A long and interesting course in cooking and consulting. Yiannis Stanitsas Interview
We are very pleased that you will now be formally supporting the scientific team for “Greek taste beyond borders” (GTBB) on the international campaign that began within the context of the first International Hellenic Gastronomy Conference. Tell us how you feel about this unique honour?
There is no greater honour than to be able to show around the world the tastes the feelings the outcomes the joy and pride of being a Greek chef and promoting a cuisine that is beyond taste but it’s about falling in love everyday with history of creating something unique in a such a unique country.
Tell us about your international career and your love of cooking. How did you start?
It is all about respecting understanding and always loving the job that you were meant to do. To cook is to love to be able to create to feel and make people see through your eyes that you can capsure the whole world into a plate so simple. To be able to travel around the world it’s a dream a passion a conquest a personal achievement and I am proud of myself for being able to promote my own country.
How do you comprehend and perceive Hellenic gastronomy?
As per my point of view Hellenic Gastronomy is a project about showing to the rest of the world our cuisine our freshly made products our way of thinking and our ways of creating, our history and traditions our ethnicity most inportant our love for creativity and passion to achieve the very best.
Are we deserving of Hellenic gastronomy’s international position? Are you satisfied with its image?
I believe each country each gastronomy deserves a spotlight. It’s like a collaboration with all the countries. We never stop evolving and adjusting to create an image that will take your breath away by seeing always something new something unique.
Does Hellenic gastronomy have borders ?
To be able to evolve is to have no borders is to be able to mix and match to taste to see and touch to feel to fall in love and to create to be passionate without the feeling that something is holding you back.
Estiatoria.gr group has been following you for many years. How did you come to be recognised as an international Greek chef who is internationally evolving Hellenic gastronomy? Has the achievement of recognition been a difficult journey?
It took hard work endless days of seeking ways to follow my passion be pleased with my achievemts and never stop trying to go even further always conquering something more something new. Through my journey as a chef I learned so much about food but through food and cooking I learned so much about me. It is about setting goals and always being able to reach them.
Tell us about your latest collaborations outside Greece. Do you consult around the world?
My latest collaboration was in North Carolina and Miami. It was something overwhelming and made me feel touched about showing a different aspect of Mediterranean cooking and making people come together to taste and feel something past ordinary food but something that will amaze their sence of feeling the need to taste everything. I met new people introduced to a new country and beside my working experience there I tasted new things and added something new to my world wide journey.
In closing, please tell us about your impressions from the first International Hellenic Gastronomy Conference with the GTBB campaign that just started! Will you take the GTBB around the world? What are your feelings? And what is your vision for Hellenic gastronomy?
I believe for our first time for putting ourselves out there we were very respectful and through our outstanding team we created something new something fresh for the whole world to see and to gain the respect that we always deserve for having unique tastes through our history and traditions. A big thank you for being so involved and for helping us so much to Fillipos Koutras. It takes a great team of people to create something magnificent and to be able to evolve every year by adding something new always.
