Aegean products arrived in Italy!

Dear friends,

I am very happy to inform you that captain Loucas with the sailing boat Ria 1 arrived at the port of La Spezia at dawn on Saturday 03.10.2020, despite the storm, the high tide and the rain. As he had already done in 2019, he brought various organic products, collected by small producers of the Aegean islands during his pilgrimage from one port to another. Tasty products of high ecological value, compatible with the philosophy of good, clean and fair, what we now call Farm to Fork, from the soil to the plate, a new concept of dynamic and sustainable agriculture.

Ikaria island is fully entitled as one of the five blue zones on the planet, thanks to its Slow Food community – the first in Greece. Slow Food Ikaria takes part in the preservation of local food, traditions and biodiversity. The products can be known and enjoyed without intermediaries, thanks to our friend Captain Lukas Gourtsoyannis, president of the non-profit organization sailmed.org, which creates bridges between the local producers and other markets in Greece and Mediterranean. Furthermore, the transport takes place with the help of wind and sails, without impact on the environment. God Aeolus guides and blesses us!

A very great logistical help is offered to us with great generosity by the local Slow Food community of La Spezia, headed by its president Sandra Ansaldo. Heartfelt thanks to the whole group from La Spezia but also to all the friends of our Ikaria Club in Ticino for their great and constant support!

For the immediate future, we plan to create an active network, in Ticino and in Europe, to support local farmers, so as to make it possible to distribute their products under the Slow Food Ikaria and Ikaria Community brands. SailMed.org would deal with sustainable transport between islands and ports in the Mediterranean.

As already mentioned, despite the difficulties caused by coronavirus, we were able to receive some samples from various producers who with great passion create these delicacies and seek for an outlet on a market, which is able to appreciate its quality and peculiarities. Among the various products we find:

From Tinos: Lasagna with paprika and sweet red peppers, dry bread in different flavors.

From Alonissos: tuna and white tuna pasta with extra virgin olive oil.

From Ikaria: aromatic herbs, mountain tea, Crithmun Maritimum and extra virgin olive oil.

From Kalymnos and Amorgos: Very intense thyme.

From the island of Kea: Noodles made from flour extracted from oak acorns.

From Syros: Sweets and lukum in different aromas.

Several organic olive oils from the Slow Food Ikaria community and from the islands of Skyros and Skopelos, all cold pressed and carefully picked.

Different wines: Ikaria Pramnio wine (first known DOC wine of antiquity and also narrated by Homer and Aristophanes), white wine from Begleri and red barricaded from Fokianò and Kounduro. Rosè from Fokianò. Rosé wine from the island of Skyros, sporades and more.

For those who are  interested, we still have some olive oil while the rest has unfortunately already been sold. Don’t get disappointed though: orders are open for next time and if you want we can make contacts with producers available, just write to us.

Greetings,

Dr. Stavros Rantas

President of Slow Food Ikaria

Member of SailMed.org