Forward thinking in gastronomy

The Basque Country on the Atlantic coast in northern Spain is taking giant strides toward becoming a leading center for gastronomy. Here, the BCC-Basque Culinary Center in Donostia-San Sebastián has created an ecosystem comprising many units. Founded in 2011, the BCC is home to the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences, the Culinary School and the BCC Innovation, which is dedicated to technological research. In addition to this multi-faceted structure, which is located on a campus just outside the city, a brand new, massive unit is opening in the city center. This new center, called GOe, stands for Gastronomy Open Ecosystem and as the name suggests, it aims to create an environment where many disciplines intersect, where young talents are nourished with knowledge and science and where innovation and research are supported. Talent-Knowledge-Innovation are highlighted as the three pillars of the new center, aiming to shape the gastronomy of the future within the triangle of flavor, health and sustainability. The Goe building, designed by the Danish architectural team BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, is planned as a food innovation hub to advance the art and science of gastronomy by bringing start-ups, researchers and chefs together under one roof.

The concept of social gastronomy

In our contemporary world, sustainability has become the buzzword and gastronomy is not exempt from it. If we define gastronomy as what we eat and how we eat, then it encompasses all aspects of life related to food, particularly sociology. Being aware of this fact, for the past 10 years, the Basque Culinary Center has been presenting a prestigious award, bringing forth the concept of social gastronomy. Created in 2016 by the BCC and the Basque Government, the Basque Culinary World Prize (BCWP) acknowledges chefs and professionals whose transformative initiatives transcend the traditional boundaries of restaurants, generating social impact in various fields. The BCWP is much more than a prize, it is a demonstration of how gastronomy can be turned into a force for transformation. It has introduced the concept of social gastronomy to the culinary world. This award emphasizes that the role of chefs is not limited to chic, luxurious fine dining but also includes their social responsibility within society.

Chefs can indeed be influential opinion leaders. They can influence their communities and lead change for the better in multiple areas from education to environment, from health to the food industry. The first winner of this award was Maria Fernanda di Giacobbe in 2016. She was recognized for her projects supporting women’s labor and creating a network of education in the cacao industry in Venezuela, adding value to criollo cacao from bean to bar. Fatmata Binta, the 2022 winner from Ghana, brought Africa to the forefront, drawing attention to the diverse countries and cultures of a vast continent like Africa. Another strong woman from Colombia is Leonor Espinosa, who was awarded for her non-profit organization dedicated to generating social well-being in rural ethnic communities.

Many of the previous prize winners were present at this year’s award ceremony to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, Jock Zonfrillo, the 2018 winner who passed away in 2023, was missed. Known for his research on the culinary culture of Australia’s indigenous peoples, he had made a mark in safeguarding ancestral culinary knowledge for the future. The 2020 winner, Spanish-born chef José Andrés, was also absent in person, but his impact on the prize remains exceptional. Andrés, who won the award with his project WCK-World Central Kitchen, contributed greatly to the worldwide recognition of the prize. WCK, which provides food to disaster victims in all disaster and war zones around the world, has demonstrated the transformative power of gastronomy as a tool to provide humanitarian assistance, ensuring access to food in emergency situations and generating hope in communities affected by disasters worldwide. As seen, each winning chef brings a unique meaning to the prize.

Visibility leads to sustainability

Ebru Baybara Demir, who brought the prize to Türkiye in 2023, not only put Türkiye on the world social gastronomy map but also made a significant difference with five separate projects, the most diverse works of all time. It is a source of pride for us to see Ebru Baybara Demir speak on stage at the BCC. In her speech this year, she highlighted her work with Syrian refugee women to preserve the Sorgül wheat variety. The project, which draws attention with a series of practices that range from the limited use of water resources to traditional farming methods without pesticides and fertilizers, also stands out for empowering refugee women. One point that Baybara emphasizes is very important. She particularly cares about ensuring that products facing extinction, such as Sorgül wheat, find their place on chefs’ plates. She stresses that this will increase the visibility of these products, draw attention to their vulnerability and the need to safeguard their existence. Increasing their visibility will eventually lead to actions to sustain them for the future; thus, sustainability will be achieved through visibility. It’s as simple as that!

Empowering the disadvantaged

Supporting disadvantaged groups is a common theme among nearly all of the prize winners. This year’s winner, Leticia Landa, is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant family who grew up in Texas, USA. She is someone who has firsthand experience with the challenges of being an immigrant in the industry. Twenty years ago, she founded La Cocina, an initiative dedicated to providing training and mentorship to talented young people from marginalized communities seeking to establish themselves in the restaurant industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. The project enables these individuals to transform their surroundings through gastronomy by helping them to manage their own businesses, make them profitable and become part of the productive heart of their city. As a result, many disadvantaged individuals have not only built lives for themselves but have also achieved exemplary success in the gastronomy sector. Her work echoes in a way what Baybara says about her project working with refugee women: “Through gastronomy, we learned that integration is not about giving charity, but about giving people back their ability to produce.” The words of Joxe Mari Aizega, general director of the BCC, support that: “Through BCWP, we continue to demonstrate that gastronomy is much more than technique or tradition: It is a force capable of transforming communities, improving lives and building a more humane future.” This is forward thinking in gastronomy!