ABOUT FLORENTIA

Florentia Kythreotou is a food and wine writer, educator and researcher from Nicosia Cyprus. She graduated from the State University of New York at Stonybrook with a BSc in Economics and obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Mediterranean Institute of Management in Nicosia. She holds the Level 3 Certificate of WSET (Wine and Spirit Educational Trust) which is an advanced level qualification for professionals working in the wine industry. She is an HRDA Certified Trainer.

She worked as a journalist and a presenter of prime time news from 1992 to 2000, for Logos, CyBC and Mega TV respectively. During her journalistic career she participated in special missions abroad as a correspondent such as in the war in the former Yugoslavia and in Egypt making interviews and documentaries. From 2000 onwards she continued her work in print journalism media as a columnist and journalist for Politis and Phlileleftheros newspapers.

Parallel to that, she has been engaged in the study of wine and gastronomy and the traditional Cyprus cuisine.

She has been President of Slow Food Cyprus. She represented Cyprus in international Slow Food events such as Salone del Gusto in Turin (2014) and Slow Islands in Giglio (2012). Together with the Slow Food team, she organized both international and local events and conferences in Cyprus such as: Slow Islands Conference 2013 on Sustainable Tourism, and Slow Akamas Weekend (2014) on the subject of wine, etc.

Apart from her literary work (she is the author of several books on food and wine), she published regularly in magazines, journals, and newspapers.

Florentia has been instrumental as a researcher in the creation of the Cyprus Food Virtual Museum. She held presentations about wine as a guest on TV and Radio programs and as a speaker on seminars and conferences, in Cyprus and abroad.

She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wine Products Council of Cyprus, 2009-2010.

She regularly participates as a member in the judge Committee of National Competitions of Sommeliers and Bartenders.

From 2015 to 2017 she has been the head of the Wine and Gastronomy Team of the European Capital of Culture-Paphos 2017. She planned and organized various actions related to the wine and gastronomy of Paphos, such as: The immersion of 280 bottles of Cyprus wine at the bottom of the sea off Paphos. The bottles were brought up from the seabed in 2017; An Art Exhibition of Barrels and Wine Tasting Festival held in the Ottoman Baths of Paphos (2015). For this art exhibition, 13 barrels were turned into works of art by students from the Schools of Architecture as well as Departments of Fine and Applied Arts studying at various universities of Cyprus; An event titled The Bread of Celebration at the Local Ethnographic Museum of Geroskipou, April 2016. Florentia's book The Bread of Celebration. Festive Kneads of Paphos was presented during the event.

From 2016 until today she is the Chief Editor of two magazines on wine and gastronomy: Taste Wine & Dine and Taste Gourmet of Phileleftheros Publishing Group.

During the summer of 2021 she gave a series of guided lectures for groups of journalists from all over the world and also for passengers of the luxury cruise ship Silvermoon, introducing them to Cypriot wine and its history and conducting wine tastings with them in selected wineries. Related Links: Sharing Meals and Memories on a Cruise Through the Greek Isles; Silversea adds seasoning to sailings with S.A.L.T; Jon Fleming Travelogue: Wining and Dining In Cyprus; Silver Moon Opens A World of Authentic Local Cuisine With S.A.L.T.