Informative and Entertaining, Greek Agricultural Producer Event a Hit in NY

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Informative and Entertaining, Greek Agricultural Producer Event a Hit in NY

July 14, 2015

By The National Herald Archive

hrf

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

agricultural products of the highest standards and we can

see significant exports in the

future.”

The market in the United States is very sophisticated, how

ever, and Iliopoulos

emphasized that professional endeavors are required. He

said “the Greek rice

producers meet its demands and requirements and therefor

e we can be optimistic of

food partnership that will benefit both the American

consumers and the Greek

producers.”

Marc Schmettau, Agreeno’s International Development Di

rector, told TNH about the

importance of such events. He noted that programs like R

ice Up co-financed by Greece

and the EU gives Agreeno the ability to connect with loca

l people and facilitate entering

the U.S. market.

Agreeno is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a cooperati

ve of farmers – some of them

do have their own brands – that packages and distributes

the product worldwide.

Schmettau said that the function has not changed since th

e function, but the focus has

changed. “The rice and legumes growers are now more focu

sed on the export market.”

Agreeno is expanding its foreign market expertise regar

ding countries’ import

procedures and quality standards and they recently we satisf

ied the requirements of

international retailers he said.

According to its website, www.agrino.com the quality con

trols are performed in the two

fully equipped laboratories the company has in its factori

es at Agrinion and

Thessaloniki.”

The guests enjoyed the receptions that preceeded and fol

lowed the presentation – the

Bistro Risotto was among the offerings and Greek wines im

ported by Stellar

Importing was also provided.

Among the guests was Sara Baer-Sinott, the President of

Oldways, a food and nutrition

non-profit based in Boston that was founded in 1990 a

nd is best known for developing

the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid to easily communicate it

s content and importance. “We

worked with two of the best scientists,” in the nutriti

on field, “who are Greek, Antonia

Trichopoulou and Demetrios Trichopoulos – who sadly died

this past December.

Antonia is known as the Mother of the Mediterranean D

iet and we’ve had the pleasure

of working with her for the past 20 years.”

“When we started 25 years ago we got together a group

of scientists, Antonia and

Demetrios being two of them. The idea was to describe t

he Mediterranean diet and

create a sensible and delicious eating guide.”

Baer-Sinott is a big fan of Kochilas and was happy to com

e all the way from Boston at

Digbasanis’ invitation. She has been to Greece many ti

mes, where she has held

symposiums.

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