The seventh edition of Kitchen Dialogues, promoted by Mugaritz, Euro-Toques and the Basque Culinary Center, is designed to be an interdisciplinary hotbed for reflection on what stokes the world's hearths today, and what seduces those who understand food as much more than just nutrients. International experts from all over the world will gather in San Sebastian from March 10th to 12th: Can food make us lose our minds? What are we really eating when we eat? Who still cooks and how do they do it? What do millennials carry in their backpacks? These are some of the open-ended questions posited by this year’s conference that invites everyone to dig in and create spaces for cross-pollination and dialogue among a diverse range of perspectives on what we put in our mouths and what lies behind each bite.

Speakers from over twenty countries and a variety of disciplines will address the audience at the Basque Culinary Center (limited seating), fostering debate and leading activities. All with the primary goal of: "eating our brains out, digging into our time and place in history, creating space for us to continue growing as a sector, and nourishing ourselves with stories such as those that will be shared during this jam-packed event of reflection and cross-pollination, but above all, it’s about collaboration and having a good time", explains Andoni Luis Aduriz, at the helm of Kitchen Dialogues.

Among the influential figures that will participate in the 2019 edition of Kitchen Dialogues are Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement; French photographer JR, creator of Inside Out Project and 2018 Oscar nominee alongside Agnès Varda; Brazilian activist Bela Gil; psychoanalyst Mariela Michelena, author of Mujeres Malqueridas; creative figures such as Pep Gatell (La Fura dels Baus), in addition to voices such as those of foodie Mikel López Iturriaga, journalist Mariola Cubells, writer and journalist Pau Arenós, researcher JM Mullet and Cristina Reni, the right-hand woman of Massimo Bottura in the Food for Soul project. They will be joined by chefs like Begoña Rodrigo (La Salita), Diego Guerrero (DSTAgE) and Pepe Solla (Casa Solla); and from Mexico, Enrique Olvera (Pujol) and Tomás Bermudez (La Docena); from Argentina, Tomas Kalika (Mishiguene), and from Peru, Renzo Garibaldi (Osso).

Is making good rice as easy as it seems? What exactly does it mean nowadays to leave everything behind and join a profession of white jackets and aprons? What is the relationship between food and climate change? Why is the gender gap still so big in restaurant kitchens? In the politicized and polarized contexts that are so common nowadays, can gastronomy take sides? Questions like these will flavor the Kitchen Dialogues program in order to analyze how the recent culinary boom has transformed gastronomy into a force of change with a multiplying effect. 

Dialogues’ seasoning

‘Caught red-handed’ will be an informal conversation between Begoña Rodrigo, Andoni Luis Aduriz and Diego Guerrero at the Convent Garden San Sebastian. Open to all audiences, this event will start the fire of Kitchen Dialogues on Sunday March 10th with stories of flesh and blood from some of the best chefs in Spain. Two days of presentations at the Basque Culinary Center on March 11th and 12th will culminate in a closing party where the best of two worlds - Spain and Latin America - will join forces for a truly grand party. Chefs from the cast of Kitchen Dialogues will pull out all the stops and musicians like Tomasito will egg them on!

Kitchen Dialogues will show that gastronomy congresses today are more alive than ever. New ground will be broken and surprises are in store. Only those who attend will find out what’s cooking at the 2019 edition of Kitchen Dialogues!

Register online at our event website:  www.dialogosdecocina.com