Country: Greece

Organization: Crete's Culinary Sanctuaries

Year the initiative began: 1997

Project Website: www.cookingincrete.com

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Corporate monolithic approach to tourism
• Main insight addressed: Establish community incentives

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What is the goal of your innovation?
To help protect Crete's culture and nature by forming mutually beneficial partnerships between communities and visitors.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
CCS serves a dual purpose: To support local preservation work and share those benefits with visitors. During our tailored seminars for small groups, our all-local network of organic farmers, chefs, historians, mountaineers and many others share their knowledge about Crete’s culture and nature. Visitors join us on botanical hikes in the gorgeous countryside, visits to historic sites, organic farms, tranquil villages and rural lodges. Journeys change with the seasons to include artisan production of organic olive oil, wine, cheese, honey, bread and healthy cooking techniques. Naturally, we enjoy the delicious results together. CCS provides a unique alternative to unsustainable (generic/mass) tourism. We act as a gateway for residents to share information about sustainable living practices that benefit the global community. Our seminars offer visitors a rare opportunity to discover the heart of Crete and obtain information that can enrich their lives. CCS is an internationally acclaimed responsible travel program (see The World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, The World Travel and Tourism Council, Islands Magazine Blue List and others). CCS is featured in over 50 media outlets and academic publications. We also organize ecotourism workshops. Our success has encouraged many others to follow our lead.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
Our approach is to celebrate Crete’s heritage with visitors in an ethical and professional manner. Crete’s fascinating history spans over four thousand years. There is much to discover and enjoy. There is much to protect. Generic/mass tourism chips away at a region’s distinctive cultural or natural heritage and the things people cherish the most begin to disappear. CCS is a network of people carrying on traditional trades that protect Crete’s culture and environment. These experienced professionals are investing their time and money to share knowledge that is valuable to the global community. Organic farming is a lifelong commitment, not a 9 to 5 position. The time farmers spend with visitors is a rare privilege. Nikki Rose founded CCS to support interrelated preservation projects: 1) By linking projects together for distinctive seminars; 2) Providing free referral services, links to the media and advice to expand projects; and 3) Sharing seminar revenues (in contrast with standard tourism practices where residents providing crucial professional services earn minimum wages or less). Many travelers and travel agents benefit from community-based preservation work. CCS stresses that communities must benefit the most if we expect them to continue their important work. Public awareness increases.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
We are open to all collaboration that helps protect culture and nature. Training programs for implementers (communities), outside stakeholders, travel agents and decision makers are crucial to expand responsible travel options anywhere. This includes more eco-building, organic farming and conservation work. We organize study tours covering interrelated topics: sustainable organic agriculture, development and tourism, traditional cuisine and nutrition. We work closely with very supportive advocacy groups, including the World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, ECOCLUB, Sustainable Travel International, WWF-Greece, TIES, and the Pancretan Association.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To protect Crete’s priceless cultural legacy and natural beauty for generations to come.

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Over the past decade, CCS has grown from a few people to over 40 small businesses and individuals. There were few agritourism programs and now there are dozens. But not all of them can be categorized as “responsible travel.” The success of CCS has encouraged residents, travelers, travel agents and public agencies to consider the benefits of distinctive educational programs. However, we must also emphasize that our programs directly support communities, in contrast with most standard tourism practices where communities benefit the least. Our efforts have increased the number of visitors to rural communities, the number of projects and media interest. Seminars are for small groups (usually 8 people) and we explore the island on foot most the time (and by bicycle or kayaks during some seminars). We explain to visitors that time spent in a car is time lost in Crete, so we do not plan long road trips that merely offer a blur of local life. We stay in locally-owned rural lodging that is either on or near organic farms and other sites of interest, all of which minimize negative impacts.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
CCS focuses on all that Crete has to offer: history, rural life, nature, organic agriculture and excellent fresh and local healthy cuisine. Our seminars benefit food and culture enthusiasts and professional researchers alike. We provide information that cannot be acquired in a classroom or library. Visitors have the opportunity to participate in local life and acquire information about sustainable living practices and healthy cuisine that can enrich their lives.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Residents ARE the CCS network. Via the gateway created by CCS Founder, Nikki Rose, residents have hosted many visitors that would not have found them through standard tourism channels. Our professional approach to collaboration, preservation and education emphasizes that this work is very valuable to travelers. We are working together and programs have expanded significantly over the years.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
See above and our website www.cookingincrete.com. Learning by doing works best in our opinion. All sustainable innovations require patrons (visitors and advocates).

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
CCS is an established gateway for local preservation work. We provide tangible resources to help sustain this work. We provide comprehensive information about Crete’s heritage (see our website). Few people in the network plan to be full-time employees in tourism. Preservation work requires activism and educational programs. Demand continues to grow, which helps to sustain our collective and individual projects. There is great demand for CCS seminars and similar programs around the world. Our goal is to establish a base for our work to supply increased demand.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
CCS programs are financed solely by Founder & Director, Nikki Rose. Seminar fees are reasonable and therefore revenue is minimal for the director, as the program is designed to support local communities. We have one excellent volunteer handling administrative work. Most people in our network do not work in tourism at all. They have their own businesses to run in addition to their preservation work. They participate in seminars whenever they choose.

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
CCS constantly strives to expand our approach. We organize study tours/workshops for colleagues and researchers. We have advised colleagues planning to offer similar programs in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Brazil and the USA. We are happy to provide advice about implementing similar programs. More responsible travel is better for everyone. Nikki Rose has contributed to several publications on ecotourism and agritourism planning. Our Center will provide opportunities for more residents to join the network and share their expertise.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The concept of linking cultural-environmental preservation with tourism is taking off. But all stakeholders (public and private entities, travelers and the media) need to participate in order to make it soar. Some entrepreneurs offer simulations of local life that do not benefit communities or travelers. Just because we visit a foreign country does not mean that residents can drop what they are doing to entertain us for free (any more than we would in our neighborhoods). Eco-agritourism is a business run by professionals working hard to preserve their regions and providing valuable services to the global community. There are tremendous differences between CCS seminars and generic travel packages that provide little more than transportation and accommodation. As long as most tourism providers and media outlets instill the message that “cheap travel deals are the way of the world,” people will never be aware of the true cost of travel, including the social and environmental impacts. CCS programs continue to be replicated but we cannot confirm that all other programs are ethically run. Responsible travel can improve our quality of life and environment. It can create meaningful careers for generations to come. These initiatives can only be sustained by patrons.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
Message from CCS Founder Nikki Rose: Cultural-culinary heritage preservation has been my focus for over 20 years. I trained to become a professional chef and have worked with many extraordinarily skilled chefs and organic farmers in the USA and Europe. Meanwhile, the foodservice and agriculture industries were becoming more automated at the expense of quality food, safe food and our environment. In reaction, I began organizing dynamic seminars to rekindle public interest in the culinary arts, featuring organic farmers, artisan producers, certified master chefs from premier establishments. The overwhelming interest and enthusiasm from the public fueled my own. This led me to my family roots in Greece over ten years ago, where sustainable organic farming and artisan food production is still of way of life for more people than we might imagine. These practices are not simply interesting but important to preserve for both residents and the global community. I formed CCS to provide residents specializing in interrelated fields the opportunity to share their knowledge. CCS projects include preservation work and educational programs. To celebrate Crete’s past requires that we work closely with today’s preservationists and entrepreneurs. If we expect Crete’s legacy to be preserved for generations to come, it requires concerted effort. Today, Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries supports the efforts of over 40 small businesses and individuals working on projects to preserve Crete’s culture and environment. CCS is internationally acclaimed for best practices in responsible travel.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Nikki Rose is a Greek American professional chef and writer based in Crete. She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked in the USA and Europe. Rose has organized dynamic cultural-culinary seminars since 1997, featuring renowned specialists. She writes for Slow Food and Culinary Institute of America publications, among others. She is Founder of Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries Eco-Agritourism Network, an acclaimed responsible travel program. Rose consults on eco-agritourism development and speaks at relevant conferences. Her work is featured in National Geographic publications, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and manuals on ecotourism, agritourism and nutrition.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
CCS organizes extraordinary cultural-culinary seminars for small groups. Our all-local network of professional organic farmers, chefs, historians, mountaineers and many others share their knowledge about Crete’s culture and nature. Visitors join us on botanical hikes in the gorgeous countryside, visits to historic sites, organic farms, tranquil villages and rural lodges. Journeys change with the seasons to include artisan production of organic olive oil, wine, cheese, honey, bread and healthy cooking techniques. Our seminars offer visitors a rare opportunity to discover the heart of Crete in the company of local specialists and obtain information about sustainable living practices that can enrich their lives. CCS programs are organized by Nikki Rose, a Greek American professional chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Rose writes for Slow Food, among many other publications. Tailored seminars are accredited by the American Culinary Federation and American Dietetic Association. CCS is an internationally acclaimed Responsible Travel program.

Contact Information
Ms. Nikki Rose
Founder and Director
Crete's Culinary Sanctuaries
Elounda Post #138
info@cookingincrete.com