The Chair of Social Responsibility of the Generalitat Valenciana at the University of Alicante closes its 2023 cycle of forums with the one dedicated to Sustainable Gastronomy, which will be held next Thursday, November 9, starting at 10:00 a.m., at the Casa de Culture of Dénia and which has the collaboration of the Dénia City Council and the GASTERRA UA-Dénia Mediterranean Gastronomy Center.
Gastronomy, in advanced societies, beyond its relationship with the satisfaction of food needs, constitutes a representative element of the culture and identity of the territory and is an indisputable asset with the capacity for differentiation in the configuration of authentic tourist products. Faced with a globalized food chain, which extends industrialized productions, with business patterns articulated under a purely mercantilist perspective, there is a way of understanding gastronomy that seeks roots in the local, in the values of the territory, in respect for tradition, to the professions, to the people and the towns, a responsible gastronomy.
This Sustainable Gastronomy Forum aims to give voice to small actors in the province of Alicante who, from a responsible approach, are contributing to consolidating business and institutional projects with transformative capacity in agriculture, agri-food production, marketing, restoration or leisure and gastronomic tourism.
The Forum is structured around two working groups. The first of them will debate 'Territory, gastronomic identity and sustainability' and will have three interventions. Firstly, Juana Jordá, director of Gasterra, will present the objectives and achievements of the Bancalet Project, an initiative that is developed in the Marina Alta and that values the smallholding and its environmental and cultural values. Pep Romany, chef at the Pont Sec restaurant and renowned defender of the product and gastronomic heritage of Dénia and the Marina Alta, will also participate. Completing the table is Inmaculada Sancho, employment and local development agent in the Mancomunitat de l'Alcoià i el Comtat, who will explain the AgroAlcoiàComtat initiative, which directly links producers in the region with consumers through a portal.
The second table gives prominence to small producers who exemplify how modest agri-food businesses with responsible values make their way into the market with proposals based on the territory, its environmental and cultural values. Juan Carlos Gavilá, from El Serralet de Segària, a unique beekeeping project in Ràfol d'Almunia, will participate; Miguel Ángel García, from Aceites Rontonar de Benifallim, and Cristina Rodríguez, from Finca La Alberca, a winery in Teulada Moraira that produces the famous M de Alejandría wine, will also participate. Closing the table is Mayte Pardo, from Cervezas Althaia, in Altea, which produces craft beer with a Mediterranean accent.
The event, whose participation is free until the room is full, will also offer a sample of local gastronomic products.
"...Faced with a globalized food chain, which extends industrialized production, with business patterns articulated under a purely mercantilist perspective..."
When you prostitute food towards "tourist gastronomy" you are also commercializing it. The "sustainable" goes through other paths. Come on...