For Immediate Release:
Media Contact:
Sue Yannello syannello@919marketing.com 919.459.8162
Flying Olive Farms Announces Partnership with
World Renowned Greek Chef
Diane Kochilas cooks up “Greek Goodness” with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Raleigh, N.C. - (August, 2015) – Flying Olive Farms, a Raleigh-based company that imports high-quality, all natural, Greek culinary products and wines, announces a partnership with renowned Greek cuisine expert Diane Kochilas. Kochilas, who is to Greece what Julia Child was to France, will endorse the company’s line of Vrisi 36 Extra Virgin Olive Oils, balsamic vinegars and Greek Wines of Monemvasia.
Flying Olive Farms company-brand Vrisi 36 is a line of 100 percent Greek extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Mediterranean mustard of the highest quality. The extra virgin olive oil is made with the world’s finest olives coming directly from farms in the most desired regions of Greece – Lakonia and Messinia. Flying Olive Farms is one of the few companies that manage their entire supply chain, from international sourcing to shipping and selling domestically.
Kochilas is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Greek cuisine. She is a collaborating chef at Molyvos Restaurant in New York and runs an acclaimed cooking school on her family’s native island, Ikaria, a Blue Zone renowned for its longevity and dubbed by the New York Times as the Greek island “where people forget to die”. Kochilas is a celebrity chef who hosted one of Greece’s most popular daily cooking shows. A native New Yorker who divides her time between the U.S. and Greece, she has long been in the forefront of bringing healthy, delicious Greek cuisine to the American audience. She has collaborated with Harvard, Yale and the University of Massachusetts to develop healthy Greek menu items for student dining, and has taught far and wide on Greek cuisine, from the CIA to the prestigious Hattori School of Nutrition in Tokyo.
Kochilas has authored 18 books on Greek cuisine. Her most recent book, Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life & Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die (Rodale) won an IACP award, a Books for a Better Life Award and was long-listed for an Art of Eating Award.
She has helped develop menus at many popular Greek restaurants across the United States and currently also works with Committee Restaurant, a meze concept in Boston. Kochilas appears regularly in cooking segments on major American network shows and has written for large international newspapers and websites.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Diane, who is a respected expert on Greek cuisine and an evangelist of authentic Greek olive oil that’s natural and healthy without blends that detract from its taste,” said Lou Moshakos, President and Founder of Flying Olive Farms, the parent company of Vrisi 36. “Diane will create recipes with our olive oil that will introduce our farm-to-bottle product to the United States and the world. We’re confident the meals she creates will make Americans clamor for olive oil that’s the real deal and wow even the most sophisticated palates. She’s a perfect fit to represent the high quality of our brand.”
Moshakos first met Kochilas at the Mediterranean Diet and Workplace Health Conference at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston in September, 2014. At one of the country’s first medical-based conferences on Mediterranean diet and Greek products, the two formed a friendship as they discussed their culinary philosophies. Flying Olive Farms shares Kochilas’ passion of promoting a Mediterranean diet and healthy Greek cuisine through simple ingredients with many green vegetables and nothing in excess.
“I’m honored to cook with this olive oil made from the finest olives in Greece,” Kochilas said. “I know it’s been lovingly harvested, pressed and bottled, and the flavors will delight taste buds because they’re made with olive oil from the most desired olives Greece has to offer. When these dishes are paired with wines of Monemvasia, it will give people the true taste of authentic Greek cuisine.”
Vrisi 36 extra virgin olive oil is produced farm-to-bottle in Greece and is imported to the United States in four distinct profiles:
- Bold: peppery finishes bursting with eminent flavor
- Delicate: smooth, buttery flavor
- Organic: herbal and grassy undertones
- Infused: organic wild picked oregano
Flying Olive Farms offers 11 estate wines from the most historic vineyard in Greece, the Monemvasia Winery and birthplace of Malvasia. They produce a premium selection of Old World varietal wines that are highly acclaimed and have won 12 major international awards since being bottled again in 2012.
Lou Moshakos is a Greek native who founded an empire of successful family-owned restaurants in the U.S. under the LM Restaurant brand. Each time he returned from Greece, he would ship drums of natural extra virgin olive oil to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, because he couldn’t find a product like it in America. Moshakos has made it his life’s mission to bring authentic flavors and what he calls “100 percent Greek goodness” from his homeland to dinner tables in America, and educate people about the high quality olives from his beloved Greece.
Vrisi 36 products are currently sold at Southern Seasons locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as Whole Foods stores in the Southeast.
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About Flying Olive Farms:
Flying Olive Farms is a Raleigh-based company that imports premium Greek culinary products and wines directly from the finest farms in Greece. The company manages the entire supply chain, taking the products directly from the desired regions of Lakonia and Messinia to dinner tables across America. Flying Olive Farms is dedicated to bringing the authentic flavors of Greek cuisine through “100 percent Greek goodness” to consumers in the United States.
About Diane Kochilas:
Diane Kochilas is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Greek cuisine. A native New Yorker whose family comes from the Greek Island of IkarIa, a blue zone renowned for the longevity and healthy diet of its inhabitants, Kochilas is a passionate advocate of Greek cuisine. She has written 18 books of Greek cooking and has been interviewed and given lectures on the topic worldwide.