Ο Giannis Gavalas, originally from Heraklion, gave a new breath to old traditional, Cycladic recipes.

With experiences from his island, with knowledge regarding traditional cooking, obsession with the purity of flavors and the origin of local ingredients, they quickly made him stand out as one of the most important cooks of his generation.

Giannis Gavalas participates in Aegean Cuisine, representing the idea of ​​a cuisine that we could call "modern Cycladic" with references to all the islands of the Cyclades and their products. Creative cook, imaginative but also local, with a special ethos, social sensitivities and disposition for collective work, has, among other things, an excellent pen! Enjoy his interview. Justified the pride of Heraklion.

• You were born: I was born in Athens on a Thursday in November at 13:30, lunch time… by chance? I do not think!

• Childhood memories: Very beautiful childhood years with a strong element of Family, Parents, sister but also the good fortune to have two grandparents alive, a strong element of Heraklion, my place of origin, which we visited regularly in summer and Easter, many memories of cooking, tables since our houses were always open and dear and of course a lot of play, sea, fishing !!!

• Children's favorite food: Heraklion, Summer… as soon as we returned from the bath in Livadi, hunger… the grandmother in the maerio, paraskia, smell the achlimbaria, the ropes and the spades that make charcoal (the current came in 1986) while in the pan they are fried with olive oil and fried the grandmother breaks three or four eggs - still hot - and mixes them to hug. A pinch of rock salt, a pinch of argania. On the plate they are served with a piece of goat cheese and some dry tomatoes of the summer, so simple…

• Studies: A student of five excellence and an award in High School and Lyceum was not easily accepted, by the family and friendly environment (I had lost my Father at 16), my choice to be involved in cooking. In the 90's when I started, the profession of cook did not have the current popularity and acceptance. The first school I went to was Granit's Hotel Business Organization and Management, which also had an interesting, albeit theoretical, culinary department. This was followed by "Chef D 'Oeuvre", the "TEI of Tourism Enterprises of Athens" and the OTEK school. Investing Time for an alloy of knowledge, people (partners - friends) and experiences that I never regretted.

• When did you feel that you would dedicate yourself to cooking: Cooking is a part of my life, mom, grandmothers cooked, my father worked for a while on the ships as a cook, my uncle too επίσης there was a predisposition from an early age but also personal love to create something to share and make me feel complete . Blessed are the people who tackle something they love…

• Cooks who influenced your cooking: The beginning is half of everything σα I started from the Athenaeum Intercontinental and my first recruits in the Kitchen were from Simos Dimitriadis - let his soul rest. Then I had the good fortune to go through real cooks, pots, they are not recognizable but good time wherever they are, I really thank them from the bottom of my heart for the secret routes to the essence of taste.

• Images or events that inspired you: Life itself is a source of inspiration for me. Experiences, memories, travels, smells, tastes, aromas, people, sea, Earth, Cyclades… A dawn from "Pappas" in Heraklion… a sunset at "Pouli" in Mykonos… a swim at the bottom… a "cruise" with winter Artemis from Paros to Serifo! of the Virgin on the XNUMXth of August… the pancakes with Araklian honey… the dried figs from the katavola with a roasted Amorgian raki… a piece of aged Naxos gruyere with two rusks… a spoonful of fava with broken onion, a tear of oil and salt Π cold suma and kritamo of Tinos… a walk in the "Village" of Rousounelos for a drink… a crunchy Amorgian dry frying pan in joy… an Andrian pastel for company… a Tinian macaroon for a treat… A sweet and savory composition, rama whose distillate comes out of the soul on the plate.

• Where did you work: I started from internship in Hotels but I loved the restaurants, 25 years in the kitchens I have spent mainly in restaurants with Greek cuisine and 10 years of them we operate in Mykonos, six in Bakalo where our Cycladic physiognomy matured together.

• Materials you love: I basically love fresh ingredients! Love of herbs, herbs, olive oil, garlic, onions (the invisible heroes and ordinary suspects) and a particular weakness in seafood and fish without underestimating a good meat.

• Philosophy of your kitchen: I love to cook with fresh and local ingredients in their season, gaining the maximum quality, taste and aroma. A fan of Cycladic cuisine - experiential, after all - and realistic cuisine, as I usually say, a cuisine that respects the raw material, promotes it, highlights it and does not eliminate it for the sake of technique and impression.

• Dishes you created, loved and left traces: It is more interesting for others to talk about our dishes to include the feeling and experience they gained. However, some dishes such as the Cycladic cheesecake (included in the book "The Kopanist" by D. Rousounelos), the braised pancetta with thyme, garlic and rock salt (included in his list by his friend D. Giginis at SeaSatin Nino in Korthi of Andros), the Village eggs with minced meat from Mykonos sausage and yogurt on toasted bread (served at Central in Mykonos and included in the Mykonian breakfast), The tyroloukoumades with Naxos gruyere, kefalotyri Iou lemeitos on hand squid with spinach flavored with cumin and white tarama cream.

• The role of locality in food: Source of life and survival for our small societies, our place, our country. For the past six years in Mykonos, at the Bakalo restaurant where I work, I have been supplying products from nine islands of the Cyclades. It is not easy since intra-Cycladic transport is not the best, but I think it is necessary if you want to have an identity, quality and duration, since the support of producers of local products ensures their survival and motivation to try. to develop and organize. By supporting local products, local producers we actually ensure our quality but also our survival as a place.

• Greek cuisine today: Greek cuisine today is thrown from the inside… the Greek family is deconstructed and there are few grandmothers left to share our cuisine in the new generation of burgers and crepes. The new "Tselementes" will not have prescriptions, but delivery phones. Fortunately in the countryside things are better. Light and Hope a generation of Chefs who are united with love for the local products and recipes of our place and fight against the current of humiliation and xenomania.

• Greek gastronomy in the face of the crisis: The crisis leads to thought, accountability, liquidation and redefines values ​​and goals. It is an occasion for restarting, searching, giving new opportunities to things neglected and perhaps forgotten. So in Greek gastronomy he digs up recipes, degraded ingredients but with significant value (legumes) and puts them on the gastronomic map. Everyone, even belatedly, gets the position he deserves…

• How would you like to be considered: I want what I am, what I feel and what I seem to be the same and identical, whatever that is. Respect and appreciation are elements that are earned, as long as I earn from my colleagues, partners and clients without necessarily adding any labels.

• An unforgettable moment: The special honor and pleasure to join the team of Greek Chefs who cooked for the first time at the James Beard Foundation in New York, presenting the Treasures of the Aegean Cuisine to the American public.

• Dreams of gastronomic content: To be able at some point Heraklion, with the few, humble but quality products it has, to enter the gastronomic map of Greece and to be able to afford a restaurant beyond its beautiful taverns.

• Life dreams: Delicious wanderings around the country and the world, to live, to love, to learn, to cook and to photograph !!!

• Farewell: A sweet smile like the Araklian honey… a warm embrace like the revitalization of Maria in Prodromos of Paros την and the positive energy like the pomegranate that pops and spreads its pink fruit on the ground… Health and good time !!!