Mount Athos Gastronomic Festival Wraps Up

Closing ceremony of the “Mount Athos Area Gourmet 2013” gastronomic festival.

The further cooperation of local producers and tourism professionals was established recently at the closing ceremony of the “Mount Athos Area Gourmet 2013” gastronomic festival that took place in the Athos region.

The “Mount Athos Area Gourmet 2013” was an organized effort of the Mount Athos Area Organization and chef Dina Nikolaou to promote the area’s local production and products and establish the area as a gastronomic destination to attract thematic visitors.

Chef Yiannis Kritikos’ fish soup.

The festival, which will be known next year as “Mount Athos Area Kouzina,” ran for one month (15 May-15 June) and hosted 33 press representatives from the Greek, European and Asian market.

During the five weeks of the festival, guests experienced the gourmet creations of 14 chefs – based on organic products from 10 local producers of the Athos region – that highlighted both the local primary sector and its products along with culinary trends and influences in the area. Eleven local businesses and five local associations also participated in the festival.

During the festival’s closing, visitors and press representatives sampled sophisticated flavors and wines from Domain Claudia Papagianni and Metochi Chromitsa and had the opportunity to experience the “revival” of the Asia Minor gastronomic custom “Kourbani” (beef broth with oatmeal).

Chefs Dina Nikolaou and Yiorgos Psyllos mixing the traditional “Kourbani.”

“Mount Athos Area Gourmet 2013” traveled to nine European cities during the winter and presented thematic menus, dishes and local products to a total of 176 press representatives.

The festival was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace and the Greek National Tourism Organization.