For ancient Greeks, the concept of areté linked knowledge to study, knowledge as an attitude and a skill and study as work and dedication. In Areté restaurant both conceptions have met and shall continue to live together, thanks to a team that takes care of work and preparation, turning ingredients into food, culture and pleasure. Our cooking chef, María José Cuevas, provides the effort and the passion that are needed to express gastronomic knowledge. With her skills and dedication, study and inspiration, where others see just ingredients, she is able to create a unique and pleasant experience, a real communion with the client. Doctor Carmen Cuevas is in charge of the nutritional side of our conception. She is a medical doctor expert in dietetics and nutrition, and teaches this subject at “Hotel-Escuela Bellamar”, an institution devoted for many years to investigate how culture and health flourish when food and human elements meet. The Mediterranean diet has joined the areté conception too. This diet is full of areté, as shown by the longevity of people living on this type of food. It also respects the environment, achieving nutrition and maximum health with minimum energy costs and damage to nature. As we know, the Mediterranean diet is based on seasonal products, used to prepare dishes balanced both from a nutritional and a sensorial point of view.

The concept of Areté

Areté (in Greek a?et?) is one of the basic concepts of ethics and politics in Classical Greece. It is, however, difficult to define its specific meaning. In its most basic form, areté is “excellence” or “perfection”; its etymologic root is the same as for a??st?? (aristós, “better”), which refers to the fulfilment of the defined objective or function. In Ancient Greece, it was possible to talk about a soldier’s areté, or that of a bull or a ship - although it was scarcely applied to inanimate objects. Nevertheless, since the beginning, it was especially linked to the possession of manly virtues, mainly bravery and dexterity in combat. It appears with this meaning in the works of Hesiod and Homer; when, in the Iliad, Agamemnon praises Penelope, he does it in relation to her cooperation with the purposes of Ulysses. In the Classical period - especially towards the 5th-4thcenturies BC - the meaning of areté got closer to what today is considered virtue in general, including features such as µe?a??????a (megalopsyjía, "magnanimity"), s?f??s??? (sofrosyne, "restraint") or d??a??s??? (dikaiosyne, "justice"). The acquisition of areté was the axis of the education (pa?de?a, paideia) a young Greek followed to become a man. Traces of the more restricted conception of the Archaic period can be seen in the emphasis placed upon discipline and control of the own body through gymnastics, one of the main activities, and fight. A complete education, however, included also the arts of oratory, music and, sometimes, philosophy. The possession of areté was, in general, restricted to noblemen (normally called nobility — , aristoi, "the good ones"— to whom the practice of gymnastics was reserved. In spite of that fact, the analysis of philosophers created a sophisticated theory of spiritual features. Both Plato and Aristotle made of areté one of the central concepts of their ethic doctrines.

María José Cuevas Cerveró
Carmen Cuevas Cerveró
Agustín Arroyo García-Cervigón