Partner 3: Association for the Development and Progress of the Dodecanese – DETAP
Aegean Cuisine
The AegeanCuisine initiative is a network of businesses-members in the southern Aegean islands, whose aim is to offer visitors the Aegean feeling and experience. The AegeanCuisine initiative was launched with the aim of exploiting the particularly wealthy Aegean oenogastronomy, aimed at promoting local products and wines as well as at promoting thematic tourism to the island. It belongs to the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Dodecanese and Cyclades and is supported by a number of local stakeholders.
Our philosophy
The Aegean islands produce an exceptional variety of products noted for their combination of flavor, quality, and uniqueness. Moreover, the Aegean islands provide excellent conditions for tourism, combining clean sea, sun, long history, tradition and culture.
The goals of the AegeanCuisine Network are the following:
- To highlight the Aegean as a region with a deep-rooted oenogastronomic culture.
- To familiarise Greek and foreign consumers with Aegean products.
- To promote and establish Aegean products in the domestic and export markets.
- To promote Aegean products to retail and wholesale networks.
A number of activities are constantly implemented for the search and inclusion of island businesses in the Aegean Cuisine Network, which highlight the particularly rich gastronomic tradition of the Aegean Sea, produce and trade typical local products or offer high-quality oenogastronomic products.
Criteria
Businesses eligible for membership in the AegeanCuisine initiative are those in the Dodecanese and Cyclades Prefectures which meet specific criteria ensuring that the products, goods, and services offered reflect and highlight the Aegean’s special gastronomic identity. These businesses must also meet specifications as to the quality of their offerings and provide the visitor-consumer with an unique sensation and experience. The members of the AegeanCuisine Network represent in the best possible way the gastronomic wealth and the habits of the Dodecanese by combining the high quality local products with the traditional recipes of our islands.
The threshold for the AegeanCuisine initiative are dining establishments and any business where the visitor is in direct contact with the flavors, dishes, food products and wines of the Aegean. Priority is given to these businesses in the belief that they act as ambassadors of local gastronomic traditions and purveyors of contemporary adaptations of these culinary traditions and products.
Member-restaurants become ambassadors of the effort to develop the islands of the South Aegean as gastronomic destinations, enriching our vocabulary with new words that stem from this new philosophy; the word “tourist” is replaced by “visitor”, products are not “sold” and services are not “offered” but in both instances we “grant” sensations and experiences through Aegean flavors and the deep-rooted sense of hospitality.
We invite you on a journey in time to live the unique experience of flavours, smells and our culture. While family ties between our islands are strong, each and everyone of them keeps its cultural identity which is reflected in the gastronomic wealth of the Aegean Cuisine. More than 120 certified restaurants in 13 islands of the Dodecanese await you to visit them so that you can go back home home full of…Aegean memories.
