The boundless generosity of Cretans

"In Crete, the stranger is still the unknown god. Before him all doors and all hearts are opened."

- Nikos Kazantzakis, "Report to Greco"

I knock hesitantly on the door of a house on a back street in Hania. A gray-haired woman opens it and looks at me with questioning eyes. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you," I say in my American-accented Greek, "Your neighbor says that you make the best pites [pies, often savory] in town. I'm writing a cookbook and would love to talk to you, if you have time…"

Almost before I can finish the sentence, the woman - we'll call her Ioanna, and add a Kyria, or Mrs., in front, to show her respect - has whisked me through the door and into her kitchen and sat me down at the table. She opens her freezer and pulls out a bagful of doughy squares about twice the size of raviolis, explaining that she always makes more than her family can...