San Sebastián Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country is the scene these days of some of the biggest names in world gastronomy. An event full of talks, workshops, championships and activities for all palates.
Those who enjoyed the presentations in the Kursaal auditorium were able to take a tour of the entire globe without leaving their seats. The speakers contributed gastronomic visions from Japan, Argentina, Italy, Denmark and the United States. From the French classicism of Zuberoa to the pop spectacularity of the Danish Rasmus Munk. Also passing through the Galician naturalism of Javier Olleros or the culinary poetics of the Japanese Yoshihiro Narishawa.
The person in charge of opening fire was precisely the Japanese cook Hideki Matsuhisa (Koy Shunka*, Barcelona). Matsuhisa is the first chef from the country of the Rising Sun to obtain a Michelin star in Spain. He stressed the importance of cutting methods to preserve the product and took a tour of his career in Spain.
Paul Airaudo, an Argentine chef who leads seven projects in the capital of Gipuzkoa, among which the Amelia Restaurant** stands out, took over. All to tell how he tries to achieve excellence through a product that he always seeks among small producers in pursuit of sustainability.
David Jorge presented the talk called 'Memories of Zuberoa'. They were the different chefs who have passed through the restaurant of the Arbelaitz brothers and who shared their experiences with the public. Gorka Txapartegi (Alameda*, from Hondarribia); Jaime Uz (Arbidel*, from Ribadesella). Also Javier Goya (El Triciclo, from Madrid); Borja Sierra (Elena Farm, Barcelona); louis lera (Lera*, in Castroverde de Campos, Zamora); and castro maca (Maca de Castro*, in Alcudia, Mallorca) talked about their experiences for just over an hour. “When I think about Zuberoa I get rid of those small town complexes that sometimes assail me. There I realized that being true to yourself and going outside the box can take you far,” Luis Lera acknowledged. He did it while he fried the head of a woodcock. “Being remembered is the best reward we can receive,” Hilario concluded.
Pedro Subijana, chef at Akelarre***, has explained how Akelarre and its cuisine have evolved over five decades of dedicated work to their passion. “It is being one of the best editions of the congress that I remember. Not only because of the influx of public or because of the characters who are visiting us, but above all because of the positivity that reigns in the atmosphere.” Pedro Subijana said it, acting as proud host of a forum that he has never missed.
From Igeldo to Japan
In a day marked by internationality, San Sebastian Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country has taken a kilometer leap. From Igeldo, from where Akelarre delights, to Japan, from where the Japanese food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto arrived. The critic wanted to dismantle the clichés that exist around Japanese food.
The chef has also visited the congress Yoshihiro Narisawa (Narisawa **, Tokyo). Narisawa, obsessed with sustainability and the natural environment, shows elements of the seasons of the year in his dishes. “Narisawa is in Tokyo and expresses Japanese culture through cooking with the best products from Japan. He obsesses us about sustainability. That is why we visit producers to look for high-quality fruits and vegetables, but also from safe soils,” explained the chef. “For this reason, in 2001 we decided to eat soil and my first signature dish was soil soup,” he added.
Committed kitchen
From the Culler de Pau** in O Grove, Javier Olleros It proposed a cuisine connected to the rural world and the plant world. This chef, born in Lucerne (Switzerland), but Galician by adoption, has highlighted the importance of the restaurant being part of the environment in which it is located. Rasmus Munck, chef at Alchemist** (Copenhagen), has influenced the ability of chefs to change the world. From the stand, he conveyed the importance of creating ethical awareness and a state of mind in the diner.
The commitment to the environment is also the axis of the project Javier Rivero y Gorka Rico, AMA (Tolosa) and who are the greatest exponents of kilometer zero cuisine. A cuisine committed to local producers.
The meeting that the chef has had stands out Jose Andres with the journalist Ignacio Medina An informal chat in which the Asturian reviewed his career, talked about dreams realized, others to fulfill and the value of the product and the producer. He emphasized the transformative power of gastronomy: “It is very difficult for me to accept that I give menus for $300 in New York, and 100 meters from the restaurant there are people who are hungry. That's why I always look for Trojan horses that allow me to unite both realities. And ensure that gastronomy becomes an agent of change,” he says, encouraging his colleagues to always look for a way to influence his community, without pressure. All to achieve small changes that make the world better.
Angel León was able to surprise the good number of attendees at the last presentation of the day. It was when announcing the latest discovery of the Aponiente*** team, marine soybeans. The Aponiente chef explained that the Cádiz restaurant “has discovered a protein that we never thought would be in the sea. It is a protein that John Martin, the restaurant's biologist, from Cadiz, meets him on a trip to Venezuela, where he notices a plant that is watered by sea water. It was a sea bean -canavalia rosae-.
The biologist explained that “it is a plant that has an annual cycle. The plant is generating seeds and flowers all year round, which lives in the tropics of both hemispheres, in the dunes, five meters from the sea.” We are talking about a fabaceae that has 50% protein and 30% carbohydrates. For this reason, as Ángel León pointed out, “we began to think about fermenting this plant and turning it into the first marine soybean.” The chef has assured that it will be “an ingredient that we will have next year on the Aponiente menu.
Recognition of Michele Buster
One of the most emotional moments of the second day of the congress took place in the auditorium, where Michele Buster won the Food and Wines From Spain award. She received the award from Elisa Carbonell, general director of ICEX, in recognition of her career as founder of Forever Cheese in the United States in 1998. One of the most important cheese import companies in the Mediterranean.
The best Russian Salad in San Sebastián Gastronomika
The restaurant The Hainao Vineyard (Bilbao), María del Carmen Bedia Berodia's food house has won the final of the VI National Russian Salad Championship. La Viña de Henao (Bilbao) takes over from the Castru Gaiteru restaurant (Llanes, Asturias) as the new home of the best salad in Spain.
María del Carmen Bedia Berodia has prevailed, convincing a jury made up of chefs and journalists.
It is La Viña de Henao, then, the home of the best Russian salad in Spain, the only tapa - with the permission of the potato omelette - common to the entire national geography. Behind them are the restaurants El Txoko de Ramiro Berri (Donostia- Guipúzcoa), Tangana, Local de Ensayo (Murcia), L'Arrosseria (Cunit, Tarragona). Avrile (Santander), Hermanos Alba (Málaga), Torres Herrera, La Isla (Seville) and El Pandora (Avilés, Asturias).
The best Apple Pie in San Sebastián Gastronomika
The best apple pie in Spain is made in Malaga, specifically at Pastelería Daza. This was decided this Tuesday in the III Spanish Apple Pie Championship by Asturias held within the framework of San Sebastian Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country.
Antonio Martín Ahumada, from Pastelería Daza (Málaga), has won the third edition of this championship. He takes over the restaurant La Carpintería (Vigo) led by Elena Garmendia, which won last year. This year's jury was made up of journalists and professionals from the world of gastronomy.
In the final, Martin Ahumada beat the restaurants and pastry shops of the Hotel Nobu (San Sebastián), La Raquetista in Havana (Madrid), Krombol Bakery (Jerez de la Frontera). La Postrería de Noe (Lugo) and the CoolRooms Palacio de Luces Hotel (Luces, Asturias).
Also called Apple pie, Tatin or Strudel, apple pie is one of the most iconic sweets in the world. To honor him, San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country has hosted this event for three years.
