Savoury Flavours and Delights

Yiayia and Friends, Petits Grecs and Agroktima Drosou

We all adore a scrumptious snack and at A Magic Cabinet we offer some tasty ideas which are also nutritious and healthy. Top quality virgin olive oil is a Greek staple and this story’s featured brand, Yiayia and Friends, takes as its icon the bustling Greek granny who knows how to fix everything and everyone! This oil is perfect as the basis of a great dip or on its own with crispy bread sticks. Petits Grecs’s crispy biscuits are the cheesiest I have ever tasted and perfect to eat anywhere. Agroktima Drosou’s tomato sauces can be a great spread and this completes our selection of little bites for every occasion.

Yiayia and Friends

Yiayia and Friends is a brand created by the renowned graphic design group Beetroot in collaboration with Dimetris Plaitis. Their aim was to reintroduce traditional, natural concepts of life through reimagined quality food products.

Yiayia, the typical Greek “granny” dressed all in black, together with her farm animals, are the protagonists of the brand’s colourful and vibrant packaging which decorates an eclectic range of products. This includes a collection of exceptional extra virgin olive oils, fragrant aged balsamic and fruit vinegars, a series of all-natural rusks and biscuits, as well as some delightful design objects.

Yiayia and Friends started in 2019 yet it was first conceived five years ago when Beetroot was asked to create a mural inside a London store. It was there that the figure of Yiayia along with her farm animal “friends” appeared for the first time and gave them the idea for the brand.

For the creation of their products they collaborate with selected producers from various areas in Greece, especially on the island of Crete, where the brand is based.

The brand plans to introduce a range of snacks made of cereals, nuts and dry fruits. They also plan to open a physical store in Thessaloniki’s city centre, in a glorious historical building built in 1905.

Petits Grecs

Petits Grecs offers a range of “kerasmata”, sweet and savoury traditional Greek treats with a contemporary flair. Their products include savoury and sweet biscuits and traditional Greek pastries such as “kourabiedes” biscuits, marzipan as well as sweets of the spoon and preserves. They also produce scented candles.

The name of the brand, the “Little Greeks” summarizes these bite-sized treats that are fundamental to Greek food culture and hospitality.

The brand was established in 2014 in Thessaloniki, a city with a multicultural history and cuisine. Petits Grecs draws inspirations from its home city as well as from the rich gastronomical traditions that can be found all around Greece.

They believed that traditional homemade pastry and confectionery was often undervalued and misrepresented. Thus, they envisioned a brand which could approach global consumers and offer them an imaginary journey around Greece through flavours and aromas, taking however into consideration contemporary nutritional needs and trends.

The British Museum included Petits Grecs’s products in its gift store, representing Greece during its impressive exhibition about the Trojan War.

Agroktima Drosou

Agroktima Drosou is based in the town of Ancient Epidaurus, in the region of Argolis, a very fertile area which offers some of Greece’s tastiest citrus fruits. The brand offers a selection of delicious pasta sauces and jams that are full of aromas.

Christina Drosou, the founder of the brand, realized its creation in 2020, during a tough period owing to the coronavirus pandemic. During this time, she was spending a lot of time helping her family with their agricultural work. She realized that she could turn her family’s produce into delicious sauces and jams. After a few months she was able, with the support of her family, to establish Agroktima Drosou.

The brand’s inspiration derives from Christina’s memory of helping her grandmother make tomato sauce during summer. The aromas and flavours devised from this memory motivate her to create products which will bring traditional recipes and natural ingredients to every home.

In the near future the brand’s plan is to introduce a delicious all-natural pesto sauce.