Lemnos
Known primarily for the history and mythology associated with it, beginning with the prehistoric settlement of Poliochni, the island of Hephaestus is not among the first that come to mind when we think of agri-food, yet this is rather unfair.
Lemnos does not rely on the sea but on its fertile plains with low hills, and this is evident in the inhabitants’ engagement with livestock farming and cultivation. From these, after all, comes both the love of cheese-making—which yields the famed “kalathaki,” “melichloro,” “kaskavali,” and other cheeses—and of viticulture, which gives grapes, raisins, vinegar, and the Lemnian wine mentioned by Homer and Aristophanes. It also has noteworthy cereal production, in which the “mavragani” wheat and the hard wheat variety “Lemnos” stand out, while the local pulses also hold a place of honor.
