The president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, highlights that the island is a “gastronomic power” that generates employment and economic income
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 19 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Tenerife Fairgrounds will host, from September 27 to 29, and after a two-year break, the seventh edition of the ‘Salón Gastronómico de Canarias-Gastrocanarias’, a traditional event with the world of cuisine and the products that in this edition exceeds the number of installed stands and also the number of cooking and beverage championships.
Thus, in 17,000 square meters, the fair will have a total of 215 exhibitors, in which 79 companies in the sector will be present.
“Gastrocanarias is the great showcase of Canarian gastronomy towards the rest of Spain and the world”, indicated the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife in the presentation at a press conference held this Tuesday at the Hotel Mencey in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
“We are a gastronomic power and we have to believe in it,” he assured.
Pedro Martín assured that gastronomy is one of the “great assets” both among the population and especially among the people who visit the island and the intention of developing a show like this is to position the island in the group of the great fairs of the sector that are celebrated in Spain and that are Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastián and Tenerife.
“Gastronomy generates economy, income and employment, and if we are able to unite these three things with sensations, we will find the perfect recipe so that this new edition is one of looking forward to the future knowing that we are a gastronomic power”, he stated.
The president concluded by alluding to the participation of La Palma as the guest island, and said that “after the anxiety, the pain and the difficulties, it is now the island of hope and the future of new projects”.
Martín stressed that they all want to “make the ‘beautiful island’ fashionable” because “it has reasons to be and to also be at this fair, offering the best of itself” and encouraging people to visit it once again.
For her part, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Regional Government, Alicia Vanoostende, pointed out that this fair is also “economic development.”
In this sense, he pointed out that the food industry moves more than 1,100 companies and 60,000 jobs, and has 5% of GDP, but the hotel economy, that is, the restaurant industry alone, moves more than 4,500 companies in the Canary Islands.
PROMOTION OF THE PRIMARY SECTOR
“All this shows the volume of business that gastronomy means in our islands,” he commented, adding that for agriculture, these types of actions “also mean rural development, since local products are always used to value them.” .
That makes, he continued, “that our rural areas have much more life, have a population fixed to the territory, have midlands full of landscapes that in the end also translate into tourism.”
The president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Zapata, highlighted the importance of the fact that this year ‘Gastrocanarias’ has chosen La Palma as the guest island, which will allow those who attend the meeting to get to know in depth the “excellent gastronomy” of the island .
“We have the luxury of having the best quality raw material, which allows us, thanks to the talent of our professionals, to produce top-level culinary products, something that we value through the project ‘Saborea La Palma ‘, which takes our cuisine to different regional, national and international fairs that, like this one, help us position ourselves as a gastronomic tourist destination, being key to the recovery process in which we find ourselves on the island”, defended the president.
The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, recognized the work of the “promoter” of ‘GastroCanarias’, José Carlos Marrero, and the sponsors, “who in the last two years have managed to maintain an important project for the island “.
The mayor indicated that gastronomy is a “strategic sector” for the capital, as it is the second with the most opening and activity licenses in the city, one of those that generates the most employment, and provides differentiation in the dissemination of the city.
In his opinion, “it is a sector that will be key to the socio-economic recovery, and that requires the support of the administrations, that we must be a key support for private initiative, for the search for excellence and the professionalization of the sector, to be able to generate spaces for debate, to share knowledge and experiences, which allow us to continue advancing in consolidating the gastronomy sector of the islands, and projects such as GastroCanarias, into benchmarks at a national level”.
TIKI COCKTAIL CHAMPIONSHIP
This year, the official guest island will be La Palma, which will allow the attending public to learn more about the typical products, the emblematic recipes and the professionals of the ‘Isla Bonita’.
Also, for the third time in a row, the event will feature the participation of each of the seven islands with their own stands promoted by their respective island councils.
Two large stages will be set up at the event, one sponsored by the Cabildo de Tenerife, in which the cooking competitions are held, and another by the firm Heineken, in which the beverage competitions will be held and a program of activities will be offered Composed of cooking workshops, master classes (master-classes), chef demonstrations (show-cooking), product presentation and tastings, and commented tastings.
These activities and other complementary ones will also be developed in the different institutional stands and those of companies in the sector present at the fair.
In addition, the GastroCanarias-Hecansa Training Classroom will reopen its doors where, during the three days of the event, a series of master classes, specific cooking workshops, training courses for students and fans, and a wide and varied program of activities.
In parallel, the Makro Classroom will bring together bar and restaurant professionals to provide them with ideas, suggestions and inspiration that will encourage them to innovate their menus or improve their scandals.
During the course of the 7th Gastronomic Hall of the Canary Islands, 11 major championships will be held, six in the cooking modality and five in drinks, in which representatives from all the islands will participate and as a novelty, the first Absolute Canarian Cocktail Championship will be held Tiki.
