Honors for Greek producers in border regions

Willpower and perseverance against all odds or can labor and struggle on the land and waters of the homeland be rewarded? Our debt to the Greeks living in the border regions of the country is immense, collective and personal for each of us.

Any initiative to highlight their contributions means nothing compared to the recognition they deserve. A small token of appreciation was the ceremony of the 16th Quality Award of the influential gastronomic magazine "Gastronomos" by Kathimerini Publishing, which this year took place in the Evros neighborhood, which is finding its rhythm again after the terrible summer forest fires.

The event honored producers from the border regions of Greece - from Evros to the island of Kasos and from the northern regional''the urban district of Prespes to Chios. In the magazine they found producers working hundreds of kilometers away from the Greek capital, often in unfavorable conditions. These people are active and energetic, stand out not only for the quality of the products they produce, but also for their etiquette, and serve as motivation for other young people to stay and work in their native place.

The event took place in the old customs warehouses in Alexandroupoli, which since the beginning of the last century have been associated with life in the port of the city - as an entry and exit point for people and goods, and therefore as a fundamental center of the economic life of a wide region.

The executive editor of Kathimerini, Alexis Papahelas, said that for the people of Euros and other Greeks living in the border regions, modern patriotism is not a Twitter post, but a daily struggle like the one in March 2020 during the migrant crisis at the border. Sakellaropoulou herself later said on the pedestal, "Homeland is where we cry. And every time I saw Stavroupoli appear on the horizon, I wept.".