2011 will be remembered as a turning point year for the Lonsdale Street Glendi, according to Ross Karavis, because it is the first year that food will be given a central role in the programming for the event. Ross Karavis should know, he has spent the last two months working at pulling together a program of food activities for the Lonsdale Street Glendi.

“The Festival made a decision to revamp the Festival format last year and approached me with the idea of developing a food precinct where we would organise a cluster of activities which reflect the importance of food to the everyday life of Greeks.” The results of his hard work can be seen in the two-day program that he has pulled together.

Each day there will be five hours of food and cooking demonstrations in the Clive Peeters Greek kitchen. “One of the things I wanted to do was to gather some of Melbourne’s best exponents of Greek food under the one roof on Lonsdale Street to present cooking demonstrations that will remind you of all that is wonderful and exciting about Greek food in Melbourne.”

On Saturday the cooking demonstrations will draw on the celebratory spirit of Apokries (the Greek carnival) while on the Sunday they will pay tribute to the longstanding Greek culinary traditions of Lent. While George Calombaris won’t be at the event the program will feature two chefs who are well known in Melbourne’s restaurant scene for their working at a very high level.

Travis McAuley (Hellenic Republic) and Vas Donoudis (Church Street Enoteca) will be the major drawcards for the program of cooking demonstrations. “They will be drawing on their years of experience working in kitchens both here and abroad to present modern Greek food which is relaxed and contemporary but with finesse, ” Karavis said.

The program will also feature Jim Pothitos from The Greek Deli and Stavros Abougelis from Stavros Tavern doing their take on modern tavern food. “Stavros and Jim are two old hands who have more than 50 years combined experience in Greek restaurants. These are guys who have adapted with the times without losing the basic essence of what good taverna food is. So we will have them preparing Greek tavern food which will have you marvelling at its simple elegance, ” Karavis said.

However, the program is not only about what happens in restaurant kitchens, it is also about what happens in the kitchens at home. “Greeks brought many of their local and regional food traditions with them when they migrated to Australia and these foods are an essential part of their cultural heritage. Given the strong community focus of the Glendi, I wanted to make sure that some of the Greek regional food traditions were represented in the program,” Karavis said.

Four Greek community organisations have come on board to showcase traditional foods from their part of the world. On the Saturday the Cypriot Community of Victoria members will be making the traditional Cypriot sausage, sheftalies, and the Kastellorizian Association of Victoria members will be making their traditional fried sweet, the katoumari. On the Sunday the Pan Epirotic Federation members will be making traditional pites the Epirotes are renowned for and the Pan Cretan Federation members will also be making the traditional Cretan savoury pastry, kaltsounia, which they are renowned for.

Lovers of Greek coffee will also have a chance to win great prizes as part of the inaugural Best Greek Coffee in Melbourne competition. “Lots of people fancy themselves when it comes to making a Greek coffee. So this is a chance for all of those briki baristas to show their wares in the heat of a sudden death competition. It will be a duel to the death with Greek coffee, sugar, water and a briki as their weapons of choice,” Karavis said.

Four heats will be held on the Saturday and on Sunday from 4 – 5pm with a sudden death final at 5pm between the winners of the heats. Asked why such a program is important Karavis responds: “Greeks love nothing better than to share plates of mezedakia and a glass of wine with friends. It’s how we demonstrate our conviviality and our hospitality. “So it’s fantastic that the Antipodes Festival has placed food at the centre of the Lonsdale Street Glendi program. It’s another way the Festival has of saying ‘welcome to our home.’ ”

The Lonsdale St Glendi will be held from Saturday 5 – Sunday 6 March. For further information and a detailed program schedule see www.antipodesfestival.com.au