Christine Polyzos

Christine was born in Melbourne, Australia to Greek parents in 1966. Both of her parents originate from Kastraki, Greece, a village nestled amongst the majestic rocks of Meteora. Her mother, Antigoni, is a great cook and is well known amongst family and friends for her many signature dishes, including pites – tsouknithopita (stinging nettle pie), korfopita (baby pumpkin leaf pie) and spanakopita (spinach pie) – bamies sto fourno (baked okra with tomato and onions) and ntomatofai (tomato-pepper dish). Over the years, Antigoni has taught Christine many of her signature dishes, but there are still more to learn!

Christine is married to the Kali Orexi stills photographer, Eugene (who is an accomplished scientist by day and a passionate urban explorer / photographer by night / weekend). They have four children – three boys and a girl.

When Christine and Eugene’s youngest started school in 2012, Christine found herself with a little more time on her hands and began considering returning to work. Christine had worked as a paediatric audiologist up until the birth of her second child. As she contemplated relaunching her audiology career, she recognised a yearning in herself to do something different, something creative. An avid cook herself, she was inspired during her 46 th birthday celebration at Restaurant Meteora, a slow food haven, in Kalambaka, Greece, to film Greek grandparents cooking their signature dishes.

And so the Kali Orexi story began…

Rita was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1970 to Greek parents, Vasiliki and Nikiforo who were both born in the picturesque village of Kastraki. She spent her childhood serving customers in her parents’ cafes and setting tables in their restaurants and reception hall. Throughout her life, she has also been heavily involved in planning, preparing and co-hosting family feasts and celebrations.

Rita’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with Honours and a Master of Business Administration. Rita’s work experience encompasses 20 years of business planning, project management, and research and analysis roles in large corporations.

As a novice cook, with parents who are both fabulous cooks, Rita was genuinely concerned that family favourites, including spanakopita (spinach pie), galatopita (milk custard pie), baklava and lamb gyros would be lost if she didn’t make an attempt to learn how to prepare these dishes for herself.

Rita loves being involved with Kali Orexi as it enables her to combine her educational background, corporate skills and intrinsic research and planning attributes with her passion for family, friends and food. Rita’s other passions include keeping fit and healthy (which frequently conflicts with her passion for food!), fabulous design in all creative forms, enduring and luxurious brands, Paris (the city) and Collingwood (the football club).

Carlos was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1974 to Spanish parents. Carlos’ passion for filmmaking was ignited at the age of 12 when he started making films with his family’s portable VHS camera. He followed his passion by studying filmmaking at university and then working as a freelance film editor, director and producer on projects across the globe. His projects have since screened and won awards at film festivals worldwide.

Between 2010 and 2014, Carlos taught filmmaking at various institutes in Melbourne and regional Victoria. It was whilst teaching at the Melbourne CAE, that he met Christine, one of his students, who shared her intent to film Greek grandparents cooking their signature dishes. Carlos was subsequently invited to consult on the project. Given his love of food and his interest in collaborative projects, he immediately joined the team.

Carlos is relishing his Kali Orexi experience and the opportunity to pursue the worthy task of documenting the true champions of Greek cuisine – Greek grandparents, their stories and their recipes. He is also savouring the eating component … when the photographic stills of the finished dish are complete and everyone gets to “dig in”!

Kathy is a born and bred Melbournian who started off her professional life as a pharmacist, owning two businesses in inner Melbourne for over 12 years. Her passion for styling and design has been a constant in her life, with shop windows and counter displays always as important as the dispensing!

After redefining the aesthetic of modern pharmacies and successfully reinvigorating her businesses, Kathy sold them to focus her energies on her growing family; her husband and four children. At the same time, she continued to nurture and utilise her creative flair with family and friends, helping them style everything from rooms, to houses, to events.

Fast forward to 2014 and Kathy has now formally begun her new venture into styling as a career.

Food and family form the epicentre of Kathy’s world, so when asked to join the very talented Kali Orexi team (Christine, Rita and Carlos – affectionately known as “KO”), she was thrilled to take up the challenge … and boy is she glad she did … she is having the time of her life!