II Staff Exchange Chefs, the main actors
REPORT
Photos by ©Asociación Plan Estratégico Ciudad de Burgos
REPORT II Staff Exchange Chefs, the main actors
The Staff Exchanges within the project Gastronomic Cities were designed as a tool for learning from Burgos gastronomic good practice.
The second Gastronomic Cities Staff Exchange (out of 3) was based on the key role that Chefs play in Gastronomy development, being responsible for making the difference. Burgos, thanks to the Spanish capital of gastronomy, has driven a generation of Chefs who have interpreted the new cuisine from the traditional food. A new generation of Chefs in the city has become visible image that made gastronomy a tourist attraction, and has shown as a good example of cooperation activities within the own collective and commitment with the city, local products, schools,…
Specific objectives for the receiving cities:
Get in touch with new creative processes in Burgos cuisine.
Learn on innovation in traditional cuisine.
Get to know business models in new gastronomy.
Learn on experience economy.
Motivate their chefs committing then for cooperation show cooperation benefits. Give their feedback to Burgos city on HORECA and cuisine development and how could be improved both from professional and user point of view.
The city delegations were composed mainly by professional Chefs also some HORECA representatives and the cities local project coordinators. The Staff Exchange included a 2 days full programme including 3 blocks: site visits, cooking demonstrations and training workshops, combined with active participation and debriefing sessions.
Click on this link to easily see in a video format how the programme was developed: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=314667215365699&l=4001978420127766772
In advanced, some key concepts as food for thought were set up for the open debates:
The Local Chef Association importance.
Burgos Gastronomic Movement: The benefits of cooperation.
Traditional cuisine versus modern cuisine.
Tapas approach.
Recipes that could be prepared for high level restaurants and others for more affordable restaurants, bistros,…
Way of serving food based on traditional recipes.
Interior design of restaurants.
How menus are composed and presented.
Discover high value/(important ingredients for traditional recipes:
Discuss and formulate basic trends in culinary arts
Meal storytelling linked to traditional food that would be written and told to visitors to restaurants when ordering that food.
How to protect traditional cuisine
Questions to reflect Is globalization actually strengthening or in fact threatening local food cultures?
How aware are tourists of local food when they travel.
Does the perceived authenticity of the food experience have a strong link to the satisfaction of tourist?
To what extent are tourists aware of the gastro stars of the destinations they visit? Gastronomy is the new rock and Roll (Ferrán Adriá)
How do tourists learn about the food of the countries and regions they visit?
What are the most effective ways of organizing food events?
Do creative gastronomy tourists stay longer in destination or spend more or return more often?
Could you have this photo in your city?
This photo was taken in June 2012 to support Burgos candidature to Spanish Capital of Gastronomy Award. The milestone brought together all the Chefs in the city. This photo is symptomatic and a good example of initial commitment. That milestone was a strong starting point for Burgos gastronomic candidature: Burgos Gastronomic Movement was the “guilty” of the oncoming success.
Burgos invited the cities to reflect of the possibilities of having a similar photo in their city.
For the skeptics about cooperation…
Change means movement. Movement means friction. Get used to it .Paulo Coelho
Some condiments to use
CHEF COOPERATION POSIBILITIES: BURGOS CASE
A sample of useful cooperation options from the example of Burgos professionals and its link with the city, the province and its products:
Participation in tourism and food fairs: City promotion through gastronomy.
Madrid Fusión: Fair food, with cooking demonstrations of the most important chefs in the international scene, presentations of the most revolutionary techniques, debates ...Burgos local Chefs participated together with institutional support and local products.
Salón de Gourmets: Europe's largest event on delicatessen products…Local Chef Nacho Rojo was invited by the regional promotion brand 'Tierra de Sabor', to develop showcooking at Castilla y León´s stand.
Fitur: Largest International Tourism Fair in Spain. Local Chefs collaborated showcooking and product presentations: City promotion through gastronomy.
Intur: International Interior Tourism Fair. Antonio Arrabal and Miguel Cobo, famous local chefs due to their participation in the TV show TOP CHEF, performed a cooking show where they showed how they make some of their best meals.
Alimentaria: International Exhibition of Food & Beverage. In the edition of 2014 different local chefs collaborated.
Creating new commercial products in collaboration with local producers:
Nachos de Morcilla: Isabel Alvarez local Chef cooperated in the creation of an innovative product based on traditional Morcilla de Burgos. Delicious and crunchy snack made from rice pudding supreme pump which is subsequently processed and baked.
Morcilla Squid: The local Chef Saul Gomez developed the Black Pudding Squid. The black pudding is made within the squid, as if it was the same casing. That mix of flavors gives the balance.
Apple Black pudding: Evolution of traditional morcilla de Burgos developed by local Chef Saul Gomez.
Special events
Tribute Dinner Burgos Spanish Capital of Gastronomy: Gourmet dinner in which 17 local chefs prepared a cocktail and an exclusive menu. Burgos Spanish Capital of Gastronomy 2013 and
Burgos Province council through Burgos Alimenta worked together. Over 200 people attended the dinner. There were also representatives from the HORECA School La Flora.
Devora es Burgos: Weekend dedicated to gastronomy with the aim of promoting culinary tourism in Burgos with various activities scheduled throughout the weekend, including special showcookings.
Product promotion cuisine demonstration, developing showcookings in different province events: Caderechas Valley Apple Quality Brand Exhibition; Celebrating 10 years of Caderechas Quality Brands; Sotopalacios Black Pudding Quality Brand Exhibition; Ibeas Beans Quality Brand Exhibition,…
Cooking Competitions within local restaurants and tapas bars (related also with the use of local products): San Lesmes winter Tapas Competition; Potato Tortilla Competition with products from Burgos; I Sotopalacios Black Pudding Tapas Tour; Sweet Tapa Competition; Gastronomic Days Miró Painter,…
GASTRONOMY AND THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY
(Greg Richards. An overview of food and tourism trends and policies)
Tourism is a major part of the contemporary experience economy, in which food plays an important role. Food provides much more than nourishment: It is also a key part of all cultures, a major element of global intangible heritage and an increasingly important attraction for tourists. The linkages between food and tourism also provide a platform for local economic development, which can be strengthened by the use of food experiences for branding and marketing destinations. Food also provides the basis for important newly emerging creative and cultural industries…Which creative and cultural industries?
Food cultures around the world are a rich source of culture, economic and social diversity.
A shift from the former service economy towards an ‘experience economy’.
Easily copied service concepts have been replaced by more sophisticated experiences that combine elements of education, entertainment, aesthetics and escapism to engage the consumer.
The consumer no longer pays for the basic service, but for the complete experience, and is willing to pay a premium for the added value offered by experiences above standard services.
To be mentioned:
Second generation of experiences. (Prahalad and Ramaswamy). The co-creation.
Producers and consumers work actively together to innovate, design and implement experiences. For example, the 4M model of meal experiences developed by Kivits indicates that the meal experience in a restaurant is influenced by the producer and the consumer, who both affect the four elements of the experience: moment, mood, meal and money.
Third generation of experiences: Social Networks helps to develop a community of producers and consumers who are constantly in touch with one another.
Nowadays, the traditional value chain of organizations is replaced by a more widespread network of value creation in which consumers, competitors and social networks can all play a role. Food experiences become part of the distinctive intangible culture of places, as part of the ‘stockpile of knowledge, traditions, memories and images’.
We need foodies or the new culinary tourists
Food provides the basis for the development of tourism experiences in a number of ways:
Linking culture and tourism: food is often a gateway to local culture and can bring tourists and locals together in a shared cultural experience.
Developing the meal experience: meals are a central part of tourist experience and provide an ideal setting for the creation of memorable experiences.
Producing distinctive foods: foods can become distinctive foods: foods can become distinctive elements of the brand image of places.
Developing the critical infrastructure for food production and consumption: producers, chefs, critics, journalists, bloggers…
Supporting local culture: providing the cultural capital necessary to create and sustain cultural production and consumption.
Relationship between hospitality, urban regeneration and urban space:
Guerrilla hospitality: pop up bars and restaurants in dilapidated buildings and empty plots in the city. Provide a stimulus to urban regeneration by mixing hospitality with culture and gastronomy.
What we need:
Create authentic experiences is often a question of a strong narrative and creative storytelling about place and the food culture.
Authenticity can be assured by concentrating on the basic product: high quality ingredients and careful preparation.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN IN HORECA SECTOR
Going to a to a restaurant, is as relevant as going to a museum.
Good news!!: All the tourists eat.
Gastronomy makes the difference and makes a city or a place unique.
A place tells his story through gastronomy.
There are 2 types of customers: the passive one and the active ones, linked to blogs, travelling, tour operators, Social Networks,…taking this into account we have to decide how to focus our advertising and how to capture the customer.
We all eat through the eyes!! Some trends set the desserts in the first pages of the menu to seduce the customers: 80% of consumption decisions occur in the subconscious!! Take advantage of menu Engineering and photo marketing!
How many businesses have tried? How many succeeded? You have to connect with the customer: Make them feel comfortable, but not so much: "Revenue management" influence customer behavior through environment".
Do we have to adapt our offer to the Social Networks?
CREATIVE CHEFS
The objective of the Staff Exchange, having 2 days duration was not a cuisine lesson. Nevertheless, a good sample of cooking shows by local Chefs was developed from very different approaches: Traditional/innovative, Vegetarian/traditional, Local/International… The Chefs also exposed their cooking philosophy, meals storytelling and process…All these very different pieces form a whole successful puzzle within Burgos Gastronomy Movement.
As an example, Ignacio Rodriguez and Enrique Pérez from Ojeda Restaurant, the oldest restaurant in the city with more than 1 hundred years of activity, exposed their creative processes and its conditionings and requisites, to be mentioned:
Meal process: Meal creating and configuring; Main ingredient; Price; Seasonal products; Offer configuring.
Key elements: Presentation; Creativity Chef; Flatware choice; Not conditioning the meal for the presentation; Balance between striking and colorful; Staff available!; Identity and style of each restaurant: key when preparing a meal.
Antonio Arrabal, from Abba Hotel, made his Tree potato stuffed with Burgos morcilla and applesauce. A good example of reinterpreting a traditional product as it is Burgos black pudding with new techniques and elements as the nitrogen:
Nacho Rojo, from La Galería Restaurant explained his particular interpretation of a local forest through Gastronomy:
Gaia Restaurant brought the vegetarian and international approach, bringing products and
techniques from Asia:
Jose Luis García, from Burgos HORECA School (María Madre), played with a visual trick, making a “false” black pudding with seaweed and colt meat:
David García, from El Cuadro Restaurant and Jose María Temiño, from Maridaje´s exposed their restaurants and meals creative philosophy.
Patxi Álvarez, from Tábula Gastrobar and Isabel Álvarez explained their experience in Euro- Toques (European Chefs Community) as a useful and enriching tool for creativity.
COMMITMENT WITH INNOVATION
Source: HORECA and Tourism Burgos School “La Flora” –teachers’ team-
The teachers team from the Escuela de Hostelería y Turismo de Burgos La Flora (HORECA and Tourism Burgos School “La Flora”) shown and explained the School commitment with innovation, similar elements to the ones explained by the Chefs, but from a more academic point of view:
iculinaria Project + showing: Cooking innovation processes in the framework of the Chef School.
What we teach
PROCESSES AND TRADITIONAL CULINARY COOKING TECHNIQUES PRODUCTION INNOVATION
What is for us innovation in the kitchen?
LEARN HOW
To catch sensations Forms Textures Flavors Scents Sounds To convey emotions
Inspiration Creativity Harmony
How we teach innovation in the kitchen
PRODUCTS ANALYSIS ORIGIN VARIETY QUALITY TEXTURE
SERVICE FLAVOUR SCENT FORM SPICE
TECHNIQUE PRODUCTION PROCESS PREPROCESSING COMBINATION
COST TRADITION CONCEPT PRESENTATION CULINARY INNOVATION
What skills does the student develop?
THE USE OF THE 5 SENSES
The future To satisfy Chef should SIGHT TOUCH TASTE SMELL HEARI customers have NG
Which innovation processes do we teach?
From a TRADITIONAL From a PRODUCT RECIPE
From PICTURES From TEXTURES
From a CONCEPT To get your own INSPIRATION
Example of innovation processes
CONCEPT Sea and mountain OBJECTIVE Flavours game with the own products PLACES / COLLEAGUES Using Greek aubergine, balsamic vinegar from Italy PRODUCT Wagyu tongue, aubergine, smoke powder, olive oil, halophilic algae, balsamic vinegar, glucose, Oporto wine, black garlic, freeze dried strawberry powder FLAVOURS Acid salt, smoked, roasted COLORS Green, red, black, white, brown SOUND Wagyu on the field-Campanian SHAPES Rectangle, Circle PROCESS Vacuum cooking-emulsion-reduction-dehydration- milled REALISTIC YES COST Medium-low FINAL DEFINITION Wagyu tongue at low temperature with smoked aubergine and halophytes PRESENTATION Final result on plate
THE VISITING EXPERIENCE
Some gastronomy places were visited on the ground as good cases from a business model point of view:
Creativity and innovation by Diego Gorostiza from La Cantina del Tenorio:
Tapas approach by Gabino Tobar, from Polvorilla restaurant:
Fidel Lopez, from La Lesmería Bistrot, exposed the importance of design and logistics for HORECA business:
To be highlighted the positive effects of urban pedestrianisation processes for HORECA sector enhancing.
Güemes brothers from Tapería Royal explained their background in tapas development, how the tapas awards received have enhanced the business success and their extension to a new place with a grill approach.
Within this experience, a simple SWOT exercise was proposed to the cities, to formulate their possibilities and resources to be used towards a culinary revival in their cities and give a bigger importance of gastronomy in tourism and city life. These were the results in a schematic format:
ALBA IULIA CITY
1. Can you name some typical food in your city/region? Polenta with sour cream (Mămăligă cu smântână), Tripesoup (ciorbă de burtă), Chicken noodlesoup (supă cu tăiței) Cabbagepie, Meat pie (pup cu varză, pup cu carne), Chicken/Porc stew etc.
2. Do you have wine/wine brands that has origin in the city/region? Jidvei wines, Ciumbrud Domains (Sauvignon Blanc, Royal Feteasca, Muscat Otonel etc.)
3. Do you have typical restaurants and bistros offering typical food & wine in the region? For typical food, to be mentioned: Restaurant Hotel Cetate, “Mama Luta” Pension, Restaurant “Casa Simi”, Restaurant “The Duchess”. For typical wines: Most Restaurants and bistros in the area.
4. Do you have culinary, gastronomy, tourism colleges and high schools? Chef School and Chefs' Assistants School.
5. Do you have associations of chefs/cooks and sommeliers in the city/region? There is no association of chefs or sommeliers in the city.
6. How strong is the demand of citizens and/or visitors for food and wine in the city? The demand is getting stronger especially with the increase of tourists coming to Alba Iulia in recent years. Also local residents have started to increase the demand for food and drink products in the city/area, especially for good food and drinks quality products.
7. Which are the biggest STRENGHTS/ADVANTAGES to develop gastronomy in your city? - A large variety of products and producers of food and drinks at local/regional level; - A large number of food & drink businesses and strong HORECA sector existent at local/regional level; - Increasing demand coming from locals and tourists for food & drink products.
8. What are the biggest WEAKNESSES/PROBLEMS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Probably the reticence of local residents to new types of food & drink products; - Low number of Associations of producers at local/regional level; - High price of food & drink products in general compared to salaries of inhabitants; - Low quality of some services provided by HORECA sector; - The lack of a proper Chefs' school at local level.
9. What are the biggest OPPORTUNITIES/BENEFITS to develop gastronomy in your city? - To increase the number of tourists coming to Alba Iulia; - To increase visibility and place Alba Iulia on the map of Gastronomy at national level and in the future to obtain the award of Capital of Gastronomy; - To increase the quality of services provided by the HORECA sector; - To increase variety of products and producers of food & drink at local/regional level.
10. What are the biggest THREATS/COSTS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Prices of food & drink products getting higher; - Local producers not wanting to create their own associations; - Local HORECA sector not determined to improve their standards of services offered; - Low cooperation between food-drink stakeholders, HORECA sector and Local authorities.
11. How and with what instruments the city/regional policy should stimulate gastronomy development in your city? - Encouraging/supporting local producers to create their own associations; - Encouraging/supporting HORECA sector to increase their services; - Encouraging/supporting local/regional food & drink businesses to develop; - Encouraging/supporting the creation of Chefs' schools at local/regional level; - Encouraging/supporting the creation of mobile bio-food & drink markets at local level; - Organizing regular food & drink fares in the city/region.
FERMO CITY
1. Can you name some typical food in your city/region? Mela Rosa dei Sibillini (a type of apple that grows in our area);Vincisgrassi (it is a dish that is traditionally served with meat sauce and with the addition of bechamel, and it's a much similar to Lasagne that is egg pasta cut into large square or rectangular, Ciauscolo (aparticolar sausage in our area), Pecorino dei Sibillini (type of cheese), Maccheroncini di Campofilone (type of pasta), Varnelli (a special liquor made in the Region),Olive all'Ascolana (a type of fried oliva it's used pork or beef meat but you can also add smalls amounts of chicken or turkey meat),Veal of the Marche Region(typical meat of our territory), Truffle of Sibillini Mountains and Vino Cotto (typical wine product of the Marche)
2. Do you have wine/wine brands that has origin in the city/region? Many types of indigenous wines have their origin in the Marche Region, for example, Verdicchio di Matelica, Rosso Piceno, Falerio Dop, Vernaccia di Serrapetrona (typical dessert wine), Pecorino and Passerina.
3. Do you have typical restaurants and bistros offering typical food & wine in the region? There are many typical restaurants that offer typical food and wine in the Marche region. For typical food, can be mentioned: Restaurant “La fonte di Mosè”,Restaurant “Emilio”located in Fermo, Hotel and Restaurant “Royal Hotel”, Restaurant “da Carlo” where you can eat typical dishes of our territory. As for typical wine: most restaurant and bistros in the area for example Wine Bar name “Bar a Vino” always located in Fermo.
4. Do you have culinary, gastronomy, tourism colleges and high schools? Yes, in specific Pizza School that organize also training courses for professional “Pizzaioli” (pizza cooks), Professional Institute High School for Tourism, Professional Institute for Cooking
5. Do you have associations of chefs/cooks and sommeliers in the city/region? Yes, in specific Provincial Chef Association and AIS Association of Italian Sommeliers.
6. How strong is the demand of citizens and/or visitors for food and wine in the city? The demand for food and drink is very strong because the gastronomic tourism is very well developed in the Marche Region (Italy). The demand is confirmed by the attendance of thousands visitors to the 90 food and wine festivals organized all year long in the Fermo area.
7. Which are the biggest STRENGHTS/ADVANTAGES to develop gastronomy in your city? The biggest strength to develop gastronomy sector is our area is the availability of food supply chain and HoReCa actors to involve tourist in particular “customized” culinary tourism activities based on an experience economy approach: the challenge to provide esthetic, entertainment, education and escapist experiences is well understood by many local actors. The main activities that can represent tools to improve these dimensions of experience, are: wine tasting tours and field trips in farms and wineries, to enjoy food products, cultural
heritage and traditional center Italy landscape, Mediterranean diet and numerous food festivals.
8. What are the biggest WEAKNESSES/PROBLEMS to develop gastronomy in your city? Lack of political vision and strategy that does not allow the implementation of the great potential for tourist attraction and does not support food networks; then, the level of communication and the level of professionalism in the organization of wine and food festivals should be improved. Moreover, the activities of the local associations (chefs and sommeliers) should be devoted to strengthen the education and training activities to improve their associates’ skills.
9. What are the biggest OPPORTUNITIES/BENEFITS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Economic and Financial crisis can be a challenge and a necessity to adopt new models of development - The high level of unemployed people in traditional sectors (shoes and textile manufacturing) are looking for new jobs and they are available to learn - The coastal tourism flow can be attracted with new promotional activities in light of a new consumers’ interest in gastronomy - The presence of Gastronomic Cities project can become a resource if joined with other international flagships initiatives like the participation to the SlowFood Cities network, or to the Unesco Creative Cities – Gastronomy.
10. What are the biggest THREATS/COSTS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Financial problems related to the global economic crisis - The rights skills to promote a food network and new typologies of cooking - Lack of political vision and strategy
11. How and with what instruments the city/regional policy should stimulate gastronomy development in your city? Regional policy should stimulate gastronomic development promoting public/private partnerships and city branding. The importance of knowledge sharing through the collaboration with High Schools and Universities is crucial to set long term strategies. The involvement of the many cultural and culinary associations, promoting their participation to cyclical roundtables and brainstorming sessions can represent “low cost” strategies with very good impact on associations’ mindsets, to reinforce their willingness to cooperate. The new structural funds in the programming period 2014-2020 can give several opportunities to implement new project ideas grew up during the current project. Setting up a board of young professionals in European project design and place branding can be relevant to enlarge horizons and establish permanent international networks aimed at building transnational routes of gastronomy. This board could help the municipality to apply to several international prizes and awards such as the Unesco - Creative Cities, among others.
KORYDALLOS CITY
1. Can you name some typical food in your city/region? Typical food from different gastronomic cultures are met: Pontian and Minor Asia (before 1922), Aegean Greek Islands (Cretan Cuisine), Astypalaia Islands,… Mediterranean is the most common cuisine in the region. Lots of choices can be found such as: horderves, pasta, meat, fish, salads,… Big variety of dishes can be found for all kind of tastes, having a long tradition in food.
2. Do you have wine/wine brands that has origin in the city/region? Attiki, the prefecture area is well known for wines (within the extend area). In the region, out of the city of Athens there are some wineries with a special variety of grapes.
3. Do you have typical restaurants and bistros offering typical food & wine in the region? There is a variety of typical restaurants and bistros offering typical food in the region: Restaurants, bistros, cafés, taverns, grill houses.
4. Do you have culinary, gastronomy, tourism colleges and high schools? There are more than 5 culinary schools in the region as well as colleges for gastronomy and tourism. The most famous gastronomy school in Greece (Le Monde) is located nearby the city, in the extend area
5. Do you have associations of chefs/cooks and sommeliers in the city/region? In the extend area, with chefs and sommeliers in the region, actively organizing several events.
6. How strong is the demand of citizens and/or visitors for food and wine in the city? Strong enough. With economic crisis the demand of citizens for high quality services provided has been increased. The demand for food and drinks is very strong since Korydallos as a city makes a great income out of gastronomy.
7. Which are the biggest STRENGHTS/ADVANTAGES to develop gastronomy in your city? - Location of the city and its extend network of food shops in the city. - Many taverns (typical restaurants), restaurants and bistros in the city. - The need to face economic crisis. - Good Chefs and cooks
8. What are the biggest WEAKNESSES/PROBLEMS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Financial problems and economical uncertainty due to crisis. - Mistrust among collaborations with public sector.
9. What are the biggest OPPORTUNITIES/BENEFITS to develop gastronomy in your city?
People socialize through gastronomy and its events, that is why gastronomy is so important for people in Korydallos and can help to have a better way of life as well as facing for the crisis. If people is convinced to collaborate this could face the problems of the crisis: People working together improve strength socially and economically. The biggest benefit of developing gastronomy in the city is that will make all the people that live and work in the city more secure and more confident so they can make progress at their city.
10. What are the biggest THREATS/COSTS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Collective work/networking is not very popular nowadays: People don’t trust political sector for collaboration. - Risk in giving money for extra instruments and improvements: If something goes wrong there is no way to fix the damage. - The biggest fear of a restaurant owner is the cost of the equipment (and staff capacity building) needed in case of failure.
11. How and with what instruments the city/regional policy should stimulate gastronomy development in your city? - Systematic work with people that believe in the project collaborating with experts and famous persons to empower the effort. - Attracting well known persons around gastronomy to give advice and their publicity to the project. - Respect on people work and ideas by giving space for thoughts and working due to collective collaboration: By building collective work, we can improve our position in local and supralocal level. - Work hard in order to make gastronomy well known in our regions. - The basic instrument to stimulate gastronomy development is knowledge. If all the people are well educating and well trained this will affect the whole town also the collaboration.
HOSPITALET DE LLOBREGAT CITY
1. Can you name some typical food in your city/region? In our city and all around the region we can offer a rich assortment of typical products from Catalonia such as: “Calçots amb Romesco sauce”(a sort of spring onion served along with a rich savory souce) , “Fricandó” (beef stew) “Mar i Muntanya” dishes such as “Arrós amb Llagosta” (it includes different dishes made of a combination of row materials both seafood and inland from) “Pa amb Tomàquet” (bread with spread tomate sauce) “Canelons” (typical meat rolls), Embutits (a wide assortment of coldmeat where “butifarra” is a key element) and Crema Catalana for dessert (a sweet cream with flambed sugar on top).
2. Do you have wine/wine brands that has origin in the city/region? We have the “D.O Catalunya” as a generic wine brand that includes all wines produced at wineries within Catalonia autonomous community. Apart from that, each wine region within Catalonia has got its own wine brand which makes Catalonia a very rich area in terms of both wine´s production rate and brand variety as well as row materials quality. These wine brands are pretty well known and have a remarkable presence and standing within Spanish and International wine markets. The most important wine brands in the region are as follows: D.O. Penedès, D.O. Priorat, D.O. Montsant, D.O. Empordá, D.O. Costers del Segre. Furthermore, we also have a generic wine brand that includes different regions where “Cava” (a sort of champagne very typical from Catalonia) is produced. It´s called D.O Cava. In this sense, we can state Penedès zone as the main Cava´s producer within the whole Catalonia region.
3. Do you have typical restaurants and bistros offering typical food&wine in the region? We have many different types of restaurants and bars in our city where tourists can enjoy dishes from our own gastronomy as well as from other countries and cultures (Japanese and Italian food for instance). It´s important to remark that L’Hospitalet city has got an important mixture of “Spanish culture” within itself due to the large amount of people who migrated to Catalonia in the 60´s and 70´s from many other Spanish regions where gastronomy has it´s own relevance and tradition itself. This fact means that it´s easy to find a wide range of restaurants that offer the proper gastronomy from those different Spanish regions such as Galicia, Asturias, Extremadura and Andalucía just to point a few. In this sense L’Hospitalet has got multiple bars, wineries, coffee shops and restaurants where nice food is served at a very reasonable price too. The most typical places that you can find here for you to taste “cuina casolana” (typical catalan food) are called “Masíes” which usually look like a stately home with a garden area attached. These were the typical buildings from rural Catalonia a few decades ago which still remain standing mainly used for restaurant service nowadays.
4. Do you have culinary, gastronomy, tourism colleges and high schools? -In our city we have the Catering Training Centre (Escola d’Hostaleria de L’Hospitalet) which carries out a year-long training programme in both catering and barman qualifications for
young people who wants to develop their career within this sector. -Furthermore, from L’Hospitalet you can easily access to the main Catering, Winery and Tourism Schools and Colleges located in Barcelona city center due to its proximity. To do so we have a wide underground and rail system within Barcelona metropolitan area that covers perfectly well all neighborhoods in L’Hospitalet. To complete this we also have a wide system of bus lines that links L’Hospitalet with Barcelona city centre. Some of these schools are: -INS Escola d’Hoteleria i Turisme de Barcelona (a public school financed by local government). -ESHOB Escola Superior d’Hostaleria de Barcelona (a private school). -CETT Escola d’Hostaleria i Turisme (at Barcelona´s University). -Club del Barman de Cataluña (Catalonia´s Barman club).
5. Do you have associations of chefs/cooks and sommeliers in the city/region? -We have the “Hospitality Sector Guild” from L’Hospitalet city as an association that gathers together different businesses and people from gastronomy and tourism sector in order to assure their financial sustainability as well as their professional development. -Regarding other chefs, cooks and sommeliers associations we can find many of them at Barcelona city centre where once again we can get to very easily due to L’Hospitalet being part of Barcelona metropolitan area. Some of them are: -ACYRE Asociación de cocineros y reposteros de Barcelona (Cooking and Baking Association). -ACS Asociación catalana de Sommeliers (Sommeliers Association).
6. How strong is the demand of citizens and/or visitors for food and wine in the city? -On one hand we can state that L’Hospitalet citizen’s demand is pretty good as they get easily involved in all gastronomic and cultural activities that are annually run by the city council. The participation rate at food and wine events it´s usually quite high in terms of local population. -On the other hand, although there is not such amount of tourists coming from other cities neither from abroad on a daily bases, as it happens in Barcelona city center, yet we can say that some events such as “Fiestas de la Primavera” (Spring Festival) with its cultural and food&wine activities on schedule, attract many people from metropolitan areas. -Apart from this there is another fact that it´s important to take into account in order to consider the demand of visitors across the spectrum: As for L’Hospitalet being very close to Barcelona´s airport there are actually a total amount of 13 hotels across the city that offer their services to tourist from both abroad and other Spanish cities. They offer accommodation at a very reasonable price and very well connected to Barcelona by metro and train. Many of these tourists are also coming for business as there is a big business fair centre located in L’Hospitalet where many fairs and events are held along the year. It´s called “Fira II-Gran Via” and it´s part of the big complex “ Fira Internacional de Barcelona” (a set of buildings where International Fairs are held). Regarding this, many of these visitors are hosted in L’Hospitalet hotels instead of Barcelona centre so they can also enjoy and take advantage of our many gastronomic events at some point of the year.
7. Which are the biggest STRENGHTS/ADVANTAGES to develop gastronomy in your city? -L’Hospitalet good connection and closeness to Barcelona’s airport makes it a strength to attract tourists and visitors than look for a comfortable and cheap accommodation near
Barcelona city centre with all amenities included. These kinds of visitors mean a good market niche for gastronomic development in our city. -In this sense gastronomy development could also lead to create new accommodation areas within the city consisting of cheap apartments and rooms for daily or weekly rent. -L’Hospitalet it´s the origin city of Ferran Adrià, one of the most famous Chef in Spain and across-the-board, which provides the city with a good hand in terms of prestige and reputation when planning any gastronomy marketing campaign. -We can also consider L’Hospitalet to be a good-size city in terms of space and inhabitants (about 250.000) which grants it a strength point in terms of human potential for development as well as culture diversity.
8. What are the biggest WEAKNESSES/PROBLEMS to develop gastronomy in your city? - Sometimes a narrow point of view from city businesses owners with a not very open-mind makes difficult to innovate and come along with new ideas and projects as a result. - The lack of city positioning within gastronomy could be a handicap for the development of this sector. - The low quality service and poor appearance of some venues and restaurants means the need of making changes in both gastronomy culture and businesses owners mentality for them to improve their business in many senses.
9. What are the biggest OPPORTUNITIES/BENEFITS to develop gastronomy in your city? -First of all, the development of gastronomy in L’Hospitalet could let to keep local citizens in the city instead of them going to Barcelona to spend their free time. In this sense, also foreign visitors and people from other close towns could be attracted too. -The development of gastronomy could also let to maintain and create jobs around the area in order to cover the needs of an expected grower economy as a result of investment in gastronomic activities. -Another valuable benefit would be the improvement of customer service qualifications and performance of employees working at tourism and gastronomy business due to training programmes carried out for that purpose. The better they work the happier will the customers be which also will have a positive impact in the economy and standing of the city as a gastronomic tourism destination.
10. What are the biggest THREATS/COSTS to develop gastronomy in your city? -The investment in remodeling, bringing up to date and market positioning of restaurants, wineries and any other kind of venue related to gastronomy could be an important expenditure for little businesses owners who could get in trouble in case they don´t have enough budget to do so. -The investment in qualification´s training for already working people and new employees could be an additional cost for businesses owners who could be reluctant to pay out for it at first place. This could lead the public administrations to think about investing public funds to grant private businesses for them to train their employees.
11. How and with what instruments the city/regional policy should stimulate gastronomy development in your city? - First of all to set up instruments and tools to create cooperation nets between public and
private organisms and businesses. That will let private business agents to expose their ideas or suggestions about gastronomy development and to take advantage of common synergies. - To develop an urban plan, taking Burgos as an example, which could help those private agents to improve their business. For instance: To pedestrianize some streets as in Burgos city centre. This would make L’Hospitalet much more accessible for pedestrians who walk around in search of food and fun to expend their free time locally on an easy way. - To carry out small and simple social actions and activities that let local gastronomy becoming more popular and successful. -To set up a stable gastronomic activities schedule to be developed on-a-yearly bases putting all together the actions that are currently run at the Spring Festival as well as at Major Festivals from each neigbourhood in L’Hospitalet.
…We knew it in advanced… all Gastronomic Cities have their cuisine elements and resources but… also their main city competitors have!!. Promote and position their added valued will be their main aim in the next future.
The time saved in the kitchen is spent on digestion.
Some "cheap" menus are costly.
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