Story and photography by Manos Angelakis

XII Donostia San Sebastian Gastronomika Conference

Gastrotourism has become a very important trend in the international travel scene. France has always been acutely aware and has taken full advantage of incoming gastrotourism during the last 50 years, but now other European countries, especially Spain and Italy, are fully embracing incoming gastrotourism and are eager to take advantage of it, as US vacationers are still – the recession not withstanding – spending considerably more money per capita at a destination, when compared to their European counterparts.

So, with gastrotourism in mind, I participated in the XII Donostia San Sebastian Gastronomika Conference that took place in the eponymous Basque city. Gastronomika, is a major trade show of Spanish alimentary products, beverages and equipment (over 150 booths showcasing more than 1200 brands), plus, in an area known for gastronomic excellence, an annual get-together of local chefs with top chefs from other parts of the world to discuss new trends and new techniques. The conference theme this year was “The Cosmopolitan Urban Kitchen” and top toques from New York City were invited to meet with their Basque and Spanish counterparts and discuss some of their culinary innovations and/or projects.

I have never before been amongst so many culinary luminaries. I would venture to say that the conference principals represented approximately 40 Michelin stars from Spain, England and the US. Amongst the best known participants were: Ferran Adrià of El Bulli; Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena Arzak, of Restaurante Arzak in San Sebastian; Andoni Luis Aduriz of Restaurante Mugaritz; Hilario Arbelaitz  of Restaurante Zuberoa; Martin Berasategui of Restaurante Martin Berasategui; Massimo Bottura of Restaurante Osteria Francescana in Modena (Italy); David Bouley of Restaurant Bouley Group; Daniel Boulud of Daniel; David Chang of Momofuku; Wylie Dufresne of WD-50; Dani Garcia of Restaurante Calima in Marbella; Thomas Keller of Per Se; Nuno Mendes of Viajante in London; Pedro Subijana of Akelarre in San Sebastian, and many, many others. There were numerous meetings and workshops where participating chefs, especially younger cooks, could discuss technique and recipes with their more mature counterparts. I attended as many of these workshops as I could, and was surprised to find for example Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena Arzak, using the chaos theory i.e. a Mandelbrot fractal set instantly created to decorate a consommé, demonstrating the scientific idea that simple processes can result in infinite complexity.

Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were in San Sebastian, and it was unpleasant to wander the streets, though some of the major boulevards have buildings with arcades that can protect pedestrians from the rain. San Sebastian is really an old-fashioned continental summer resort town where Spain’s aristocracy would go for their vacations resulting in 5- and superior 4- star hotels and the plethora of Michelin-starred restaurants in and around the city.

As part of our participation, we were introduced to a number of local high-end restaurants where we found kitchens creating delicious traditional and/or modern fare. For example, an impressive lunch was prepared for the journalists at Palacio Urgoiti, a golf resort less than 45 minutes from San Sebastian, which has an excellent kitchen.

The lunch started with an amuse bouche of two tomato broths (one from red tomatoes, one from yellow) in shot glasses with a prawn wrapped in kataifi (Greek shredded filo) and scalops wrapped in chocolate, then continued with baby artichokes stuffed with mushrooms and foie in an Iberian bouillon, followed by scallops and little Dublin bay prawns in a “Txangurro soup” (crab broth). Txangurro, is Atlantic Star Crab and it is a favorite in the Basque area where, in season, they create numerous extraordinary dishes combining the crab meat and crab eggs. We continued with Black Cod in a sea stew, indeed a taste treat, if you like Black Cod. The meat course was roast lamb with acid peach. At that point we also changed wines, from a local Txakoli (or Txakolina) Itxasmendi to a nice Tempranillo from Navarra (see Navarra Wines in the Oeno File).

Txakoli, is made from an indigenous white grape (Ondarrabi Zuri) that creates very dry, middle bodied wines with a long, acidic finish that are drunk very young. Having tasted numerous samples of this wine during the conference from a number of local producers I can safely say that it is an acquired taste. The traditional version is bone-dry, with minimum aromatics and about 12.5% alcohol. We also tasted an off-dry version that reminded me of an Austrian Gewürztraminer; and a late-harvest version that accompanied dessert at another restaurant.

The following evening we had dinner with all the participating chefs at “Restaurante Elkano” in Getaria, a very traditional fish and seafood restaurant at a town along the Atlantic coast approximately 50 minutes from San Sebastian’s center. Large charcoal grills (parilla) outside the entrance of the restaurant continuously grill everything that comes out of the kitchen. It could be vegetables, clams, crabs, lobsters, and all kinds of finfish. Grilling is the traditionally preferred method of cooking and that was OK with me, as I love grilled fish and seafood. The only other thing that you need is some lemon to squeeze on, and perhaps chopped parsley and a touch of extra virgin olive oil, if you really want to get fussy. If the fish and seafood is fresh, and there was no doubt in my mind regarding absolute freshness in that restaurant, that’s all you need for an exceptional meal.

One of the interesting features of this dinner was the bread that was flown-in from a bakery in Barcelona. I’m sorry to say I did not make a note of the name of this bakery; the bread was a peasant style loaf, with a crunchy crust that had kept its crunch for the entire day, and a very airy and soft interior. I had tasted that bread earlier when it was presented “local style” i.e. rubbed with a very ripe tomato and a little salt to accompany slices of aged Iberian ham from Joselito’s, Finca El Coto del Ray. Joselito is one of the largest and best producers of jamón Ibérico. They cure hams for a minimum of 36 months for the Gran Reserva, or 24 months for the shoulder (paleta), or 5 to 6 months for sweet pepper coated loin. They also produce excellent Chorizo, and Salchichón – sausages created from lean pork meat, salted and spiced with garlic and sweet red pepper or black peppercorns. Most of the local name chefs use Joselito hams in their restaurants and after tasting numerous samples from all the products (yum!), I can easily see why. 

Dinner was fashionably late – we were in Spain after all- and by the early hours of the morning we were all eager to return to San Sebastian, as the next day was again full of workshops and visits to the exhibitor booths. 

© January 2011 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.