Ierapetra hosts Eastern Crete Gastronomy Festival dedicated to the sea
The Eastern Crete Gastronomy Festival took place in Ierapetra, Lasithi, on Sunday, 2 August 2026, where a jury judged 49 local recipes built around seafood. Chef and cookbook author Ilias Mamalakis sat on that jury.
The gastronomy event ran alongside the Music Festival, and both formed part of the Summer Documentary and Film Festivals that artistic director Eleni Vlassi organizes each summer. This year the short-film, cinema, music and gastronomy programs were all dedicated to the sea, so organizers asked participants to present seafood recipes for the panel to judge.
The jury paired Mamalakis with members of the Greek Academy of Chefs: Pantazis Simopoulos of Ierapetra, Nikos Kassapakis of Heraklion, Ioanna Pantelaki of Chania and Michalis Samarakis of Tsoutsouros. According to Neakriti, the panel was impressed by the standard of the 49 recipes and by the table presentations that the organized teams prepared.
For the first time in Greece, according to the report, the Group of Friends of Professional Fishermen of Ierapetra demonstrated how older fishermen on Chrysi island grilled freshly caught sardines and other fish “antikristo,” facing the fire. Amateur cook Nikos Petasis led the group with griller Giannis Savvakis. They dug a hollow in the sand where the waves break, lit a fire inside it and set improvised wooden skewers with the fish around the flames.
The report singled out two standouts among the 49 dishes: the grouper with okra from Oreino and the plates from the Group of Friends of Fishermen of Ierapetra. Inside the amphitheater on the seafront square, Savvakis grilled sardine “antikristo” live, a contribution from the fishermen of Ierapetra.
Dishes presented to the jury
The dishes presented to the jury included tartlets with a cream of local Koutsouras avocado, sour apple, grated cucumber, ouzo and hot pepper, topped with fresh shrimp and marinated sardine. A spicy tomato orzo carried swordfish fillets, Florina peppers, chopped cherry tomatoes and fresh shrimp. Other plates were seafood dolmades wrapped in vine leaves, sweet-potato leaves and zucchini flowers, and stuffed peppers and baby eggplants filled with rice, swordfish and herbs under a graviera crust. The judges also noted a stuffed fig with Cretan pichtogalo cheese and roasted almonds.
