The art of gluten-free cooking!
Gluten-free cooking in Lefkada, Preveza, Thessaloniki and all over the world!!!
Cooking is art. It is love and passion. It is a desire for life.
And as Cavafy says:
“Always have Ithaca in your mind.
Getting there is your destination.
But do not rush the journey at all.
Better years long to last
and as an old man to lounge on the island,
rich with everything you won on the road,
not expecting Ithaca to give you any riches.
Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey.
Without it you will not be on the road.
But it has nothing more to give.
And if you find it poor, Ithaca did not fooled you.
So wise you became, with so much experience,
you’ll have already understand what Ithacas mean.”
With such thoughts, hope and many “Ithaca” to expect me, with love for cooking, I started creating this blog.
To be able to transmit these feelings to all those who suffer from celiac disease or type 1 diabetes. To everyone who wants to believe that life continues on the long and difficult day-to-day path.
That’s why I started this year to attend classes at the Public Vocational Training Institute of Lefkada at the Art of Cooking department.
In relation to my participation in this department, I have already obtained valuable data.
Theory combines with practice and Art of Cooking’s secrets unfold with the assistance and guidance of the teachers.
Extremely proud should be the city of Lefkada and the wider region that hosts people with such passion, knowledge and will for creation.
Our teachers-mentors try to implant these features to all students of the Art of Cooking department of P.V.T.I. of Lefkada.
And the results of their hard work really start to pan out.
An excellent group of children and teachers participated this year in the context of Helexpo-Detrop 2017 (26th International Food, Beverage, Equipment & Packaging Exhibition) event, held in the city of Thessaloniki from 3 to 6 March 2017.
There, the Chef’s Club of Northern Greece hosted and organized the 10th International Cooking Competition of Southern Europe, where
professionals and apprentices of the field participated.
A group of friends with love and worship for cooking managed to deservedly stand before private, national and foreign missions’ behemoths that as a whole had the participating experience in such events but also the full organizational support in their missions.
I can only mention that Turkish and Cyprus teams came to the competition as national teams, each representing their own country, bringing with them their national tourism organization support and many equipment and cooking items.
The team of Lefkada fought with love, passion, teamwork and solidarity. A group of excellent teachers, Chef Dimitris Kalogiros and Chef Baharoula Kakavaladi, were the foundations of this group’s success. The mentors and leaders of our team.
Final team’s report: 1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze and 3 praises.
100% Success
Presentations by Student Chefs:
Category: B4 Vegetarian Dish:Sofia Tsiakalou: Ασημένιο Μετάλλιο
Category: B6 Traditional Greek Dish: Christina Stamatelou: Χάλκινο Μετάλλιο
Category: B2 Risotto Dish: Theodoros Nousias: Χάλκινο Μετάλλιο
Category: B7 Lamb Dish Sotirios Vatsilas: Χάλκινο Μετάλλιο
Category: B3 Pasta Dish Sotiria-Finta Xeir: Έπαινος (4η Θέση)
Category: B9 Salad with Combination: Sofia Tsiakalou: Έπαινος (4η Θέση)
Category: B5 Pork Dish: Christos Mprikos: Έπαινος (4η Θέση)
Special Event (Out of schedule competition)
Competition for Traditional Greek Barbecue: Dimitrios Kalogiros: Gold Medal
Personally, I participated in the “Vegetarian Dish” category as a main and auxiliary (after a participant’s cancellation) in “Salad with combination”.
In main category I won the silver medal with total 82.25 points and in salad a praise of participation (4th place).
The recipe with which I won was “Gluten-free vegetarian moussaka!! (I’ll upload it shortly).
All of this was a great success for me, a reward that I am heading to the right direction and a vindication for my effort to establish a gluten-free nutrition in an international art of cooking competition.
I dedicate these conquests to my children and to those who suffer from celiac disease and diabetes.
I promise you that I will try to continue this struggle of creation and justification so that the diversity of the gluten-free and celiac disease nutrition is knowned and disseminated as much as possible. And this without deviate from the balance that all of us (not just those with diabetes) have to keep within a daily nutrition that keeps us healthy and gives us strength and enjoyment in life.
I thank from the bottom of my heart the team of PVTI of Lefkada who accepted me with so mush love, my professors and VTI’s management for this support.
