Madrid Fusión 2018: A Successful Gastronomical Event

The curtain came down on the 16th edition of Madrid Fusión last week on January 24 with impressive figure of 200 exhibitors (150 in the previous edition), 766 accredited national and international journalists attending it including me, 1896 delegates, and 12,924 registered members of general public, attending the 3-day event that showcased the Spanish cuisine with all the research being carried on, to the world. Lisbon, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Saint Petersburg were the 5 cities invited to participate in the event, giving the attendees an opportunity to get a glimpse of the Portuguese, German, Israeli, Japanese and Russian cuisines as well.

Over 600 chefs from 5 continents demonstrated on stage their culinary skills, in the main auditorium with a seating capacity of around 1000 people and a huge TV screen at the back of the stage and translation facilities, and workshops in an open auditorium with no translation.  Various individual stands like Argentina,  USA and Japan had presentations within the stands as well. 75 Presentations on various cuisines of the world were showcased, with a cumulative 55 Michelin stars of restaurants represented at the Show. More than 60 Presentations by a group of culinary professionals leading the way in new developments and concepts in gastronomy, helped attendees get a gist of the research being carried on.

Young Chef of the Year

The Revelation Chef of the Year is voted secretly by a jury of 80 members consisting professional and non-professional critics. Nanín Pérez, the head chef of Restaurant Murri in Alicante was chosen as the Revelation Chef of 2018.

He joins the ranks of winners from previous editions, including Carmelo Bosque, Íñigo Lavado, David Yarnoz, Ricard Camarena, Vicente Patiño, David Muñoz, Rodrigo de la Calle, Óscar Calleja, Iago Castrillón and others who are at the helm of today’s culinary scene in Spain.  Ricard Camarena who headed ARROP Restaurant in 2006 when he won the accolade is today running the Ricard Camarena Restaurant with 1-Michelin Star in Valencia and Platea Madrid- a multi-floor, theatre converted into various restaurants  and is one of the leading chefs in Spain. Nanin studied in Alicante before becoming a disciple of Ricard Camarena and Rodrigo de la Calle.  When Murri opened 14 months ago, he became its head chef. At the age of just 27, he is producing menus with subtle, refined flavours, in which creativity and technique are applied to the best local products.

There were in all, 15 such culinary competitions including those for pasty making, cheese, Negrini tapas, chocolates, small bites with cheese and cheese recipes, Pisco cocktail, tapas and Pintxos etc.

Enofusion 2018

Although food was the main protagonist at Madrid Fusiόn , there were plenty of quality wines including Torres and M, sake and several cocktail mixes and opportunities to taste them in what has now been separated as Enofusiόn; this was the 8th edition of the same. Around 50 wineries had set up their stands on two floors of a 4-floor block. Over 200 bottles in two ‘enobars’ allowed the visitor to taste premium wines without being disturbed. There were 18 different Tastings that started with Marques de Riscal and included wines from DO Ribeira Sacra (in Galicia),  Wines from Toledo, Wines from Prosecco DOC, Gonzales Byass,  Californian wines from Miramar (Torres family), Makro,  Juve and Camps, wines from Gran Canarias, DO Rueda, Wine Selection of Carlos Delgado, a wine consultant who organized Wines of Spain tasting at several venues, some of which I had attended during my earlier trips.

There was also a Wine Corner , a pop up created for this edition where several wines were demonstrated.

Madrid Fusiόn  has become a well-oiled and meticulously planned  exhibition conducted on the exhibition grounds at Palacio Municipal de Congresos in Madrid and a very important destination for the people who are looking for the latest in culinary expertise and this was an excellent example of the same.

One can look forward to the 19th edition-already…and the 9th of Enofusion.

For some of the earlier related Articles, please visit the following:

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Subhash Arora

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