Tarragona consolidates the Romesco congress and announces a second edition

For two days, Tarragona was the world capital of romesco sauce, with roundtables, academic presentations, cooking demonstrations, and tastings. The congress united the popular tradition of the city's most emblematic sauce with culinary innovation and scientific research.

Among the protagonists of the first edition stood out chefs of the Spanish haute cuisine such as Eduard Xatruch (Disfrutar***), Jordi Vilà (Alchemy*), Arnau Bosch (Can Bosch*), Rafel Muria (Quatre Molins*), Jeroni Castell (Les Moles*) and Vicent Guimerà (L'Antic Moreno*). They shared the stage with academics such as Xavier Medina, of the UNESCO Chair for Food, Culture and Development, and Toni Massanés, of the Alicia Foundation.

The international dimension was provided by Roberto Panizza, world ambassador of Genoa pesto, who presented strategies to internationalize traditional sauces and position them as cultural and gastronomic heritage.

At the closing ceremony, Mayor Rubén Viñuales celebrated the success with these words: "Some told us we were crazy to do it, and we would have been if we hadn't. We don't want it to be a passing fad: we want it to become a lasting tradition."

The Minister of Tourism, Montse Adán, highlighted that the congress "has served to lay the foundations for a path that will continue with concrete actions" and stated: "We have a treasure which is romesco, we are a gastronomic benchmark and we have to believe in it."

The president of the scientific committee, Txaber Allué, insisted that "the result has been better than expected," although "there is still much work to be done to place romesco at the center of the gastronomic and cultural narrative of Tarragona."

The event, organized by the City Council with European Next Generation funds and the collaboration of the Generalitat of Catalonia, seeks to project romesco as a cultural, tourist and gastronomic engine with an international vocation.