On the way to a place on the UNESCO list the soup of the night owls.
A all-you-can-eat souvlaki – a phrase that is often heard in fast food restaurants, now acquires another dimension since the Tripe enters the list of the choices of foodies everywhere. Coarsely or finely chopped, the tripe now goes into the wrapper and it becomes a sandwich for those who want to enjoy (also) in the hand what was previously only tasted on the plate.
The tripe souvlaki is the brainchild of acclaimed chef Şemsa Denizsel, and everyone who attended last night’s event at one of Thessaloniki’s longest-running tripe restaurants, the Tsarouhas tripe restaurant, had the opportunity to try it on the occasion of International Tripe Day. At the same event, another well-known chef, Maria Ekmetsioglou, presented another taste proposal capable of delighting even the most demanding palate, since she combines tripe with chickpea hummus.
The event was organized with the cooperation of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Department of Tourism and took place within the framework of the 59th Dimitrios festival as it is part of the actions of Thessaloniki as a member of the UNESCO network of creative cities for gastronomy.
Sail for a place on the UNESCO list
Dimitris Tsarouhas, second generation owner of the well-known patsa shop, is claiming a place on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage products for tripe, who would like, as he explained at yesterday’s event, to succeed in order to dedicate this victory to his memory his father, who passed away a year and a half ago.
“We have completed the first two phases, we have gathered all the documents together with Lena Oflidou, who has written a book about the tripe and in collaboration with Islahane, and we have already submitted the file to the Ministry of Culture a few months ago – to be exact last February, so during this period we are waiting for the final approval to be given so that the tripe can be included in the relevant list” noted Mr. Tsarouhas.
“We have spent countless moments in this shop together with the late Nikos Tsarouha, who was a personal friend of mine, and we are sure that this tradition of years will continue. The tradition of our city and of the City continues”, said, for his part, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Stelios Angeloudis.
The consul general of Turkey in Thessaloniki, Serkan Gedik, also attended the event, who thanked the owner for the invitation, while expressing his satisfaction for his presence in a store with a huge history in the city.
