Learn about and experience healthy Ikarian food, cooking and local farming during your holiday and see why Ikaria has been designated as a BlueZone for its extraordinarliy long-lived and healthy people. Your host for the day is Mrs. Eleni Karimali, a renowned Ikarian food expert who has appeared on BlueZones, National Geographic, CNN and other international television and news reports about Ikaria's food and cooking culture.
The setting is the Karimalis Family's 500 year old ancestral mountain estate, farmhouse restaurant and winery located in the scenic and tradiotional village of Pigi, near Armenistis and Evdilos.
The evening starts on the terrace with "Ikarian mezedes" (appetizers) and a glass of organic wine from the winery's limited production. Before and after your cooking lesson/meal, feel free to take a relaxing stroll around the nearby vineyards, winery installations and gardens or just enjoy the view of the surrounding country side and Aegean Sea.
Among the variety of authentic Ikarian dishes you will cook and sample are roasted goat, chickpea and eggplant salads, "Soufiko", a delicious and nourishing vegetable medley which is unique to Ikaria, "pitarakia", traditional Ikarian mini-pies stuffed with fresh from the garden flavored herbs & greens mixes and "Moustalevria", homemade grape wine pudding.
These cooking lessons reveal the secrets of longevity, which are hidden in the island's unique gastronomy. Participants will learn how to prepare and cook three or four recipes from the mainly plant-based Ikarian cuisine. They may actively involve themselves in the cooking process or keep notes, while at the end of the lesson, the food is served for everyone to enjoy together with wine from the family's winery.
Being mostly vegetarian (plant-based), Ikarian cuisine embraces fresh vegetables and organic ingredients (legumes, cereals, flours), fresh (and occasionally dried) aromatic plants and herbs, rich in goodness and with special flavour and aroma. Olive oil is used mainly towards the end of the cooking process. Most of the dishes are cooked in the wood oven. The use of meat in cooking is rare and even then, it comes solely from our own farm. Fish is part of the menu more often and is particularly fresh, as it comes straight from Ikaria's own fishermen.
The fruit, the vegetables and the aromatic herbs, the goat's cheese and the eggs, the olive oil and the olives are all 100% produced on the farm. The bread is pre-leavened and made from 100% Greek flours of ancient origin. It is all these pure ingredients in conjunction with the light way of cooking, forever prevalent in Ikaria, that result in food which has kept all its nutritional value, such as antioxidants, enzymes, vitamins and minerals.
Ikarian Cooking Classes Booking Request Form
Cooking Classes Contact:
Mrs. Eleni Karimali
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Website: www.IkarianWine.gr
Karimalis Winery and Farmhouse RestaurantPigi, Ikaria 83302 Evdilos, Greece
Tel. +302275031945
Mobile: +306975748490
The estate is open all year round.
Book your visit on the numbers above.
The estate is 5 km from the nearest beach.
We are located 8 km to the west of the port of Evdilos and 50 km to the west of the island's airport.