Mastic, the aromatic resin produced by a small, eponymous evergreen tree that grows around the Mediterranean sea, has been a big hit for more than 2,000 years. Armies of Roman, Byzantine, Genoese and Turkish merchants carried the natural chewing gum from the Greek island of Chios to the great trade capitals of the world.
To this day, Chios inexplicably remains the only place on earth where mastic trees produce resin as plentiful and pure. But only recently did local producers find out what it takes to sell mastiha (pronounced "masteeha") in the modern, brand-driven marketplace.
"Producers just didn't know how to present the product to people who don't know about it. Growers tried to present mastiha's various uses at commercial fairs, but these attempts always bordered on the rustic," said Yiannis Mandalas, a young Greek manager who runs Mastihashop, a start-up retail chain for the resin's various products.
The thick, transparent, sticky liquid has multiple uses. In the Middle East mastiha adds spice to local cuisine and pastry. The French buy its distilled oil for perfumes. And US firms apply it in bandages, pharmaceuticals and varnishes.
Sales took an initial blow in the 1960s when nationalist regimes in the Middle East, the biggest market, insisted on prohibitive trade terms. Adulterations with lower-grade resins abounded and continue to this day. Synthetic substitutes started crowding out the product in the industry. And the labor force shrank as young men from the 22 villages in southern Chios where the mastic tree grows increasingly turned their backs on the fields, lured by tourism and shipping.
In the late 1990s the producers pulled their act together, got a business-minded management team and set out to conquer new markets.
Mastihashop is a key initiative to expand the retail market. The shops try to attract customers by evoking a kind of Eastern Mediterranean leisurely, sensual culture.
Wrapped up in packages evoking nostalgic images of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, mastiha -based spices, alcoholic drinks, cookies, chocolates, Turkish delights, oils and perfumes from Arab countries, Greece and Turkey dominate the shelves in Mastihashop's downtown Athens branch.
The first Mastihashop opened in the summer of 2002 on Chios and was a runaway success, Mandalas said. "We broke even after 72 days. The shop is earning us around €600,000 [$780,000] a year," he said.
Plans are underway to set up Mastihashops in Cyprus, Beirut, Jeddah and Dubai.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
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