The Gastronomic Forum of Girona, the great culinary event that between March 18 and 21 will turn Girona into the epicenter of gastronomy, will address the influence of the vegetable world in kitchens.
The edition is extended for another day and, as a novelty, it will bring chefs, sommeliers, oenologists, producers and managers of food companies closer to the final consumer with the holding of various events (lectures, tastings or demonstrations) in the center of the city.
Among others, will be present in this edition, Fina Puigdevall and Martina Puigvert, from the restaurant Les Cols de Olot, in whose menu vegetables have a great role. The two cooks will speak with the producers who supply vegetables and greens to the restaurant. "With our orchard we are not self-sufficient, we rely on the gardeners of the area," said Puigvert.
Chef Paco Pérez, from the Miramar de Llançà restaurant, will speak with Antonio Muiños, the main seaweed collector, with whom he plans a marine garden in this municipality in the north of the Costa Brava.
They will also explain the role that vegetables have in their kitchens, the chefs recognized by the Michelin Guide Xavier Pellicer (Xavier Pellicer, Barcelona) Rodrigo de la Calle (El invernadero, Madrid) Ricky Saward (Seven swans, Frankfurt) and Loïc Villemin (Toia, France).
The four chefs, who will also offer two live cooking sessions, will hold a discussion led by We're smart, a gastronomic guide that focuses on restaurants that work with vegetables.
The brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca will not be missing from the event, who will present the book on the kitchen of the last ten years and will also explain the current dishes of El Celler de Can Roca in Girona that are made with products from their own organic garden and the seed recovery project.
A relationship with vegetables that has changed in recent years, as acknowledged yesterday by the sommelier Josep Roca. "The most outstanding change in the kitchen of the last ten years is the look of charm towards a lettuce that we had not had before", he affirmed and asked to pay the farmer "what is fair".
As an example of this greater green role in restaurant menus, Roca pointed out that out of a dozen dishes there are only two meat and two fish. The rest are vegetables.
The Torres brothers, also three-starred, will give a live culinary demonstration with tuna as the protagonist by the hand of Arrom, a Catalan fish and shellfish distributor.
Star chef Maria José San Román will talk about a little-explored product, vinegar, and Josep Roca, Dani Martínez and Bernat Guixer will talk about El Celler's liquid cuisine.
Girona's Plaza Catalunya will become a culinary center where the public will be able to enjoy presentations, show cooking and tastings and learn first-hand about the activity of forty exhibitors.
The objective is to bring gastronomy and its professionals closer to the final public and train them in various aspects such as nutrition, sustainability or local products, among others.
Featured chefs such as Quim Casellas (Casamar, Llafranc) will introduce fish cuisine; Raül Balam (El Drac, Calella) will hold a Catalan cream workshop and Ada Parellada (Semproniana, Barcelona) will talk about food waste.
In this great culinary space in which Plaça Catalunya in Girona will be transformed during the first two days of the Fòrum, the public will also be able to get to know the outstanding products of the guest city in this edition, Bologna, such as mortadella, Parmesan, pasta and other cheeses.
As a novelty, the Association of Room Professionals, created to honor this figure, has organized a career of waiters.
The professional Forum will take place on March 20 and 21 at the Auditori Palau de Congressos. It will have 130 exhibitors and the monographic formats that were successful a year ago will be maintained.
Around the Bean to Bar chocolate movement, figures such as Jordi Roca (Casa Cacao), Olivier Fernández (Escola de Pastisseria de Barcelona and Museu de la Xocolata) and Joan Baixas (Baixa pastry shop) will explain the keys to achieving high-quality chocolate.
Aspects such as the fifth range in restaurants and hotels will also be addressed; the evolution of gastronomic criticism, in which opinion leaders on social networks now play a prominent role, and new business models.
In this sense, four pastry chefs who have left the restaurant to set up their own workshop will explain how they did it. They are Lucila Cantero (The Firefly, Castelldefels); Andrea Dopico (Maison Marcel, Sant Feliu de Guíxols), Natalja Prokopenko (Praliné, Girona) and Libe Santiag (Efímera Xocalates, Sant Cugat).
On the other hand, Mateu Casañas will explain the Compartir model and the San Hô and Kensei restaurants, both in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and recently recognized by the Michelin Guide, will talk about the success of Nikkei and Japanese cuisine in this place in the Canary Islands.
Contests like the steak tartar contest will continue, in which chefs from Asturias, Barcelona, Madrid, Galicia and Cirona will participate; and that of the best start up, which has around fifty participants.
