NEW YORK – Simple economics dictates that one of the im
portant paths out of the
Greece crisis is exports, especially, in the beginning, a
gricultural products. The rising
global respect for the Mediterranean diet is increasin
g the world’s appreciation for
Greek produce, but marketing initiatives, like the recent
event organized in Manhattan
by Agreeno, the Association of Rice Producers from Greece,
are vital.
The highlight was a presentation by world famous chef, a
uthor and food journalist Diane
Kochilas, who introduced fresh summer recipes which introdu
ced the new indigenous
Bistro Rissoto rice from Northern Greece.
Apostolos Digbasanis, Trade Commissioner at Consulate Gen
eral of Greece in New
York, invited Amb. George Iliopoulos, Consul General of
Greece, to present opening
remarks at the event supported by the Greek Trade Office
and the Press and
Communication Office of Greece in New York.
Iliopoulos noted that “the traditional Greek diet is t
he model for what is called the
Mediterranean diet, considered to be the healthiest,
most nutritional diet in the world.”
He said the diet could be described as mostly vegetarian,
and described the reasons for
that fact. As a mountainous country, there is limited gra
zing ground for cattle in Greece,
so meat production is lower there than in Northern Eur
ope, and as a relatively poor
country, consumption was always limited. “Meat was a luxury,
reserved for special
family celebrations,” he said.
“The Greek Orthodox calendar also includes more than 18
0 fast days,” so that other
protein sources like lentils and beans were also importan
t dishes, products, which along
with chickpeas, are also marketed by Agreeno.
He said it is not very well known that that Greece’s appr
eciation for rice was goes as far
back as Herodotus, who noted its high nutritional value.
Iliopoulos also pointed out “that
rice cultivation and consumption was introduced in Europ
e by the returning soldiers of
Alexander the Great.
It is also understood by nutritionists, however, that cult
ures that consume either rice or
beans experience malnutrition, something that is avoide
d in the Greek diet that includes
both.
Greece produces nearly 120,000 tons of rice per year, o
f which almost half is exported
to the rest of Europe and Iliopoulos pointed out that
while Greece has limited
agricultural land, “with a perfectly balance climate an
d the right soil, we produce