The Aegean cuisine is proud of its incomparable taste and quality flavours, many of which are registered with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). A cuisine with a common denominator of the single culture, the stone, arid land, moistened by the saltiness of the sea, sunburned and windswept, and crowned by its uniqueness, local varieties of vegetables and fruits, free-range animals and seafood. An experiential tour of the Aegean Cuisine will bring us one step closer to exploring the rich culture of this land.
The Aegean cuisine is full of authenticity. Complex, but clear, with tensions but without outbursts, with the stigma of Greekness, but, like any seafood cuisine, enriched with cosmopolitan elements. It is a lively cuisine, with deep roots in the culture of this land, but without staying still, allowing, strictly selectively, exogenous influences to evolve it.
It is based on a central backbone composed of fresh and incomparable taste, seafood, local meats from fine breeds and vegetables from unique varieties, delicious, anhydrous, and grafted with copious of sun.
But the most beautiful of all, is that on every island, the cuisine is so different that this heterogeneous approach to a similar gastronomic culture is surprising. Flavours with the same DNA, but so unique and special. The reason? The rare products grown by hard-working producers, carefully standardized by craftsmen, consciously cooked by traditional and modern cooks in cafes, tavernas and restaurants.
The cuisine of the Aegean offers generously, flavours with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), which cannot wait for you to discover them. Tomato and fava from Santorini, potatoes from Naxos, gruyere San Michalis from Syros, buffalo cheese from Lipsi, kopanisti from Mykonos, wine Malagouzia from Paros, Assyrtiko from Santorini, and local varieties from Rhodes, Kos, Leros, and Lipsi, all of them true experiences, that worth passing from… mouth to mouth. And there are many more rare delicacies that challenge you to explore them: Tinos artichoke, salted fish from Leros, melekouni from Rhodes, beans from Katavia in Rhodes, Andros volaki cheese and Milos pellets, Schinousa and Koufonisia wild goats, sitaka from Kasos and Karpathos, Kythnos macaroons, Anafi boiled cheese, Ios cheese, Kea and Kimolos sour cheese. The raw materials of this cuisine are the thyme honeys of Serifos and Sikinos, the gylomeni manouri cheese of Sifnos, the wild herbs of Folegandros and Heraklia, the Psimeni of Amorgos, the sun-dried octopuses of Antiparos, the xinomizithra of Donoussa, salt from Symi, and of course extra virgin olive oil from Rhodes.
Ingredients with a strong temperament, are transformed into dishes that are indelibly imprinted on the taste buds. Some of the most beautiful souvenirs of our place will be your taste memories, which are not easily forgotten: fluffy fruit, marvellous mostras, awesome meats in the hull, fur and fish savoury, fine-grained savoury pies and sweet and salty cheese pies, unrepeatable macaroons and honeydew pastels. So, how about a high-gastronomy experience so close to sea level?
European Region of Gastronomy
The South Aegean was designated as a European Region of Gastronomy in 2019.
Read details of the project: http://www.aegeangastronomy.gr/
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=U-6mvFythGs&feature=emb_title
The “Taste The Seasons” bidbook in video format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmsR00oO4Y4
The Aegean Cuisine initiative
The Aegean Cuisine initiative is a network of businesses in the islands of the South Aegean that aim to offer visitors the Aegean gastronomy experience. It was founded to utilize and exploit the wealth of Aegean gastronomy, highlight local products and wines, and to promote thematic tourism in these islands. It belongs to the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Dodecanese and Cyclades and is supported by a number of local stakeholders. We invite you on a journey in time to live the unique experience of flavours, scents and an introduction to our culture. While family ties between our islands are strong, each and everyone of them keeps its own cultural identity which is reflected in the gastronomic wealth of the Aegean Cuisine.
More than 300 certified restaurants in 50 islands of the Dodecanese and the Cyclades await you to visit them so that you can go back home with memories full of the Aegean experience. Visit the Aegean Cuisine Website: http://www.aegeancuisine.gr/