The city of Miami will be the Ibero-American gastronomic capital in 2019, a title that is expected to be celebrated with all kinds of activities, from the inclusion of regional dishes in the menus to some “Olympic Games” of gastronomy.
Rafael Ansón, president of the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy, founded in 2009 with headquarters in Seville and made up of academics from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, is in Miami to promote what will be another attraction for an eminently tourist city.
The official presentation will be made in July and will participate, apart from Miami authorities, important representatives of Ibero-American cuisine, a region whose gastronomic offer is unparalleled in the world, Anson told Efe.
The Spanish gourmet, who has met with Miami-Dade County authorities and various institutions focused on culture and innovation, points out that it involves involving the entire city, its hotels and restaurants, to celebrate a party around to the most important activity of the 21st century.
In Spain, 30% of gross domestic product is generated by gastronomy as a broad concept, ranging from the production of food to what is served in restaurants and bars, to the expense of tourists in food.
Miami will be the fifth Ibero-American gastronomic capital. The witness will receive it from Sao Paulo (Brazil) in January 2019 during FITUR, the international tourism fair of the Spanish capital.
The first was Córdoba (Spain), the second Buenos Aires, the third Guanajuato (Mexico). After Miami, it will be the turn of Madrid, in 2020.
Ansón stressed that the program is not yet closed but one of the ideas already in firm is to insert the capital in events with weight in the cultural calendar of the city such as the Art Basel fair, which takes place in December.
It is studied from promoting that the meals served during the art fair have Ibero-American dishes to organize an event on culinary art in parallel to Art Basel and try to have continuity after 2019.
It is also thought about some “Olympic Games” of the gastronomy with the participation of outstanding chefs in different categories, and in a congress structured in four sections: healthy, solidary, sustainable and satisfactory gastronomy, the “four eses” that summarize everything, according to says Anson.
Of course, during 2019 it will be that restaurants that are cooking in a Latin American country include in their menu at least one dish from another country in the region and that those representing other areas of the world also dare with Ibero-American cuisine .
It also seeks to address education in gastronomy, from forming taste to teaching what a person should eat to be well and avoid nutrition problems.
Virtual dinners in which each country in the region presents a dish and, through three-minute videos, is taught how to prepare it and several activities around the tapas are also in the plans of the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy, which, as Ansón stresses, he needs local partners for this annual party.
Gastronomy has ceased to be a pleasure for a few who could afford it, stresses Ansón.
Not only is it an economic activity that moves millions, it also has an important component in good health.
Scientific studies have shown that health depends on 52% of food, 30% of physical activity and the rest of genetics, circumstances and luck, stresses Ansón, 82, who tests almost every day a score of dishes because of his profession and, he says, he never gets fat.
Of the cuisine of Miami, highlights the “stone crabs” of Florida, the famous “stone crabs”, which eat their large tongs, special texture and taste similar to lobster.
They are seasonal delicacies, which can only be at the table from October 15 to May 15 and whose temple is “Joe’s Stone Crab”, founded in 1913 by the Joseph and Jennis Weiss, both of Hungarian origin. efe
