The fame of the traditional dessert goes beyond the confines of the city itself. In February 2022, the famous Greek American chef Diane Kochilas told the British newspaper The Guardian that ‘Thessaloniki is often called “sweet mother”’ and the author of the article, Elise Morton, added that ‘with a Panorama triangle in hand, it’s easy to see why’. And chef Rick Stein, known for his culinary ‘pilgrimages’ around Europe, which he presents on the BBC, not only made sure to try the pastry ‘with its crisp and golden leaf, dipped in syrup and filled with cream’ in the suburb where the sweet recipe was born in 1956 – Panorama, Thessaloniki – but also dedicated page 116 of his book Rick Stein’s Long Weekends: Over 100 New Recipes from My Travels Around Europe to it.
The Panorama triangle is an integral part of Thessaloniki’s authentic culinary DNA, but its reputation transcends the city’s borders. These pastries are talked about in the international media, and you will find them on the shelves of pastry shops in various other regions of Greece as well.
It is no coincidence that they are featured on a poster entitled ‘Authentic is eternal’, which was published in Thessaloniki in the context of the participation of the Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (OBI) in the AUTHENTICITIES project of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This project aims to raise consumer awareness, encouraging people to buy exclusively authentic products. It does this through the certification of Thessaloniki as an AUTHENTICITY (OBI participates in the project with the cooperation of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and local city authorities).
Now there is an intent to certify panorama triangles as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product in the EU. As Marios Papadopoulos, president of the Guild of Confectioners of Thessaloniki says: ‘This product has three characteristics that constitute its potential to be certified as a PGI: historicity, since it has been produced in Panorama since 1956 based on its first official registration, dispersion of production in the confectioneries and recognition in other regions of Greece. Yesterday we submitted the file to the competent ministry and once it has been examined and the necessary additions have been made, it will be forwarded to the EU. The process of obtaining the label takes on average one to two years after the file is forwarded, so we have a long way to go’. Marios also praises the contribution of Greece’s Ministry of Development and Investments and the Decentralised Administration of Macedonia and Thrace, in covering the costs of the relevant procedures.
The Guild of Confectioners of Thessaloniki represents more than 400 confectioners of the prefecture, and this year celebrates its seventieth birthday.
Geographical indications protect products bearing the PGI label from abuse or imitation of the registered name and guarantee consumers their true origin. It ensures that all producers in the geographical area concerned have collective rights to the product, provided that certain conditions are met.
You can find the original news article (published on 04/01/2023) in Greek here.
