SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct. 4 (EUROPE PRESS) –
San Sebastián Gastronomika reaches its halfway point and the Tenerife stand has transferred this Tuesday to hospitality professionals, oenologists and visitors the transparency of its Atlantic skies, using them as a tool to structure a gastronomic proposal of the highest level.
In addition, for the first time in this congress, the island was the official dining room of the event’s VIP room, which brought together chefs, authorities, journalists and businessmen from all over the world, such as Martin Berasategui, (12 Michelin stars); Diego Guerrero (two Michelin stars); Roser Torras, director of San Sebastián Gastronomika; Benjamin Lana Velasco, General Director of Vocento Gastronomy; or Adam Beckey, David Kermode and Rebeca Wilson, British journalists.
The island councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Javier Parrilla, expressed his satisfaction that the island’s products “are being seen in their true magnitude”, and highlighted the agricultural biodiversity of Tenerife. “The diversity of the products of our primary sector are like the constellations that we can see in our sky and can and should be part of the daily menu of any restaurant or establishment.”
For her part, the Island Director of Tourism, Laura Castro, recalled that Tenerife is a preferred destination in Europe for stargazing thanks to the quality of its sky, which is protected and certified by the Starlight Foundation. “This year’s program has been designed based on the different orographies, climates and traditions of the island, which is why we wanted to highlight one of our great tourist attractions and inspire and excite the participants with a magical, surprising and above all, innovative.
A healthy breakfast from above
Tenerife’s presence at the congress began with a breakfast inspired by the peaks of the island and made up of a banana smoothie, gofio and vegetable milk, tropical fruit and tajinaste honey, carambola tempura with sweet mojo, eggs, dairy products, legumes high and leaf litter cabbage and chasnera cake. Among the drinks, the stewed water with high-altitude aromatics stood out.
In 2014 the Cabildo de Tenerife detected the potential of vermouth as an aperitif based on the great wines of the island. With the work of the oenologist Francisco Calixto and the objective of diversifying the offer of the island’s wineries, research began on the island’s botanists. After the success of the Cuatro Fincas vermouth, presented at GastroCanarias in 2017, they handed over all the studies to the Tenerife wineries, which led, in 2020, to the new Tenerife Vermouths, produced by different firms.
“All these vermouths are unique due to the enormous personality of their base wines, one of the keys to their quality and exclusivity together with our mugwort and the producers who make them,” said Javier Parrilla.
Thus, this congress has welcomed the presence of the vermouths of Tenerife in all its splendor. Specifically: 18 El Lomo (white and red); the white Mists of Ayosa; Malvillo, red, from Lacasmi; the Humboldt (red) from Bodegas Insulares, made with naturally sweet wines from 2001; and the Laurisilva, red, from Caminos los Laureles.
Tenerife, dining room of the VIP room of the congress
Chefs, authorities, journalists and businessmen from the sector have been able to meet and taste, in the VIP room of the congress, some of the most emblematic products of the Tenerife primary sector, such as tropical fruits, cheeses, honeys, gofio pellets, Roast leg of black pig with wild oregano and salt from the cove and wrinkled potatoes with mojo sauce. The main dishes were served: tuna in boiled mojo sauce with sweet potato escacho and jareado gofio and rabbit condumio, as well as traditional pastries and wines from Tenerife.
Under the slogan of A walk through the stars, the attendees enjoyed a magical lunch made up of colored potatoes with mojo sauce, avocado, cilantro, picona pepper and lime, grilled cheese, tomato and basil textures, millet gofio escaldon, fish of rock and red onion, morsels of Thunnus obesus parpatana, glazed black pork with creamy gnocchi and toasted broth, and honeys from Tenerife. All this harmonized with wines from Tenerife and accompanied, in parallel, by a mojo workshop.
Today’s afternoon snack will feature Tenerife’s tropical stars: exotic fruits, such as passion fruit, papaya, mangoes and red bananas.
It should also be noted that the Wine Tunnel registered, throughout the day, a complete occupation by chefs, sommeliers, distributors and specialized journalists from all backgrounds.
Tenerife, volcanoes of life, with this concept the meals and tastings of the day will be developed at the stand. At 12:35 p.m. there will be a presentation on the revolution of the new sweet cuisine of Tenerife, with Laura Suárez and Jesús Camacho. And, before that, at 10:30 a.m., the long-awaited celebration of the II National Contest of Desserts with Tropical Fruits of Tenerife.
