Evi Mitchell was busy putting the finishing touches to lunch when I arrived.

Katina Tsochatzi (L) and Helen Mitchell (R)

A drizzle of olive oil over the boiled zucchini, and a few extra kalamata olives added to the village salad and she was done.
I’d been invited to share lunch with the family – her 88-year- old mother Katina Tsochatzi, her mother-in-law, 97- year- old  Helen Mihailaros (aka Mitchell) and Evi’s two daughters, Eleni and Katerina.
The five women work together to make delicious home-cooked Greek meals at C’Aphrodite, a casual eatery in Cremorne, Sydney.
The two older women – Katina and Helen – work six days a week and are a living testament to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Together they bustle around in the downstairs kitchen, preparing dolmathakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice), keftethakia (tasty Greek rissoles), octopedi (char-grill baby octopus), prawns saganaki (grilled prawns in a tomato feta sauce), spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie) and moussaka, just some of the dishes on offer.
Helen and Katina hail from Lesbos, an island in the eastern Aegean close to Turkey and the birthplace of the poet Sappho.  The Greek philosophers Aristotle  and Epicurus also lived there for some time.
Their village, Agia Paraskevi, is located in the central part of the island, near the Bay of Kalloni, and is known for its old mansions, unique architecture and for its festivals.
Katina’s family own a farm, where vegetables and herbs are grown along with 1000 olive trees for their oil.  Three types of olives are grown: ladolies, karolies and koloves and a song is sung in their honour on the island.  Daughters Evi and Meropi grew up here and helped their mother with the farm.
Greek islanders have traditionally kept to a Mediterranean diet, the staples of which are olive oil, olives, rough bread, feta cheese, fish and plenty of organically grown vegetables, legumes and fruit.  This diet is low in saturated fat but high in monounsaturated fat which comes almost entirely from olive oil.
Research has shown that such a diet has a positive effect on arteries and may even help to open arteries which are already blocked.
No wonder these two Greek mamas have reached such a healthy old age!

C’Aphrodite, 382 Military Rd., Cremorne (next door to the Orpheum Cinema). Ph.  9953 5345