Its final was completed on November 14, 2018 with great success 1st Salad Festival, on Elite City Resort organized by the School of Tourism of Kalamata with the kind support of the company Kalamata Papadimitriou. The winner was o George Panagis, from the school IEK Orizon of Kalamata with the unanimous opinion and rating of the jury composed of its chairman Alexandros Papandreou, The Iakovos Apergis, the Chef Giannis Loukakos, The Stelios Barbeas And the Nikos Kondylis! The wish given at the beginning of the competition to be the best to win came true!

In order to reach this moment of the final with 21 finalists, however, we had to be preceded by an excellent plan to perform 3 qualifying rounds, which took place the previous period in Thessaloniki, Athens and Kalamata, to compete around 100 students of Cooking Schools (necessary condition) who had been prepared for a long time to claim the first place. The prizes given to the first three winners by the company Kalamata Papadimitriou was a sum of money related to scholarships in relevant educational, awards that of course will take place.

The instigator of the competition, Costas Papadimitriou, who had presented his idea last year School of Tourism of Kalamata, in November 2017, he was very excited because his idea - of course thanks to the excellent organization - was embraced by the young cooks and the audience that attended the three qualifiers and the Final.

"Her emergence Greek gastronomy, should be based on salads, because due to the climate our country has the best ingredients, from oils and vegetables, to spices, unique mountain herbs, cheese and fruit, and if we insist we can to star in the whole world "he told us among many other interests.

The company Kalamata Papadimitriou is one of the historical companies of Kalamata. It started in 1939 with trade and export of local products of Kalamata: dried figs, Kalamon olives and olive oil and in the 50's it penetrates in Great Britain, with another local product: the Corinthian raisin. Gradually, he focuses on raisins and acquires specialization in this product. The next generation, Costas Papadimitriou, makes the company the second largest exporter of Corinthian raisins in the world, while designing the well-known Greek "Kalamata Papadimitiou Balsamic Vinegar » which became the No. 1 Balsamic vinegar in sales in Greece. Today the company develops new lines of innovative products, based on balsamic vinegar, balsamic creams and Mediterranean mustards ideal for Mediterranean salads.

The 21 finalists of the 1st Salad Festival emerged from the three qualifiers after being evaluated by the committee based on 6 criteria:

1. Degree of execution difficulty

2. Use of PDO materials or originating from the place of origin of the tenderer

3. Presentation

4. Originality

5. Taste

6. Proper use & management of materials

The criteria were extremely accurate and guided the contestants in the right direction. The jury just before the action begins. From left to right the chefs: Stelios Barbeas, Giannis Loukakos, the chairman of the committee Alexandros Papandreou, Nikos Kondylis and Iakovos Apergis who was also awarded for his social work.

The process of the competition that lasted more than five hours was attended by the Papadimitriou family, from the left the lady Eleni Papadimitriou, in the center the president of the company Costas Papadimitriou and on the right the member of the third generation o Christos Papadimitriou, who together with his brother Dimitris have taken an active part in the development of the company.

The participants in the final of the 1st Salad Festival were:

Andrianou Ioanna, Chef d 'oeuvre, Athens,

Venetsanos Vangelis, Europroodos, Kalamata.

Maragiannis Ioannis, IEK Thessaloniki, Ministry of Tourism.

Nikolopoulos Efthymios, Le Monde, Athens.

Panagis Georgios, IEK Orizon, Kalamata.

Tsiogas Panagiotis, D. IEK Monastiriou, Thessaloniki.

Lidia Atoderesei, IEK Kalamata.

Raphael Vrachnis, Metropolitan College, Athens.

Arabashvili Eteri, Chef d 'oeuvre, Athens.

Karabilas Dimitrios, IEK Orizon, Kalamata.

Kourakou Eleni, IEK Thessaloniki Ministry of Tourism.

Κυνηγάκης Νικόλαος, Chef d 'oeuvre, Athens.

Tziamalis Michael, D. IEK Kilkis.

Ginos Apostolos, Akmon, Tripoli.

Eleni Drakopoulou, Le Monde, Athens.

Zontanou Christina, IEK Homer, Athens.

Gekas Ioannis, IEK Kalamata.

Kourella Athena, IEK Thessaloniki Tourism.

Bakirtzis Aristodimos, D. IEK Lagada.

Feidas Panagiotis, IEK Trifylia.

Chrysos Anastasios, Pasteur Institute, Thessaloniki.

In contrast to the TV competitions where the behavior of the judges is most often provocative, arrogant, mysterious and narcissistic, without a trace of courtesy and respect to the participants, in In this competition things were completely different. At first the atmosphere between the participating students was very friendly and not at all competitive.

The judges with real interest and care, and during the competition encouraged, but especially after, asked to learn the reasoning of the creation of the contestants, so that everyone (competitors, judges, audience) understood the intentions of the creators. In essence, the competition turned into a lively cooking class. "Other times, other morals" and I think that was the quintessence of the Salad Festival, another concept of competition. In the discussions of judges and contestants, the audience heard comments such as: "after you made cheese yourself, because you made it from cow's milk and not from sheep and goat, which is the advantage of our country" or "when did you find the greens and where "did you pick them up", or why did you pass the Thessaloniki bun through carbon "or" did you try what you created, what was your opinion? "

As for the creations of the contestants, due to the very clear and wise criteria, in addition to vegetables, many local ingredients were used (Corfu noumboulo, Thracian kavourmades, Mani synglino, Kalamon olives, Englouvi lentils, local cheeses, Thessaloniki buns, xinotonriz, and a large number of herbs and vegetables, etc.) which was very pleasant.

One of the least pleasing was the fact that many of the contestants, in their attempt to stand out and impress, used many materials and techniques where the result eventually became vague, complex and ultimately without character. It is no coincidence that in the end the main feature of the winners was simplicity and clarity. And to remember Odysseus Elytis: "To make the most of it and get the most out of it, is the most difficult and the most Greek secret." And fortunately this was discussed very aptly and intensely by the judges.

The winner George Panagis from the school Horizon of Kalamata received the award from the five judges. His creation was extremely elegant - unfortunately I was not a judge to try and have a tasteful point of view - as well as the style of his preparation and his work, methodical, cool, with a musical rhythm one wanted, he exuded a confidence and a skill that many professionals would envy!

The second winner was Christina Zontanou from Homer school of Athens and in a very moving atmosphere, was awarded by the supporter of the event and president of Kalamata Papadimitriou, Costa Papadimitriou.

The simple salad, with plenty of point of view, without unnecessary impressions, was in heart of meaning of the Competition, which was the Greek salad.

Her attitude towards the committee 's questions proved that the measure and the deep relationship with what you do, is a guarantee for your future.

The third winner, Nikolopoulos Efthymios of the Le Monde school, from Athens, the owner of the Elite hotel, Nikitas Kartsonas, was awarded by the sponsor of the event and its president Kalamata Papadimitriou, Costa Papadimitriou.

His inspiration was based on lentil of Englouvi, this unique legume grown on the plateau of Englouvi at an altitude of 700 meters in Lefkada.

In closing I would like to express the joy that happened (of course and it was not luck) to be there, in Salad Festival. Because everything was studied, they had an ethos, a truth and an attempt to have a real contradiction towards the caricatures that we face in our eyes (the TV shows with the competitions I mean). Perhaps the presence of less imaginative protagonists gave a more human dimension to the event.

And of course let's not forget the man who coordinated all this, her Anna Kafkia, Kalamata Papadimitriou marketing director, who was responsible for what we all enjoyed, this exquisite event that lays the groundwork for a more humane attitude to things, and of course another attitude towards Greek gastronomy. An attitude that requires professionals to take the initiatives to promote it. We took the lesson and thank you!