The genius from L’Hospitalet will be linking up from Cala Montjoi to show the work that they have done there as a result of the first recruitment campaign at elBulli1846.

San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country 2020 will be showing the diversity of international gastronomy at a congress entitled “Caminos-Bideak-Pathways” streamed on this web site. This is a programme that is structured around the five basic themes that will guide each of the five days of the congress (from the 5th to the 9th of October), and that the very best chefs in the country will be taking part in. These will include Ferran Adrià, who will be back on the congress stage, which in this case will be a virtual auditorium, and will be linking up exclusively from elBulli1846. The members of the Gastronomika technical committee: Andoni Luis Aduriz, Josean Alija, Hilario Arbelaitz, Juan Mari Arzak, Eneko Atxa, Martín Berasategui and Pedro Subijana, will also be at the event in October, as will leading representatives of the national avant-garde.

On the 1st of August in Cala Montjoi, Ferran Adrià welcomed the professionals who have been selected in the first recruitment campaign to work until the 15th of November at elBulli1846. By the first week of October, when Gastronomika takes place, the work will be entering its final stages, so the genius from L’Hospitalet will already be able to show us the results of the work carried out during this period, and show us how what was the best restaurant in the world has been transformed. It has been the coronavirus crisis that has turned the XXII San Sebastian Gastronomika into a virtual congress, a fact that we will be taking advantage of to enjoy a unique experience.

As well as Adrià, the national avant-garde will also be present at what will be a unique Gastronomika congress, the first to be held totally free-of-charge and online. Live from their kitchens -or from the kitchens of some Basque colleagues-  among others, Ángel León (Aponiente***, Puerto de Santa María), Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca***, Girona), Paco Morales (Noor**, Córdoba), Toño Pérez (Atrio**, Cáceres), Javier Olleros (Culler de Pau*, O Grove), Maca de Castro (Maca de Castro*, Port d’Alcúdia) or Maria Solivellas (Cana Toneta, Caimari) will be coming to Gastronomika.

Sacha Hormaechea, Pedro Sánchez or Jordi Vilà, among the “unorthodox” chefs

There will also be a space at this year’s congress for “unorthodox” chefs. There are more and more creative chefs who are opting for a certain degree of informality on their premises and are offering proposals that are committed to a direct kind of cooking without making great changes in the food that they prepare, mostly using local, strictly seasonal ingredients. They have emerged spontaneously without any planning in various towns and villages in the last few years but they can now be considered to form part of a single group, with its own individualities and singularities, that transcend fashions

San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country Basque Country will be taking a deeper look at this movement to rediscover, analyse and assess what could be called “post-bistronomy”, with a documentary, round tables and presentations from a dozen of these ‘alternative’ chefs. Among them, Pedro Sánchez (Bagà*, Jaén), Jordi Vilà (Alkimia*, Barcelona), Rafa Peña (Gresca, Barcelona), Sacha Hormaechea (Sacha, Madrid), Carlos Torres and Elisa Rodríguez (La Buena Vida, Madrid), Nino Redruello (Fismuler, Madrid) or Ivan Domínguez (NaDo, A Coruña) will be at the congress.

Twinning with Italy and “Black Cuisines Matter”

Furthermore, during these days Italy and Spain will be cooking together in San Sebastian. The congress will be devoting a day to Italy, one of the European countries that has been most seriously affected by the health crisis, together with Spin. Spain will be twinning with Italy through some of the very best chefs from both countries, who will also be cooking together at two of the official congress dinners. Gastronomika 20 is also committed to raising the profile of “black cuisine”, a socio-culinary “new wave” (“Black Cuisines Matter”) that proudly champions its racial origins and culinary ancestors (Africa, the West Indies, America…) and which has become more and more widespread in the last few years. To do this, some of the best black chefs in the world will be coming on stage at the virtual auditorium.

It will be possible to follow San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country in real time from anywhere in the world. To enjoy the entire congress all you need to do is register for free on the web page: www.sansebastiangastronomika.com. – a unique opportunity with the seal of quality of the doyen of gastronomic congresses.