ABOUT US
led by George Pittas and Bilio Tsoukalas
The site greekgastronomyguide.gr was created to highlight the Greek gastronomy as a whole, embracing all its aspects and all its dimensions, because we believe that the logic that connects the grid "Landscape - Environment - Agricultural Economy - Agri-Food Products - Gastronomy - Culture - Tourism" can to be a key pillar of the new economic development of the country.
Our goal is the detailed recording of the gastronomic identity of each region of the country, through a holistic, but mainly anthropocentric approach.
The content of the website greekgastronomyguide.gr is a result on-site research, recording and photography with personal interview and site visit. The original recording came from the travels of George Pittas who has been traveling all over Greece for 25 years and captures the most uncharted topics of Greek gastronomy - part of which is contained in his 6 books - and from the research of Bilios Tsoukalas, when from In 2003, in her TV shows on ERT, she premiered the producers of local products in the Greek province.
George Pittas
Ο George Pittas was born in Athens in 1954. Furniture designer and interior designer.
From 1977 to 1980 he studied political economy and sociology at the University of Paris 8 (Vincennes). Founding member since 1980 of the group "Neo Katoikein" who pioneered for 20 years in Greek furniture design, with production and distribution of design furniture.
Since 1995 he divides his time between Athens and Paros where he maintains in the mountain village of Lefkes, the standard hotel unit Lefkes Village.
He was a member of the Board of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (S.E.T.E.) and the Hotel Chamber of Greece (X.E.E.) with activities in matters of culture and alternative tourism.
Since 2010, as a member of the Board of Directors of X.E.E., he is its head "Greek breakfast", a program that aims to connect the hotel with the gastronomic wealth of each place. For this reason he travels all over Greece creating models of local "Greek breakfasts" with the most representative flavors and products of each region.
His writing work:
In 2007 he published "The Signs of the Aegean".
In 2008 the book "Paros - Travelogue in Place and Time".
In 2009 the "Athenian Tavern".
In 2011 "The Festivals in the Aegean".
In 2013 "The Cafes of Greece".
In 2014 the "Treasures of Greek Gastronomy".
Bilio Tsoukalas
Η Bilio Tsoukalas He completed his university studies in Greece and continued his postgraduate studies in Paris. He studied journalism at the French Press Institute (Institut Francais de Presse, IFP) at the University of Paris II, and then political science at the Sorbonne University Paris II, where he received a Master's Degree in Political Science (DEA). and political economy.
From 1984 he worked as a journalist writing in magazines and newspapers ("ENA", "Anti", "Woman", "Click", "I", "Mesimvrini", "Profit"). From 1994 to 2006 he wrote articles for "Madame Figaro" magazine.
In 1985 he was a member of the Initiative Group for Free Radio "Channel 15", leading the abolition of the state monopoly on radio and television and the opening of the first free radio stations. In 1986 he made radio broadcasts on the first municipal radio station "Athens 9,84" and later on TOP FM, ANT-1 and Alpha Radio.
He has worked in television since 1995, presenting cultural shows such as "Plus and Minus", one of the first cultural magazines on public television.
From 2003 to 2013 he presented on ERT the show "He Has Taste", a two-hour, daily, live television show on culture.
She is married to George Pittas.
Books
The Treasures of Greek Gastronomy - © 2014
The book "The treasures of Greek gastronomy" records 100 typical products from various regions of Greece and from the whole range of food items. Some of them have been identified with the life of the Greek both in the present and in the recent past, but also in the distant past, which reaches as far as Greek mythology. Other foods carry magnificent stories, such as the Corinthian raisin, which in the 19th century played an important role in the Greek economy, securing 70% of Greek exports and a huge wealth in its cultivation and marketing areas, while others, such as capers. or prickly pear, are plants particularly characteristic of the Greek land.
The Cafes of Greece - © 2013
My acquaintance with the cafes took place in an unconscious and effortless way. For so many years I have been traveling and writing, cafes have always been an important station of my research. Here I would rest when I arrived in a village and here I would get my first information. Here the action plans would be made and here the initial awkward loneliness of the newcomer would be overcome in a little while, as one by one the spectators would surround me to give me the information they knew to help me. And in the evenings after the end of the various missions, when I returned to the cafe relaxed, recounting my "achievements" and confirming the information they gave me and the correctness of their directions, here among appetizers and rakes we celebrated my research successes. But most of all we were celebrating the joy of our acquaintance.
The Festivals in the Aegean - © 2011
During my travels, whether as a pilgrim, or as a visitor, or as a researcher, I have had the pleasure of attending over two hundred festivals. I met hundreds of musicians, violators, lyre players, tsambounierides and I was left captivated for hours by their music. I listened and sang songs whose lyrics broke my heart, and others that took it to the next level. I danced and had fun, sometimes until the very end, learning on the spot several lesser-known traditional dances. I met many important clergy who, in addition to their religious role, played a leading role in the social life of the place, but also in feasting and entertainment. I met dozens of cooks who were each fed from an entire village. I was lucky enough to be trusted with their recipes and the secrets of their work.
The Athenian Tavern - © 2009
The Athenian Tavern is tied to the history and culture of the city of Athens as in a historical course it nurtured and developed the most characteristic cultural goods of Hellenism. Here the Athenian chant flourished, the rebetiko became manly, the folk songs were sung by the internal immigrants. In the Athenian tavern, the fleeing Asia Minor celebrated for the first time, the outcasts and the marginalized found refuge, the Athenians enjoyed the Carnival and the Carnival and finally the students sang the songs of Mikis Thodorakis during the Dictatorship. It is no coincidence that there is no genre of Greek music that has not dedicated great songs to the tavern.
Paros: Journey to Place and Time - © 2008
Paros does not have the high mountains of Naxos, the strong winds of Mykonos, the wild but seductive landscape of the cliffs of Santorini. The Parian mountains and hills are low, fading sweetly to the shores that are rarely rugged and ripped by the winds. The meltemia seem to have made an informal agreement with Paros. They blow enough to extinguish the summer capsule, but not enough to cut down the island. The beaches of Paros are full of secret attractions, like women who do not want to show all their skills. Its nature is interesting and rich, as long as you want to discover it, to search and drink from what it seems, to see things that you do not even imagine. Its villages are beautiful and lively but they want a tourist approach and not a tourist to open their arms and let you get to know them. But the island that I fell in love with in 1975 when I first met it and made it a part of my life, in the past 40 years has changed and transformed.
The Signs of the Aegean - © 2007
The book "The Signs of the Aegean" traces and imprints the signs of the Archipelago: The physiognomy and the importance of its ports, which thanks to the demon and the naval skills of its people created the Greek maritime miracle, as well as the history of sea routes they are connected by the boats, the trehantaria, the chernikia specimens and the liveliest carpentry tradition of Europe. The rich flora of the Aegean islands is described in detail that unfortunately in summer we find few traces of the variety of its vegetation. Then the monuments of the past, Antiquity, Byzantium are presented and finally the publication focuses on the monuments of material and intangible culture of modern times.
Philosophy
The way of approaching the subjects, apart from the information that is necessary and obvious, focuses on the acquaintance of the creators that are hidden behind them. A anthropocentric approach so that their stories become known. These people, the "creators of the countryside", most with individual, family but also with larger (and sometimes very large) businesses, give in practice their answer to the calls of the times. Alone, with minimal help from state institutions, faced with the grip of bureaucracy and the indifference of the institutions, they fight in the most adverse conditions and win battles in the domestic market and, very often, the recognition of foreigners.
Most young, educated, producers, processors and traders at the same time, create the new model entrepreneur and with love for their place, respect to the environment, passion for their work, persistence in quality and faith in the value of their products, they build the image of modern Greek entrepreneurship in the countryside.
The same happens with those chefs, restaurants, taverns who ignore the sirens of lifestyle and western gastronomic standards and try, utilizing Greek agri-food products and local cuisines, to present the modern versions of Greek gastronomy.
The texts are accompanied by photos that George Pittas took in his travels, with a few exceptions that mainly concern some delicacies, and which were given to us by the owners of the restaurants. Some of the photos of the website were first published in the material of the books of George Pittas. The photos were taken without any direction. No crockery, utensils were used professionally, nor was the support of styling professionals requested. In fact, sometimes the producers - photographed at work - were upset that we were stuck at their feet.
The writer-traveler George Pittas was both a partygoer, a journalist and a photographer, so sometimes the photographic result may be artistically backward, but what we were interested in was in any case - at festivals, cafes, products or delicacies - to the atmosphere of the moment is captured without any attempt at landscaping of the subject, with the food, say, on a tablecloth full of crumbs, soiled. Because after all, this is life, full of crumbs and stains…
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