O Thodoris Papanikolaou gave me three years ago perhaps my most impressive culinary experience. We were in Moon in Santorini when the George Hatzigiannakis he warned me that I would try a dish that would be etched in my memory. The "spinach with rice" of Theodore, was indeed something unique, delicious and artistic. Since then I became fun of Theodore, of this ascetic physiognomy - as if he came from paintings by Dominikos Theotokopoulos - who with his long and narrow fingers creates delicacies that evoke a smile, joy and of course strong taste impressions. But the more exuberant he is in his tastes, the more introverted, gentle and humble he is in his life. I struggled a lot with his interview - I have been negotiating it for two years - but today 11-1-2018 is a fact.

• You were born: I was born in Farsala and grew up there until I was 18.
• Childhood memories: A game on the street until nightfall, koromila (whoever had found the best koromila in the city was also the dude), sandwich with tomato and feta (because my mother was chasing me to eat, so the sandwich was an "easy solution". Food was much tastier in the past (especially vegetables and fruits) than today.
• Children's favorite food: Stuffed (only with rice, not minced meat).
• Studies:  I studied Cooking at IEK Delta Thessaloniki.
• When did you feel that you would dedicate yourself to cooking: From the very beginning of High School, for an inexplicable reason, I said that I wanted to become a chef. My involvement with painting made me believe that there is a connection between these two (cooking & painting). I did not even enter the process of taking Panhellenic exams and studying something else. My decision was to try to become a good chef and I will never forget that.

• Cooks who influenced your cooking: My teacher at Zisis Kerameas school taught me to love raw materials. Marco Stabile, chef and owner of the Ora D'aria restaurant in Florence, taught me how to cook… He put everything I had learned back in me, but at the same time he taught me so much more.
• Images or events that inspired you: My contact with the land from a young age as I grew up in a rural area. My grandmother's cooking, the countryside, My passage through Italy and my acquaintance with George Hatzigiannakis
• Where did you work: I worked in Halkidiki, Athens, Santorini, Folegandros etc. then to Italy and Florence. Then at the restaurant Selini, at the hotel Athens was and at the restaurant sense but also at IEK PRAXIS where I teach now.

• Materials you love: Vegetables in general, herbs and olive oil
• Philosophy of your kitchen: My kitchen philosophy has to do first with absolute respect for the materials I manage. I generally try to experiment with Greek dishes. I want to present all this through another perspective. My own perspective. How I would imagine a food myself if I had to "invent" it.

"Spinach", spinach, leek, kale, sheep yogurt, raspberry. A creation that from an aesthetic and taste point of view tends to absolute perfection.

• Dishes you created, loved and left traces: Definitely the "spinach" with the raspberry and the sheep yogurt, the Lavraki with the bean soup and the roe with Greek coffee, the Tortelli "like a village salad".
• The role of locality in food: In general, it is very important to have areas with gastronomic culture, which means that they should consume local products, products produced there. It happens to a fairly high degree in relation to the past and the xenomania that had taken over everything in our lives and therefore our gastronomic habits. It is very important because these products are also our identity

• Greek cuisine today: Greek cuisine today is at a very high level but the public should be at this level. But surely many beautiful things happen and many more will happen over time.
• Greek gastronomy in the face of the crisis: I believe that the Greek gastronomy is financially at a level that it should be before the crisis. Of course, it is not only the crisis but also the food tax that directly affects a restaurant and its customers.
• How would you like to be considered: I would like to be considered as someone who loves what he does. That's enough for now… I still have a lot to give then

The "vegetable garden", a salad with "multiform ravioli" from delicate slices of red and yellow beetroot, potato, sweet potato, celery root, each stuffed with vegetable puree are accompanied.

• An unforgettable moment: The first day I worked at the Ora D'aria restaurant in Florence.
• Dreams of gastronomic content: To open my own restaurant where I will produce most of the raw materials myself. From flour to vegetables.
• Life dreams: To have a beautiful family, to continue doing what I love and health.