The last day of the 35th Salón Gourmets was filled with awards for excellence in all the activities that have been part of this edition. Wines, Cheeses, EVOOs, Pizzas and those awarded by the Gourmets Hall were some of them.
After only 6 months of the celebration of the 34 Salón Gourmets, the figures speak for themselves, the success of participation has been at the level of the Number 1 Quality Food and Beverage Fair in Europe:
- – Visitors: 80,421
- – Exhibition area: 45,636 m2
- – Exhibitors: 1611
10 Salón Gourmets Awards
Innovation, Presentation, Versatility and the most nutritionally complete Organic Product, these were the 4 award-winning categories in the 10th edition of the awards that took place in the Gourmets Auditorium in Hall 8.
International patent for frozen fruit and vegetables that is kept and consumed as fresh from La Unión Long Fresh, has won the Innovation award, Calanda’s dark chocolate with peach and macadamia nut from Belenguer 1928 won the Presentation award, the 24 kt edible gold leaf from Gold Chef by Manetti was proclaimed winner of the Versatility award and finally, the award for best Organic product went to the 100% organic gin, triple distilled with red berries and a predominance of wild strawberry from Ada organic Gin London Dry.
A jury of professionals made up of José Luis Yzuel (President of FEHR), Pedro Larumbe (Larumbe Group), Purificación González Camacho (General Deputy Director of Food Promotion at MAPA) and Verónica Puente (International Director of the Spanish Federation of Food and Drink, FIAB), decided the winners among all the products exhibited in the showcases of Innovation and Organic Exhibition Area.
Social Media Awards
The users of the Salón Gourmets social networks once again chose their favorites from this edition. The Favorite Stand went to the Government of Asturias while the Favorite Product of #SG22 was Zecchini vermouth. For the second consecutive year, Instagram users had to guess during the 4 days of the Salón Gourmets the unknown product that was hidden in one of the Innovation Area showcases. It was not an easy task, but finally the Bico de Xeado mustard ice cream was revealed .
EVOO Awards
The I Salón Gourmets EVOO World Contest awarded the prizes to the best in each category.
GourmetQuesos Awards, Championship of the Best Cheeses of Spain 2022
Olavidia cheese from Quesos y Besos is the Best Cheese in Spain 2022, as has been proclaimed by the jury of the 12th edition of GourmetQuesos, Championship of the Best Cheeses in Spain 2022. 64 judges have been part of this edition in which they presented 868 samples. Of the 90 cheeses that went to the final in the 15 categories, 3 have been proclaimed winners of each one of them, here we leave you the winners.
1st Gourmet Pizza Championship by Magma
The 1st Gourmet Pizza Championship by Magma de Cabreiroá came to an end after two days of competition in which 100 participants have passed through the tests in the 5 categories that made up this contest. As the first activity of the day, the Gluten Free talk by Rocio Marquina “Gluten Free Pizza. Flours and processes”. After the completion of the acrobatic test, the prizes in all the categories of the championship have been delivered in a very lively ceremony followed by the public.
9 Gourmet Round Tables
The Gourmet Round Tables celebrated their ninth edition with great protagonists of gastronomy and wine in the Aula Gourmets. The chefs Carme Ruscalleda, Paco Pérez, Mario Sandoval, Toño Pérez and Íñigo Urrechu discussed the diversification of the figure of the chef: owners, cooks and gastronomic advisers, recounting in first person what it has been like to go from head chef to lead great gastronomic empires.
For their part, the winemakers and oenologists Pepe Raventós, Friedrich Schatz, Isaac Muga Palacín, Ángel González Garrido and Elena Adell starred in the second of the Round Tables under the title Irruption of organic, biodynamic and natural wines in the oenological panorama that was moderated by José Miguel Mulet – Professor of biotechnology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
27th Spanish Sommelier Championship Tierra de Sabor
On the second day of the 27th Tierra de Sabor Spanish Sommelier Championship co-sponsored by Bodegas Protos, Ferrán Villa Pujol (Restaurant La Banyeta) was proclaimed the winner in an exciting final in which nerves were on edge until the last moment. Among the 10 contestants who went to the final, the best 3 who had 45 minutes were chosen to show the jury that they were deserving of the title of Best Sommelier in Spain.
As a novelty in this edition, after the final he held a qualifying test for the International Championships in Paris and Serbia, in which the winners of the 2019, 2020 and 2022 editions faced each other to decide who represented Spain in it. Diego González Barbolla (Palma de Mallorca) was the winner who will represent our country in the World Championship and Gabriel Lucas (Burgos) in the European one.
Gourmets Hall against waste
One of the initiatives that have been carried out in this edition has been the one promoted by Corazones de Corcho, promoted by the Vertidos Cero Association and with the collaboration of the designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada who values discarded corks, integrating them in new and thus reducing the carbon footprint of the atmosphere.
In this edition, 5,000 cork stoppers have been rescued, which means 1 ton of CO2 that has not polluted the atmosphere.
The Banco de Alimentos association, for its part, has awarded Grupo Gourmets a diploma in gratitude for its collaboration to also avoid waste, in this case of food, with the collaboration of all the exhibitors, who donate their product at the end of the fair to this charity organization that helps people in need in the Community of Madrid.
Thanks to all the visiting exhibitors, authorities, the media, collaborating companies and, of course, the members of the Gourmets Group who have made the 35th edition of the Gourmets Show possible. We will save your smile until next year.
