- The project, which ends in June 2022, comes to an end with the organization of a knowledge exchange day to facilitate new cross-border collaborations between the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Occitania.
- The meeting will open with an unprecedented competition to select the best recipe prepared with PDO and PGI products by three young chefs from the regions.
- The day will be completed with a presentation on short circuits and a round table on tourism as a way of enhancing local products.
Barcelona, March 29, 2022 – The Quality Food Network project promoted by the Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranean faces its final stretch with the organization of a day of knowledge and networking that will take place during the Alimentaria Fair next Monday, April 4.
With the aim of highlighting and promoting products with the quality seal of the three regions that are part of the Network, the day will begin with an unprecedented cooking contest to recognize the ‘Best Euroregional recipe made with PDO and PGI products from the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Occitania’. Three young chefs, one from each region, will prepare their proposal live, which will be evaluated by a professional jury, at the Catalonia HUB stand at the event.
From Catalonia, the representative will be Eric Montes from Villanova who, at 19 years of age, is one of the promises of local gastronomy with experience in the kitchen of Raül Balam, the Torres brothers and the Celler de Can Roca. Montes was the regional winner of the European Young Chef Award 2022. For his part, the Balearic chef is José María Borras Villarroel (22 years old) who has earned the place by coming second in the regional European competition. Borras trained at the Hofmann school and has worked in kitchens such as Paco Roncero’s in Madrid. Occitania will be represented by Thomas Riquier, a 24-year-old chef who works at the Vivants restaurant in Toulouse and is part of the ranking of the ‘109 young chefs of Gault & Millau’ who illustrate the values of sharing and transmitting local gastronomy.
All of them will compete for the distinction of a unique contest that aims to promote the cross knowledge of products with seal of origin and quality among the promises of the gastronomy of the three regions as well as to highlight the twinning of food with PDO and PGI seal between the three regions promoting the Network.
The interregional meeting will continue with a presentation by Fabien Santini, deputy head of the European Commission’s Agri-Food Markets Governance Unit, who will talk about short marketing circuits for agri-food products. The event will close with a round table on tourism experiences as a strategy for the valorization of landscapes and local products with the participation of the director of the tourism strategy agency of the Balearic Islands (AETIB), Xisco Mateu, the director general of Tourism of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Marta Domènech Tomàs, and the director of innovative tourism projects and strategies of Occitania, Igor Knibiehly. The general director of the Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranean, Xavier Bernard Sans, will be the moderator.
The event will culminate with a networking lunch between experts and producers and promoters of products with PDO and PGI seals from the three regions with the aim of creating a space for networking and facilitating the emergence of new collections. interregional collaborations.
About theQuality Food Network
The Quality Food Network of the Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranean is one of the 32 initiatives awarded by the Covid-19 fund of the Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranean to face the effects of the pandemic. This project coordinated by the Clúster Biotecnológico y Biomédico de las Islas Baleares (Balearic Islands) and with the Institut Régional de la Qualité Agroalimentaire (Occitania) and Prodeca (Catalonia) -Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda (DACC) and the Catalan Federation of PDO-PGI as partners, was created with the aim of creating an innovative ecosystem at Euroregional level in the agri-food sector that facilitates the knowledge of the different actors that make up the sector and promotes the transfer of knowledge, generating the emergence of new collections. The aim of the project is to promote innovative projects and ideas to respond to the challenges faced by the sector.
The project was launched in March 2021 and ends in June 2022.
About the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion
The Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion is made up of the regions of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Occitania. The three territories have a strong tradition in the production of quality foods, understanding quality foods as those that are distinguished by guaranteeing differentiated attributes linked to their particular geographical environment and that have passed the strict security and control mechanisms established by the European Union to obtain the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) label. Foods with their own personality such as olive oils, sausages, cheeses, etc. A differentiated quality that adds intrinsic value to agricultural production and helps, to a great extent, to maintain the agri-food and livestock farms in these regions, guaranteeing self-sufficiency in pandemic situations such as the one we have experienced and others that may arise in the future. All in all, quality food promotes rural and sustainable development, circular economy, proximity sales of local producers and processors, all necessary elements to ensure the territorial balance of the regions.