A hard barley rusk softened with grated tomato and olive oil, heaped with soft white cheese, oregano and capers.
What makes it dakos
A barley rusk, only briefly wetted.
Grated ripe tomato and a lot of olive oil.
Soft white cheese — mizithra or feta — and oregano.
Where it comes from
Barley rusks — paximadia — were baked hard so that bread would keep for weeks, for shepherds, sailors and farm workers. On Crete they become a meal: wetted briefly, soaked with the juice of grated tomato and good olive oil, and topped with the island's soft, sourish mizithra.