I was hesitant if I should write in the headline, "patriarch of gastronomy of the Aegean" or "patriarch of Greek gastronomy". I chose the first, because with the second Hatzigiannakis would be angry, and who is listening to him. I believe the latter for many reasons that I will support:

The years when all of Greece was obsessed with French cuisine, in the various foreign standards of the time, or the Greek tourist stereotypes - having a sense of shame for the local cuisines that represented the poverty of the old days -, George and Evelyn Hatzigiannaki they followed their own path. Creating it Moon over the Caldera, bowed humbly to Santorini products, or visit its split peas, The tomatoes, the white eggplant, in caper and chlorotyri. They looked for the old ones recipes, learned from local cooks, experimented and made dishes that first won the hearts of foreigners and much later than the Greeks. Success and recognition did not take long to come. Dozens of journalists came to meet her creative santorini cuisine. But at the same time it happened example, not only for Santorini but also for all of Greece.

His second major contribution was trying to pass on his values ​​to his colleagues and instill in them the spirit of cooperation, to unite them so that the gastronomy sector (producers, winemakers, restaurants, hoteliers, tour agents) operates collectively. It is no coincidence that Santorini has become the first gastronomic destination in Greece. He made Selini (the restaurant opened in 1986) his home and purpose in life to promote local gastronomy and its products internationally. And it became the first example for its development local gastronomy!

The third contribution is that while with his moderation and meekness, he was a pioneer in synergies and collective actions, he was very angry with the chatter, with the selfish behaviors, with the indifference to the collective action and he became arrogant. She scolded the bad texts to the professionals, as well as criticized many new commentators of Greek gastronomy but also various "institutions" who approached it theoretically and abstractly, trying to land them in the Greek reality.

His fourth contribution was that he provided free field to great Greek chefs (Chrysanthos Karamolegos, Konstantina Faklari, Nikos Boukis, Thodoris Papanikolaou, Panos Tsikas, Vassilis Zacharakis and Alexandros Tsiotinis among others), to unfold their talent, or to collaborate creatively and present work in Se.

We have loved this Hatzigiannakis for forty years. The inspirer, a pioneer in theory and practice but also the down-to-earth pragmatist. The man-businessman model. My friend George.

PS The Patriarch of Greek Gastronomy obviously, can not be molded in the stereotype questionnaire of GGG, and due to "holiness" and cordial friendship, he exceptionally presents himself with the letter he sent us.

“Friend George,

We have known each other for many years before our gastronomic quests and you know very well that I am not a chef or a professional cook. I started this nice wandering when I was already 40 years old. Having the happiness to run the restaurant for 32 years "Moon" in Santorini and appreciating what you write in your introduction, I will try based on your questions with a gastronomic biography to describe how the philosophy of "Moon" was created which I think influenced Greek cuisine and promoted local gastronomy and the promotion of its products .

I was born in Nikaia, Piraeus, in 1946 to Asian parents. The cook was the grandmother from Smyrna with all that entails and "F & B" was the grandfather with experience from the brewery that he maintained before the war in Kokkinia. That's how the taste, the smells and the variety of flavors passed into my DNA. I have never eaten soutzoukaki, stuffed, grandma's meatballs until now. Growing up I finished industrial, my career orientation had nothing to do with cooking but the enjoyment of food and wine was my fun. Family tables were replaced by food with friends outside.

There is also the mystery with me that I do not feel the feeling of hunger, I preferred and I prefer something a little that I will enjoy. I remember when I came back late and I had not had time to eat, my grandfather had planned to have Lefkada salami, gruyere and butter in the fridge, which was the best for that time.

When Evelyn and I were married, she was still in architecture. Going to her house I tried another excellent cooking, of my mother-in-law, who was from Syros. This is how Cycladic flavors began to enter my life. Simple flavors but always special and authentic.

From '69 to '73 we went on vacation mainly to Crete, but also Serifos and Andros, but in '75 we said to change for Santorini. That was it, you do not need much to go crazy with the landscape, but not gastronomically. It was a ruined, almost deserted island where all you could find were tomato meatballs (from a dry tomato), plenty of fava beans, green cheese and always excellent wine. In this dreamy setting and with good company, all this took on mythical proportions, so we got stuck in Easter-Summer Santorini and not having a particular homeland, it became my village.

I have always loved cooking at home and especially at large tables with friends, so moving from an amateur to a professional restaurant did not seem difficult to me.

I referred extensively above to the experiences and stimuli of my life before the "Moon" because I believe that all this, and especially the friends and groups we made, were a guide in this profession.

Now opening the chapter "Moon" the space that Evelyn found in Fira was amazing, it represented the architecture of the island with a large development on a terrace overlooking the volcano, isolated and riveted the visitor.

Food could be anything, we discovered in the first year that most of our customers were foreign, indifferent to an international cuisine. Then the locality of the food fell like an idea so that arousing their interest to connect it with the landscape, the place, the history of Santorini, to become an experience, so the restaurant became thematic. It was not easy then, the cooks had to be convinced, the waiters had to be trained, the Greek customers had to accept it.

To achieve this the solution was cooperation with the farmers, the winemakers, the housewives, the people of the island who grew up with this gastronomy, the Greek and foreign journalists. We discovered a plethora of traditional recipes that needed to be modernized, made accessible to our customers, with new techniques, to begin an evolution of Greek and local cuisine.

Then there were synergies We first sought with colleagues and winemakers with the aim of making Santorini a Gastronomic Destination, with conference and wedding organizations, with public bodies, with international organizations such as Slow Food, the World Wine Association, by Greeks the Orchestra, the Academy OPE, Aegean Cuisine, SETE etc, in order for this philosophy to attract as many people as possible.

After 32 years of involvement, I feel like a coordinator of this effort that today inspires all these chefs in the development of a new Greek cuisine, based on Greek products, the Greek taste that enables winemakers to promote Greek wine. We must understand that tourism in Greece during the crisis is not only our heavy industry, it is the vehicle for the promotion of our products, it creates a parallel economy, it must be our ambassador. The model of Santorini proves it.

• I would like to see it as a central market for the promotion of Greek products because that is where the customer base is.
• I would like to have a "Moon" in other tourist parts of the country and to transfer this experience.
• I would like new gastronomic brand names to come out through tourism with dynamics like the old ones (rustic, souvlaki, gyros, tzatziki etc)
• I would like a lot but mostly collaborations and synergies.

 

The recognition of this work through publications internationally, awards of years, from its acceptance by the local community with a top event the award by the mayor of Thira in 2017 is the satisfaction that the "Moon" is justified for the path that follows and I say the " Moon "because it 's not just me, it's all these collaborators who contributed to it. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. "