Adrià blazes out against the injustice, Roca ignites entrepreneurial creativity and Arginzoniz stokes embers live on the congress’s last day with a record audience.

The dean of culinary congresses put an end to a hectic week which, despite the distances imposed and the seemingly coldness of the technology, has managed to rekindle the flame of gourmets around the world. This edition of the San Sebastian Gastronomika – Euskadi Basque Country, which has had to face all the conceivable difficulties, has not only resulted in unprecedented success in terms of public -more than 20,000 congress participants from 103 different countries-, but has set a new paradigm for this type of events. “Nothing in congresses will be the same after Gastonomika 2020”, asserted it director, Roser Torras.

There have been memorable moments along the way, such as those portrayed yesterday by some of the greatest figures in global cuisine. Ferran Adrià was in charge of closing the congress with an intervention to light the way for this profession. He did so from table 9 of the dining room in El Bulli, which is no longer a restaurant, nor will it be. At 58 I’m not going to go crazy about reinventing cuisine, we already did that once”. His goal now is “to create creators”, that is why as from 1 August a research team has been working in Cala Montjoi from which another multidisciplinary group will rewrite the history of cuisine. 

Nor are there good times ahead to return to the restaurant business, “under these conditions El Bulli would have cost me one million euros”, he pointed out.
Adrià wanted to send an encouraging message to a profession that has undergone “uncertainty and helplessness”, and especially to his colleagues from Madrid: emotional solvency is required, not only economical, to withstand all this”. He boomed against those who say his is a profession with no added value: “There is no more innovative sector in Spain than ours, we do not deserve to be treated this way”. And he warned that “if we receive no aid, the entire gastronomic quality network created over the last 25 years could disappear”.

Doing the math

Survival inevitably passes through “doing the math”, something in which the Roca brothers have stood out. Instead of discovering culinary techniques, on this occasion Joan dedicated his presentation to ignite the fuse of business creativity, giving an inspirational overview to the trajectory which has turned a modest food establishment into a global icon.

 “El Celler has lived through three great crises and a new project has emerged from each one”, not always the one they were expecting, but it has been the one that has enabled them to weather the storm. Like when they started to cater to weddings in order to pay off their loans or this summer where they’ve had to reconvert their banquet space into a classic restaurant.

In addition to its success, their journey is packed with “patience, sacrifice, effort and opting out”, that is why Roca recommends to those wishing to embark in business in this stormy situation “to be generous with the public, and to be aware, because opportunities can arise from the worst circumstances”.

When he built Asador Etxebarri 30 years ago with his own hands and decided to use embers to what he would like to be served, Bittor Arginzoriz had no idea how far he would go. Today’s third best restaurant in the world according to the 50Best list, opened the doors of its kitchen yesterday to the cameras of Gastronomika, providing a unique opportunity of witnessing a service in which he keeps a strict control of the grill. “The only way to learn to handle the timing and temperatures is through experience”, he ensured. Perhaps that’s the reason he hardly allows his assistants to get anywhere near the grill and is reluctant to open the restaurant when he is not there. 

Other heavy weights also appeared throughout the day, such as Martín Berasategui, Italian chef Carlo Cracco or Javier Olleros from Galicia. The chef from El Culler de Pau offered a nutritional presentation, not only culinary, but also emotionally. “Things do not always turn out as we want them to, but cuisine provides us with the opportunity to bring about changes, let’s forget about unattainable dreams and reconnect with Nature”.

THE CONGRESS IN FIGURES

20,700 congress attendees from 103 countries have followed this year’s edition of San Sebastián Gastonomika. 
70 speakers have participated in the congress throughout 50 hours of live broadcasting from 9 different locations.