Mountain & Forest Gastronomy Festival in Pieria | Local Food, Villages & Mountain Life

The Mountain & Forest Gastronomy Festival brought together local food, mountain landscapes, traditional knowledge and village life in the hills of Pieria.

The third edition took place on 15–16 July 2023, with Kato Milia as its main meeting point and activities extending to Ano Milia and Mesaia Milia. The programme combined local producers and food tastings with walks, traditional crafts, cooking demonstrations, music, dancing and stories connected to the villages of the Pierian mountains.

A Festival Connecting Food & the Mountain

Food is often one of the easiest ways to understand a place.

In the villages of Pieria, local cuisine is closely connected to the surrounding landscape, seasonal produce, family recipes and the people who continue to keep these traditions alive.

The Mountain & Forest Gastronomy Festival was created around that connection. Rather than focusing only on food, the programme brought together local producers, cooking, walking, traditional crafts, music and cultural customs — offering visitors different ways to experience the mountain communities of Pieria.

The 2023 edition included tastings of local products and opportunities to meet the producers behind them. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

Mount Olympus seen from Kato Milia, in the mountain landscape of Pieria.

Local Producers & the Flavours of Pieria

One of the central parts of the festival was the exhibition of local producers from the Municipality of Katerini.

Visitors could discover local harvests, taste products and meet the people behind them. It was a simple but important part of the event: food was presented not only as something to consume, but as part of the identity of the place.

The exhibition took place in the centre of Kato Milia on both days of the festival, with the programme running from the afternoon into the evening on Saturday and continuing throughout Sunday. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Walking Through the Forests of Ano Milia

The festival also invited visitors to leave the table and explore the landscape.

On Saturday morning, the EOS Katerinis hiking guides offered three walking routes beginning in Ano Milia and continuing through the surrounding forest.

The routes were designed to introduce visitors to the village and its natural surroundings while connecting the landscape with local history, stories and traditions.

Path of Muses – Path of Wishes – Path of Love – Ovens

Difficulty: 1/5   ·   Length: 5 km

Muse Trail – Beech Trail

Difficulty: 1+/5   ·   Length: 3.5 km

Muse Trail – Saws

Difficulty: 1+/5   ·   Length: 7 km

The starting point for the walks was the centre of Ano Milia. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Traditional Games, Crafts & Village Life

The festival programme also looked beyond gastronomy.

In the square of Ano Milia, visitors could take part in a picnic and traditional games, bringing together children and adults around activities inspired by earlier generations.

The programme included the Center for Research and Construction of Ancient Greek and Traditional Games and the Department of Sports Development of the Municipality of Katerini.

Woodcraft activities were also organised, inviting children and adults to work with small pieces of wood and create simple objects inspired by the surrounding forest. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

Cooking Demonstrations & Recipes from the Region

Cooking was naturally at the heart of the festival.

Local chefs and cooks presented recipes from the region and worked with local ingredients, allowing visitors to see how traditional products become part of everyday dishes.

The programme included several cooking sessions, as well as a presentation of monastic cuisine by Archimandrite Father Vasilios Nakas, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Assumption of the Theotokos of Petra, Olympus. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

There was also a dedicated Master Chef Junior activity, where young participants cooked with local products and learned regional recipes in a more playful setting. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Traditions That Still Belong to the Villages

Food was only one layer of the experience.

The programme included traditional dances, local customs and cultural presentations, giving visitors an opportunity to see how village traditions continue to be expressed through community gatherings.

In Ano Milia, the women of the village presented the Klidonas custom, while cultural associations from Kato Milia and the surrounding area performed traditional dances. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

In Mesaia Milia, the programme included the revival of the Tranos Choros custom in the courtyard of the historic Church of Agios Georgios. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

Folklore, History & the Stories of the Villages

The festival also offered visitors a glimpse into the cultural memory of Kato Milia.

The Kato Milia Cultural Association “The Lazaios” presented its folklore collection, with exhibits connected to the history and everyday life of the region.

This kind of local collection adds another dimension to a visit: instead of simply passing through a mountain village, visitors can begin to understand the objects, customs and memories that shaped it. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

A Landscape with a Much Older Story

The villages of the Milia area sit in a landscape shaped by forests, mountain agriculture, traditional settlements and views towards Mount Olympus.

The festival used this landscape as part of the experience — from forest walks and woodcraft to local food and village traditions.

It is this combination that makes mountain gastronomy interesting in Pieria: the meal does not exist separately from the place. The forest, the villages, the producers and the people who cook are all part of the same story.

Wine Among the Mountains

The Saturday programme ended with a wine tasting at Orea Gi Winery in Kato Milia.

Visitors were invited to meet at the winery and taste local wines, adding another expression of the region’s agricultural landscape to a day that had already moved from forest paths and village traditions to local cooking and music. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

Rebetiko, Music & an Evening in Kato Milia

As the day moved into the evening, the festival became a more social gathering.

The opening ceremony was followed by “Rebetikos Peridromos”, a rebetiko concert featuring bouzouki, baglama, violin, guitar and accordion.

The music brought the programme back to the centre of Kato Milia, where food, wine, local people and visitors could share the same evening. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

Sunday in the Milia Villages

Sunday continued the festival across the three Milia villages.

In Mesaia Milia, the programme included a church service at the Holy Church of Agios Georgios followed by the Tranos Choros. In Ano Milia, visitors could join a guided tour of historical pilgrimage monuments connected with the local history and the passage of Agios Kosmas of Aitolos through the area.

There were also further cooking activities and cultural presentations in Kato Milia. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}

The Festival as a Way to Discover Pieria

Looking back at the 2023 edition, the Mountain & Forest Gastronomy Festival was more than a food event.

It created a route through the mountain communities of Pieria — from local producers and recipes to forests, traditional games, crafts, music, religious heritage and village customs.

For travellers interested in experiencing a quieter side of Pieria, these are often the details that matter most. Not simply what is served on the table, but where the ingredients come from, who prepares the food, which stories belong to the village and what lies beyond the main road.

Practical Information

• Festival: 3rd Mountain & Forest Gastronomy Festival
• Dates: 15–16 July 2023
• Main location: Kato Milia, Pieria
• Other locations: Ano Milia and Mesaia Milia
• Activities: Local food, tastings, hiking, cooking demonstrations, crafts, traditional dances, cultural presentations, music and wine tasting

The original programme also included organised transport for visitors to and from the festival. For Saturday, departures were listed from Pieria Bus, while Sunday departures and returns were arranged from the Metropolitan Megaro Katerinis. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}

Continue Exploring Pieria

The mountains of Pieria are not only a backdrop to the coast. They are a landscape of villages, forests, food, traditions and people.

From Kato Milia and the surrounding villages, you can continue towards Mount Olympus, explore mountain trails, discover local wineries, visit traditional settlements or follow the coastline towards the Aegean.

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