We are a family business based in South-East Cambridgeshire specialising in the healthy, natural foods that make up the Cretan Diet. Yannis Borakis tells “When I first came to England over 30 years ago, there was a lot about the British diet I loved: apple pies and custard, fish and chips, Sunday roasts, cream teas, bangers and mash! But I really missed my olive oil and just couldn’t find anything in the supermarkets that came close to what I was used to. 

In Crete, we use lots and lots of olive oil. We use it in all our cooking, not just on salads, we even use it in our cakes and pastry – and to cook chips! It’s much more than a cooking oil, it’s a flavouring ingredient, just like salt and pepper, herbs or lemon juice, and the main reason why the Cretan diet is so healthy.

I started importing my own olive oil from my father’s farm, a barrel at a time (we do consume rather a lot!). Pretty soon friends who came to eat with us were asking me if they could buy some from me. I decided to have it bottled and imported it to sell in the UK.