Cuba opens its largest international gastronomy event after two years of pandemic

The twelfth edition of the Varadero Gourmet 2022 International Festival began Monday in the western province of Matanzas, more than 100 kilometers from the Cuban capital of Havana.

More than 350 chefs, bartenders, experts in the field of gastronomy, and lovers of the world’s culinary culture will gather at the Plaza America Convention Centre in the popular resort of Varadero.

Cuba’s Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, speaking at the opening ceremony, stressed the importance of promoting local cuisine as a point of attraction for international travelers to the island nation.

“Events like this that contribute to the development of tourism are necessary because they will allow us to have a competitive destination and more and more tourists, more and more investors to generate the income that the country needs,” he said.

The festival, which runs through Thursday, includes cooking and cocktail competitions, product presentations, workshops on aged wines and viticulture, and a meeting on bartending techniques.

The event’s organizing committee chairman, Jorge Luis Acosta, stressed the importance of this space for discussing current issues such as eco-gastronomy, agroecology, and self-sufficiency.

“We need to combine this traditional cuisine with current culinary techniques and processes to create a refined, elegant, exquisite, and high-quality cuisine that is a true gourmet product,” said the director about the challenges facing the culinary sector at the regional level.

The event also includes a trade show that will feature companies from the island’s government and private sectors and the international arena.

The event comes amid efforts by the Cuban government to attract some 2.5 million tourists to the island this year as part of its post-pandemic recovery.

The president of Cuba’s Culinary Association, Eddy Fernandez, told Xinhua that the festival would help strengthen relations between the state and the Caribbean nation’s private sector.

“This is the king event of Cuban gastronomy, where bartenders, chefs, and sommeliers come together. We are called to work with Cuban ingredients. We dream that tourists will also come to this country attracted by Cuban cuisine,” he added.