The Fòrum Gastronòmic, the conference aimed at restaurant professionals that for three days has turned Girona into the epicenter of the world of gastronomy, closed yesterday with more than 12,000 visitors, about 2,000 more than the last edition.
The increase in the number of exhibitors, up to 174, about 40 more than a year ago, and the topics discussed at this congress such as the use of wild boar meat or the presentation of a new variety of apple adapted to climate change, among others, They would explain, according to the organization, the success of this tenth edition.
An edition that has featured presentations and culinary demonstrations by renowned chefs such as the brothers Joan, Jordi and Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca), Fina Puigdevall, Carlota and Martina Puigverd (Les Cols), Paco Pérez (Miramar), Ferran Adrià (BulliFoundation) or Eduard Xatruch (Enjoy).
“We wanted everything discussed to be useful, of social service; and we have tried to find solutions from gastronomy to what life poses to us,” explained the content director of the Fòrum Gastronòmic, Salvador García-Arbós in his final balance.
Solutions such as the one provided by the fifth range, those cooked and packaged preparations that are almost ready to eat and which focused yesterday on the last day of the Fòrum Gastronòmic.
A type of cooking, clearly increasing, that has already made its way into many private refrigerators and also on restaurant menus. A process that in many cases helps to make up for the lack of personnel and at the same time recover traditional dishes, maintaining quality.
In fact, some chefs in tourist areas with peak customers during holiday periods have converted their restaurants into workshops. This is the case, for example, of Toni Izquierdo, who was chef at the Mas dels Arcs restaurant in Palamós, closed two and a half years ago to create his own fifth-range brand.
Under this seal, it produces Palamós prawn carpaccio, sofrito or prawn broth that it sells to the restaurant sector. A reconversion that has avoided some of the endemic problems of the sector, such as the difficulty of finding personnel. “To work in the workshop, from 9 to 5 and without weekends, there is a waiting list,” he explained.
Another converted chef is Albert Boronat, from the Ambassade restaurant in Llívia, who last October decided to close the cross-border establishment to open a takeaway store. One of his star dishes, a recipe from traditional French cuisine, pâté en croûte is a fifth-range product made for him by the Casa Toc company.
Ramon Guardia, whose company Gastroeuphoria works for hotel and restaurant chains with more than 800 local producers, explained that by 2030 the implementation of this type of “versatile” cooking will have taken hold and will no longer be just a trend. “Without a doubt, you can make a good and profitable restaurant without a production kitchen, only with regeneration and combination,” he noted.
Francesc Baltrons, head of R&D at Cuinats Jotri, with more than 100 dishes (from traditional cannelloni or snails to Asian noodles with Teriyaki sauce or Thai rice) and 250 references, have been introduced in butchers, rotisseries or delicatessen shops and the countryside of the restoration. The same happens with the preserves or dishes from Pibernat Alimentària de Olot.
The 2021 National Gastronomy Prize and chef of the Alkimia and Al Kostat restaurant, Jordi Vilà, showed the escudella i carn d’olla in a street food version, which he created to compete with ramen. The chef asked to banish the idea that fifth-range products have poorer quality.
