The International Council of Basque Culinary Center, which includes some of the world’s most influential and renowned chefs, will meet once again in person in Girona and Costa Brava from June 19th to 21st. 

Over the course of these past two years of pandemic the industry has been hit hard, but it has also demonstrated great resilience. During this time a face-to-face meeting was simply not an option for the International Council. But now, Basque Culinary Center is back in action and coming in stronger than ever with 3 discussion and reflection days that will inspire deep reflection and take a creative approach to the industry’s challenges and opportunities.

In the past, the Basque Culinary Center International Council meetings have been held in meccas of gastronomy around the world, in cities like Tokyo, New York, Lima, Mexico City, Modena, and San Francisco, where experts gathered to engage in a variety of conferences on sustainability, biodiversity, and an interdisciplinary approach to transforming the gastronomy industry. Now, in 2022, Basque Culinary Center will celebrate the 12th annual meeting of its International Council in a unique location. Thanks to the generosity of the Council President, Joan Roca, who will be the event’s host in Girona-Costa Brava. This location combines a contemporary vision of gastronomy with avant-garde ideas that are rooted in the land – a land that symbolizes the future and the positive energy that our industry needs at this time.

This meeting will provide time and space for a variety of key players in the gastronomy ecosystem, including chefs, writers, and other experts at the regional, national and international levels, to share their thoughts and ideas over three days designed to promote gastronomy as a strategic industry and discuss the challenges and opportunities on the global playing field.

As Joxe Mari Aizega, general manager of Basque Culinary Center, explained, “the Basque Culinary Center International Council has been with us from the very beginning. This is a group of influential, visionary and entrepreneurial chefs who have contributed their reflections, recommendations and ideas. After two years of not being able to gather in-person, this year our annual meeting, which in the past has traveled far and wide, will come together in Girona, alongside Council president Joan Roca: to invite, attract, and unite chefs from the far reaches of the globe to make their own contributions regarding gastronomy’s challenges and opportunities”. 

Meanwhile, the Council president and host of the meeting commented, “As president of the Basque Culinary Center International, it is a great honor and a source of pride to be able to host the meeting in Girona this year. We hope that this event will be a space for reflection to rethink what we have lived through, what we are experiencing now, and what we want the future of gastronomy. This region boasts outstanding hospitality and gastronomy, as well a strong dedication to our industry. Thus, it is our hope that Gerona will also be the ideal location for participants and guests to feel at home and meaningfully engage”.

The meeting has the support and collaboration of the 'Agencia Catalana de Turismo de la Generali-tat de Catalunya' and the 'Diputació de Girona', through its 'Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona' and the agri-food quality seal 'Girona Excel·lent'.