The list of speakers for this benchmark culinary event is now complete, and the registration period is open: don’t miss the culinary world-map programmed for this 18th edition. More than 40 chefs – many of them international award winners – from 5 continents will be gracing the stage of the Kursaal centre in a special edition of Gastronomika in the year that Donostia-San Sebastián is the European Capital of Culture.
Tuesday 28 June, marks the opening of the registration period for activities and presentations at San Sebastian Gastronomika–Euskadi Basque Country 2016, which is to take place at the Palacio Kursaal centre in Donostia-San Sebastián on 2-5 October. The list of participating chefs is now complete, and the new features to be introduced in this, the 18thedition, will make it a benchmark for gastronomy in Spain and an event not to be missed. There will be six guest countries, all of which will be sending leading figures and products, making up a great atlas of contemporary gastronomy.
With a little over three months to go before the doors open, the programme for San Sebastian Gastronomika is now almost complete. Leading chefs from Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Turkey and Hungary are preparing to show off their cooking to the world from Donosti-San Sebastián in October. The broad range of gastronomy on show will represent all five continents, divided into groups according to provenance for the presentations at the Kursaal centre to make things easier for visitors to understand. Success is assured thatnks to the presence of great chefs, including some whose restaurants are on the World’s 50 Best list.
Luke Dale-Roberts (The Test Kitchen Restaurant, Cape Town) is to open Gastronomika together with Margot Janse (The Tasting Room, Franschhoek). Apart from this look at contemporary African cuisine day one will also feature Álex Atala (DOM, Sao Paulo), currently number eleven on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, who will present his jungle-based haute cuisine. Brazil will also be represented at the event by Felipe Schaedler (Restaurante Banzeiro de Manaus, Brazil).
Turkish chefs Mehmet Gürs (Mikla, Istanbul), Maksut Askar (Neolokal, Istanbul), Kemal Demirasal (Alancha, Istanbul), Deniz Sahin (Kiva & Delimonti, Istanbul) and Cuneyt Bey (Günaydin, Istanbul) will then take over and deconstruct their traditions, showing their audience what a meze and a kebab really are. They will be followed on Tuesday by Lajos Biró of the Bisztró (Budapest), leading off the Hungarian delegation, which also includes Zoltán Hamvas (Gerbeaud Confectionary, Budapest) and Lászlo Mihályi (Mihályi Pastisserie, Budapest), who will discuss the key points of the renaissance and renovation of sweet bakery in Hungary.
On the last day of the event Peter Gilmore and Jock Zonfrillo will present their Australian cuisine, and then Yoshihiro Narisawa (Narisawa, Tokyo), currently number 8 on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Shinobu Namae (L’Effervescence, Tokyo) and Hideki Matsuhisa (Koy Shunka, Barcelona) will close Gastronomika with a close look at the most attractive current trends in Japan.
Meanwhile on the main stage at the Kursaal centre leading figures in Spanish cooking will be appearing in ALTA, an exciting feature of Gastronomika in which they will share their secrets, educating both the minds and the taste-buds of their audiences. Each presentation will include a tasting for Premium congress delegates. The Spanish chefs who have confirmed their attendance include Diego Guerrero, Ángel León, Paco Morales, Rodrigo de la Calle, Mario Sandoval, Xavier Pellicer, Joan Roca, Carme Ruscalleda, Sergio and Javier Torres, Paco Pérez, Eduard Xatruch and Oriol Castro, Marcos Morán and Ramón Freixa.
Basque chefs Hilario Arbelaitz, Martín Berasategui, Josean Alija, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Pedro Subijana and Juan Mari Arzak will also be attending.
Alongside the presentations in ALTA, the event will also continue to promote its usual features Off, Popular, Market, Sinergia, Wine&Win, etc, which are sure to fill the Kursaal centre and the whole city of Donostia-San Sebastián with cooking at its liveliest. A new feature of this year’s San Sebastian Gastronomika is the section called Cocinero a seguir [“A Chef to Watch”], which focuses on young chefs Toni Romero and Quim Coll, who run the 4 amb 5 Mujades restaurant in Barcelona.
