The Trikala Chamber of Commerce's event on local gastronomy at the conference room of the ANANTI City Resort hotel was a complete success. The theme of the event was: "Gastronomic wealth as a pillar of tourism development" and was held in the context of promoting the gastronomic identity of our place with its own brand name METEORISIMO with distinguished guests and speakers.

The event was an important milestone in the Chamber's fifteen-year innovative action to record, highlight and integrate local gastronomy into the local tourism product under its own brand name METEORISIMO, with speakers including top chef, ambassador of Greek gastronomy Argyro Barbarigou, who fights for the promotion of traditional Greek cuisine, the president of the world gastronomic tourism organization Maria Athanasopoulou and the president of the department of dietetics and nutrition of the University of Thessaly Athanasios Tziamourtas.

The president of the Trikala Chamber of Commerce, Vasilis Yiagiakos, underlined, among other things, that "the Trikala Chamber of Commerce was the first in the country to emphasize gastronomy, prioritizing the promotion of the rich Trikala gastronomy, creating in 2005 "TRIKALINI GEFSI S.A.", a non-profit civic company created by professionals in the industry with the coordination and assistance of the Trikala Chamber of Commerce. The purpose and objective of TRIKALINI GEFSI S.A. is to preserve the traditional Trikala cuisine, which is linked to the tradition and culture of the region."

Mr. Yiagiakos then emphasized: "Then the need arose for local gastronomy to acquire its own, recognizable brand name. Thus, METEORISIMO was born, through which the local gastronomic identity was identified and highlighted in a special event held in 2014 at Mylos Matsopoulos, in the presence of distinguished chefs and of course professionals in the industry, where our gastronomic culture was interconnected with local products and modern gastronomy, contributing to the creation of the new gastronomic identity of the region, which is directly linked to the Monastic Community of Meteora and monastic cuisine."

The president of the Trikala Chamber of Commerce referred to the promotion of the procedures for the certification of Trikala sausage, which is the only meat product that will acquire the identity of Protected Geographical Indication Product, as well as the molecular identification of the excellent quality Koziaka oregano in order to make the prefecture of Trikala the center of aromatic plants and herbs in Greece, a fact that gives new prospects to the cause of local gastronomy.

Concluding, he said that "our goal is for the traditional cuisine of Trikala to be included in all the food businesses in the Prefecture that will bear the METEORISIMO brand and a special category for local cuisine will be added to their lists, and that is why we are moving forward together because they are the main contributors to this project."

The event captured local gastronomy as a timeless element of Trikala's cultural tradition through the use of modern audiovisual media (video) that will be used to promote local gastronomy through the use of electronic means of communication and information.

The Chamber of Trikala awarded the regional governor Kostas Agorastos for the excellent cooperation and assistance of the Region in the innovative actions of the Chamber and awarded the Chamber's emblem to the speakers for their valuable contribution to the promotion of local gastronomy and its promotion as a key element of our tourism product, as well as to the entrepreneur of the company Hellenic Dairies S.A. Michalis Sarantis for the valuable contribution of the company to the implementation of the event as a major sponsor and to the president of the Cooperative Bank of Thessaly Anastasios Lappas for the bank's also significant sponsorship.

This was preceded by greetings from the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Costas Skrekas, the Regional Governor of Thessaly, Costas Agorastos, the Mayor of Trikala and President of KEDE, Dimitris Papastergiou, and the President of GSEVEE, Giorgos Kavvathas.