Locals argue endlessly about which is better, but both serve the same thing—warm pastry with optional sugar and cinnamon on top, paired with Greek coffee. €6 gets you both. The key difference: Bougatsa Chania uses thinner, darker filo that shatters when you bite it. Iordanis has the history. Pick your priority.

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Rethymno: The Carnival Food Scene

Rethymno doesn't have one signature dish—it has a food calendar. The Rethymno Carnival runs through March with 12,000 participants, and Tsiknopempti (Grill Thursday) turns the old town into an outdoor barbecue. Groups set up feasts in the streets serving grilled lamb, local cheese, and mizithropita—cheese pies that use the same mizithra as Chania's bougatsa but in a different format. The medieval Venetian streets fill with smoke and the smell of meat. If you're not here during Carnival, the old town tavernas still serve these dishes year-round, though locals insist nothing compares to the festival versions.

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Heraklion: Gamopilafo (Wedding Pilaf)

Heraklion claims gamopilafo—wedding rice cooked in lamb broth with excessive butter and lemon. The name literally means "marriage rice," though you don't need a wedding to order it. Arismari kai Varsamo near Historical Museum Square serves a modern version alongside grilled meats, while Onisimos in Peza village (south of Heraklion) reportedly makes "the best gamopilafo outside a wedding." The dish is essentially Greek comfort food—creamy, rich, with enough lamb fat that you'll want to nap afterward. Expect to pay €20-25 per person at mid-range spots.

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Lasithi/Sitia: Xerotigana

Eastern Crete, particularly Sitia, is famous for xerotigana—fried pastry spirals drizzled with Cretan thyme honey and sesame. These appear at weddings, baptisms, and Christmas, though bakeries in Sitia sell them year-round. The dough includes local raki, gets fried in Cretan olive oil, and finishes with local honey. The Palea Roumata Women's Cooperative makes particularly good versions—light, not greasy, with just enough honey. You'll find their products at Synka grocery stores across Crete if you don't make it to the village itself.