The Directorate of Culture and the Tourism Department are organizing five thematic events centered around the history of flavors, from antiquity to the present day, as part of the 59th Dimitria Festival.
On Tuesday, October 1st, 2024, at 7:00 PM, legendary Thessaloniki restaurants such as Despina Mavromati’s “Zythos Dore,” Ismini Tornivouka’s “Olympos Naousa,” Nikos Nyfoudis’ “Tiffany X 1905,” and Dina Tertsi’s “Miami” will take center stage. These culinary landmarks have been writing history since the last century and have contributed to the city’s most glorious moments in urban cuisine. Chefs Dimitris Tasioulas, Sofia Teftsis, Prodromos Asimakis, and Despina Mavromati will reveal the unique flavors that have made their restaurants iconic in the city’s gastronomic scene. Love, knowledge, passion, and entrepreneurial insight are the essential ingredients for an historic restaurant to retain its magic over time.
Charita Vlachou, Professor of “Gastronomic Tourism & Food Science” at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, will discuss how the city’s iconic restaurants can highlight local gastronomy and attract tourists, while publisher and director of Citymag magazine, Angelos Vasos, will talk about the importance of preserving the places where history has been made.
The event will be presented and moderated by the specialized food journalist, Kostas Giantsios, from Biscotto.gr. Chef Dimitris Tasioulas will present the iconic “frikasé lamb” (braised lamb with lettuce) of the “Olympos Naousa” restaurant, accompanied by students from the La Chef Levi Higher School of Culinary Arts and Pastry, and paired with “Gorgones” wines from the urban vineyard of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
The event will conclude with the performance “Kitchen Dance _ A House Trance Vocabulary” (starting at 9:00 PM). In “Kitchen Dance,” Katerina, a woman who lives almost exclusively in her kitchen, takes center stage. There, her past, present, and future pass before her eyes in an associative way, transforming into a universal and collective female narrative. Exploring the dimension of free time and its existence within a suffocating daily environment, defined exclusively by the limitation of work, the choreographer came into contact with women from the cultural associations of Eleusis, all of them working women, wives, and mothers. Their testimonies and narratives led her to the nuclear and universal place where free time and work coexist in a delicate balance: the kitchen.
The kitchen, although fully identified with domestic work, is also a place of free female confession, free from the anxiety of possible social criticism. It is, therefore, beyond being a prison and a field of endless manual labor, often an additional task for the already working woman, and a meeting place and a place of celebration, where a woman can take stock of a whole life, setting up her small personal revolution.
The work premiered in Eleusis_Cultural Capital of Europe 2023 with the support of the U(R)TOPIAS _ Academy of Choreography program. Concept | Choreography |
Performance: Katerina Foti
Original Music: Jan Van Angelopoulos
Set Design: Gina Iliopoulou
Costumes: Lina Stavropoulou Lighting: Stevi Koutsothanasis
Trailer: Tasos Goletsos
Photos: Anastasia Giannaki
The event will take place on October 1st in Modiano Market and is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network activities.
