Gastronomic Communities: Central idea

The program Gastronomy & Wine Tourism is the most ambitious action plan in the field of Gastronomy and Tourism. The central idea of ​​the Gastronomic Communities program is that the gastronomy of our country should be developed in local level. The gastronomic identity of each place will emerge only when the professionals of the wider gastronomy sector get involved and collaborate to utilize the gastronomic wealth of their place. This creates the Gastronomy and Wine Tourism program, where professionals from each region from the wider gastronomy area (agricultural sector-processing-catering-hospitality) collaborate, organize and create in order to record the quality gastronomic offer of their place, the creation of mutual support relations, the structured connection of Tourism with the Gastronomic Culture and the promotion of each place in Gastronomic and Wine Destination. In other words, they create an ecosystem and an umbrella that will highlight the area as a whole, but also each unit separately.

The responsibility for the formation of the groups, the imprinting and the promotion of the place and the institution of the Gastronomic Communities has the renowned website Greek Gastronomy Guide, which has created and manages the entire project of Gastronomy and Wine Tourism.

Gastronomic Communities - Gastronomic Destinations, action manual

The Gastronomic Communities program is based on the book "Gastronomic Communities - Gastronomic Destinations" by George Pittas,  where concerns are raised and actions are proposed, so that the gastronomic wealth of each place can be utilized and become, through the awakening of dormant collectives, a lever of development for Greek gastronomy and the country's economy.

In the big celebration of Tourism Tourism Awards 2019 "Gastronomic Communities - Gastronomic Destinations" were awarded with Golden Prize, in the category "Writing work for tourism".

This important award came at the same time as the reward of the society, when regions of the country were interested in the information and the implementation of the program "Gastronomic Communities".

Gastronomic Communities Program Actions

The actions of the program include the following phases:

A. Establishment of a Gastronomic Community of each destination, consisting of the conscious professionals of each area.

B. Application of a training and education program to the members of the Gastronomic Community with its central points, the promotion of cooperation and the importance of the overall experience of a place.

C. Research and creation of the Gastronomic Portfolio (Place - History, Traditional cuisine, Accommodation with aromas of flavors, Products, Producers, Dishes, Taverns, Restaurants, Cafes, Festivals, Shopping, Sights) of each area.

D. Creating a digital guide of all the protagonists (products, delicacies, producers, catering, hospitality) of each Gastronomic Destination.

E. Create a printed guide of the Gastronomic Destination which will refer to the digital guide which of course has multiple material.

F. Presentation of each Gastronomic Destination in its entirety (products, tastings, promotion of gastronomic resources) in its place, so that the work becomes known to the local community.

G. whereas, Extroversion actions. Organization of farm trips and press trips, participation in domestic and foreign exhibitions.

Manifesto of Gastronomic Communities

Important organizations, successful companies, successful brands, successful ideas are based on a philosophy that is associated with specific values, specific benefits for the citizen-user and which is expressed through a story that people believe and becomes one with her. The history of the Gastronomic Communities is their Manifesto. The diploma awarded to the members of each community is a praise for their participation in the work of the Community, but also a reminder of the values ​​and obligations they have committed to adhere to.

1. Love me good food and quality wine, as well as the stories around them and the people who create them. Our passion for gastronomy became our job.

2. We respect the values ​​and goods of the gastronomic wealth of our place. We support local products and our local cuisine, integral parts of our food culture.

3. We consider that the chain with the links Place-Landscape-Cultures-Processing-Gastronomy-Culture-Tourism is a comprehensive proposal for the development of the Greek economy, the economic development of each place, but also the formation of its cultural and tourist identity.

4. We support that the best way to develop a place gastronomically is to mobilize those directly concerned. That is why we create the Gastronomic Communities, with the participation of professionals who wish to collaborate with common goals.

5. We organize a system of values ​​and practices based on 4 concepts: Locality, Quality, Collaboration, Self-Commitment and we are committed to adhering to it.

6. We follow Good quality practices and procedures in our crops, fisheries, production areas and kitchens.

7. We believe in extroversion. We learn from Greek and international collaboration practices. We draw knowledge from the best examples of gastronomic tourism in the world.

8. Cooperate forging relationships between us of trust, mutual support and solidarity, all together contributing to the promotion of our place as a gastronomic destination.

9. We become the best ambassadors, not only of ourselves and our business, but also of the Gastronomic Destination we represent. Our goal is for the visitors of our place to get to know our food culture and to gain intense gastronomic experiences.

10. We diffuse our actions in society, so that it becomes an ally and partner of our activity.

11. We are writing in the Gastronomy & Wine Tourism program, together with other Gastronomic Communities of our country, to promote Greece internationally as an important Gastronomic Destination.

12. We remember everythingwhat our quality of life is intertwined with the quality of our diet, but also the quality of our relationships, which of course are enhanced around a table. Let us make Greece a big table of knowledge, creation, cooperation and joy!

From the national to the local and from the local to the national

It is of great interest that the action of promoting the gastronomy of a place, does not attempt to be projected detached from other corresponding efforts of the country, but in cooperation and mutual support. The Gastronomies of the areas - Tourist Destinations, are presented each, with the same structure, the same approach, so that when they appear together they have the characteristics of a single project, and indicate that they are the cells of a total project that is Greek Gastronomy seen by region. So that with a common Brand they can travel under the auspices of EOT as a national unit with special appearances and identities per place. In this way, every visitor of the country who cares about Greek gastronomy, will have the opportunity to move to a National level and not isolated and fragmented.

Creation of the first Gastronomic Communities

The program Gastronomy and Wine Tourism gives flesh and blood to the need to connect the Agri-food sector with Gastronomy and Tourism. With a functional and innovative institution the Gastronomic Communities (National Mark) the network of the Gastronomy of Destinations is created with a common brand name, the Gastronomic Communities - Gastronomy and Wine Tourism (National Mark). From January 2019 to December 2019 the program is implemented in 4 areas (Kalamata, Naoussa, Corfu, Rhodes), while in their first steps are another 6 areas (Zagori, Kerkini, Pelion, Skiathos, Nemea, Amorgos). The responsibility for the formation of the teams, the mapping and the promotion of the place and the institution of the Gastronomic Communities has the renowned website Greek Gastronomy Guide, which has created and manages the whole project of Gastronomy and Wine Tourism.

Head of the Program

The head of the program at the national level is George Pittas, hotelier, elected advisor to the Board of the Hotel Chamber of Greece (2010-2018) with many actions in the field of culture and tourism in its assets, such as FDI program "Greek Breakfast", which he led and organized for 8 years, creating one of the most important brands of Greek gastronomy (breakfast offered in hotels in our country with specific content and specifications per place to offer and enjoy special added value). Along with his travels, he records the uncharted parts of the Greek territory and especially the daily life, the social life, where, as he typically says, "the soul of every place pierces and where his demons are hidden". The material of his thirty years of research was collected in 7 books (Signs of the Aegean, Festivals in the Aegean, Paros trekking in place and time, Cafes of Greece, Athenian Tavern, Treasures of Greek Gastronomy, Gastronomic Communities).

Educational programme

The members of the team, by practicing the courses of cooperation, evaluate and identify together the goods and the values ​​of the gastronomy of each place that must be highlighted and utilized in order to form the gastronomic identity of each place.

Analyzed and commented on in excerpts of the book "Gastronomic Communities - Gastronomic Destinations" on:

• Change of mentality of professionals

• Art of collaboration and culture of synergies

• Competition and Competition

• Vocational training

• New type of leadership

• Patriotism and recovery of cultural self-confidence

• Holistic destination experience

• Creating a myth - storytelling

After the end of the educational program, the Gastronomic Community is formed by its members on the basis of the values ​​of the Manifesto that contains the values ​​and the philosophy of action.

Digital Guide to Gastronomic Communities

The digital guide of each Gastronomy Community of the Gastronomy and Wine Tourism program is Greek Gastronomy Guide, the popular website with one of the highest traffic in the field of gastronomy - in 2018 received the Golden Prize at the Tourism Awards in the category of digital destination guides - a key tool for browsing every traveler with gastronomic concerns.

The completion of the digital guide is done with the consent of the members of the Gastronomic Community of each region, firstly to be creditworthy and secondly to make the members feel that it is theirs and to support it. "If we do not write our history and our myth, others will write it and certainly not in the way we would like." For the needs of the Gastronomy program
and Wine Tourism articles are created in Greek and English that refer to the protagonists of the gastronomy of each place, after a photo shoot, an interview and a visit to their headquarters. The main goal of the material, in addition to the necessary information, is to have a human-centered approach, so that the truth of each professional is the trigger for the creation of his myth and the creation of the relevant storytelling.

These data from the field research, are digitized and with SEO in the Greek Gastronomy Guide) are promoted so that they are always in the first places of search.

Printed guide of each Gastronomic Destination

The printed guide of each Gastronomy Destination of the Gastronomy and Wine Tourism program summarizes in its pages, the gastronomic treasures of the area, while at the same time referring to the digital guide of the Greek Gastronomy Guide in order for the reader to get a more detailed approach and geographical location. of. The printed guide refers to the gastronomic values ​​of the place (landscapes, festivals, products, markets, delicacies, gastronomic souvenirs).

The 28-page printed guide includes chapters:

1. A place rich in history and gastronomic treasures

2. High quality raw materials

3. The primary product of the place

4. The products ambassadors of the place (the 5 most prevalent)

5. Traditional cuisine - Typical dishes

6. Restaurants and taverns

7. Wine tourism

8. Shopping, Gastronomic events, celebrations.

9. Ten Gastronomic Souvenirs

10. Traveling

Epilogue

The innovative Gastronomic Communities program is at the heart of new Tourism trends because:

1. It highlights the identity of the destinations, highlights the authenticity of each place and enables the public, modern travelers who are interested in getting to know the local cultures, to live intense experiences.

2. The protagonists of the experiential experiences are the best local gastronomy professionals who wish to work together to create and display the holistic image of their place.
Attempts are being made through seminars and joint actions to change the mentality of the Greek and to introduce him to the values ​​of collectivity and cooperation.
3. The modern digital technology is utilized and the promotion of the gastronomic offer of each place is ensured with targeted extroversion actions.

4. While each Gastronomic Community acquires its own legal and economic status (becomes AMKE) and its own autonomy, it presents its content with the same structure, the same approach, with the other Gastronomic Communities, so that when they appear together they have the characteristics of a single project, and to indicate that they are the cells of a total project that is Greek Gastronomy. In this way, the autonomy of each Gastronomic Community is ensured, but also the unified behavior within the framework of the National Strategy.