The “Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos” Foundation and the Messinian Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the “Educational Gastronomy Seminars for Food Service Professionals in Messinia.” The free seminars took place on March 5, 6 and 7 in Costa Navarino under the auspices of the ATHINORAMA magazine and the “Chrysos Skoufos” (Golden Cap) awards. The educational seminars comprised the third and final phase of the program “Promoting and Establishing Messinian Cuisine.” The aim of the seminars was to support the effort to promote and establish Messinian cuisine, promote local Messinian products, improve the available agricultural, culinary and tourist products of the area, and also improve the services provided in the food service sector.
During the seminar, many important topics regarding the food service sector were discussed, most notably the promotion of the value and advantages of Messinia’s local products and culinary particularities, the connection between gastronomy and tourism, as well as the possibility to create collaborations between local producers and food service professionals.

More than 20 distinguished scientists, in Greece and abroad, professionals, awarded chefs, food critics, and various other specialists in the gastronomy and tourism sector participated in this three-day program. Chefs such as Lefteris Lazarou, Doxis Bekris, Christoforos Peskias, Nikos Fotiadis, Nikos Sarantos and Dimitris Skarmoutsos, and also journalists such as Dionysis Koukis, Niki Mitarea, Dimitris Mihailidis, Christiana Stamatelou and Thalia Tsihlaki, presented modern techniques and procedures for upgrading and improving the services offered, as well as the profitability of the food service enterprises in Messinia.