NEWS

We had the chance to go on a local tour with Mama’s Flavours Kalamata and it was probably one of our favourite experiences during our three weeks in the Peloponnese.

We truly believe that the guide has the biggest influence on any tour you do (like your teachers in school, right?). Maria the local behind Mama’s Flavors is a professional, knowledgeable, and amazing host!

Getting under the skin of a place the size of the Peloponnesian coastal city of Kalamata can be tricky, so joining one of Maria Monastirioti’s food tours is a delicious short cut. Maria set up social enterprise Mama’s Flavours as a way of showcasing rural Greek gastronomy, using Greek women (or Mamas) as her ambassadors. She organises cookery classes and wine tastings in the region’s mountain villages and in Kalamata enables you to sample the city’s gastronomic specialities, from its famous black olives and oil to vanilla fir honey, harvested from the region’s pine forests; local sheep’s cheeses; and smoked confit pork. 

Οι foodies, καλοφαγάδες, εκλεκτοφάγοι ή -όπως αλλιώς τους προτιμάτε, πείτε τους- το ξέρουν ήδη: η Καλαμάτα εξελίσσεται σε άκρως ενδιαφέροντα γαστρονομικό προορισμό, καθώς στα εκλεκτά τοπικά προϊόντα (ελαιόλαδο κι ελιές, μέλι, κηπευτικά κ.λπ.) και τις παραδοσιακές μαγειρικές προστίθενται νέες ιδέες και εγχειρήματα από μια μαγιά ανθρώπων που προσπαθεί ο καθένας με τον τρόπο του «να πάει το πράγμα παρακάτω» χωρίς να χάνει τη σχέση του με τη γαστρονομική ταυτότητα και κουλτούρα της περιοχής. Και όλο αυτό συνήθως με μια καλή και τίμια σχέση ποιότητας – τιμής.

Mama’s Flavours’ tours are rooted in the founders’ belief in supporting Greece’s farmers and food artisans, particularly rural women.

Mettre en avant la gastronomie grecque, voilà ce qui passionne Maria Monastirioti qui a créé Mama’s Flavours, une petite entreprise sociale spécialisée dans les expériences de bouche.

The Travel & Hospitality Awards is proud to announce that HIPPOLYTE – MAMA'S FLAVOURS has been awarded in its 2022 European Travel Awards programme.

Inspired by “the Greek mother”, Mamas Flavours culinary tours work with local women producers and entrepreneurs in the south-western Peloponnese. Visitors are introduced to co-operatives and artisans through activities such as fruit harvesting, wine tasting and farm tours. There’s a food and olive oil tasting tour in Kalamata, a wine and food tour of northern Kynouria and a cookery class in Arcadia.

The cookery class in Arcadia is based at a stone house with a library of more than 650 cookery books and visits a cookware museum and restaurant. Guests pick vegetables which Rita then showcases in recipes that include marmalade, pasteli sesame seed bars and trahana fermented milk pasta.

Inspired by “the Greek mother”, Mamas Flavours culinary tours work with local women producers and entrepreneurs in the south-western Peloponnese. Visitors are introduced to co-operatives and artisans through activities such as fruit harvesting, wine tasting and farm tours. There’s a food and olive oil tasting tour in Kalamata, a wine and food tour of northern Kynouria and a cookery class in Arcadia.

A city that faces the sea, bearing the openness of the Messinian Gulf’s embrace, the power of a busy port and the patina of history that runs through its historic centre. The first major city of Greece to be liberated from the Turks, an important commercial port with a strong economy that defined not only Kalamata’s history, but the history of the whole country.

KALAMATA, Greece -- Authentic and local experiences are now the major trends in the travel industry,” reports Greek tourism consultant Dimitris Palaiogiannis. In Greece, he adds, agrotourism and food tourism offerings in various parts of the country combine “the quality products of the land with a unique cultural heritage” to reward explorers with unforgettable experiences.