It’s a fun story behind how I wound up here in Ikaria, a small island all the way over to the east of Cyclades which has been formally freed from the Turks for exactly 100 years this week (I have the commemorative T-shirt to show for it).
I’m also here for a very fun reason. Here’s a little video I just did in which I interview Dan Buettner, a National Geographic adventurer (such things do exist) and author of the New York Times bestseller The Blue Zones, which kinda explains things. We’re sitting in Thea’s Inn, at sunset, in Nas, Ikaria. And, no, it couldn’t be more idyllic. (PS, I know I stumbled at the beginning, but finding video editors in Ikaria is a bit of an issue!)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v68pHLuAwg&feature=plcp[/youtube]
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some insights and recipes and ideas from what I’ve learned from being here.
But to give you a little background, I’ll first share how things came about. It’s nice serendipity. Or miraio, which is what the Greeks call it.
About ten years ago, Dan set about exploring the regions of the world where people live the longest. These regions are called Blue Zones. Dan narrowed things down to five such zones, one of which is Okinawa in Japan, another is Icaria.
The population of Ikaria is only 8000 people; there are more than 90 people over the age of 100.
That’s not the half of it. The oldies also look 20 years younger than their years and get about on motor scooters,