Madrid Fusión consolidates its leadership with the most international edition in its history
Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España, in its 24th edition, brought together more than 300 speakers and reaffirmed its role as a meeting point for world gastronomy.
The congress brought together for the first time some of the most prestigious chefs on the international scene, including Bruno Verjus, Aitor Zabala, Bas van Kranen, Vicky Chang, and Pía León, among others. Their participation reinforced the international dimension of the event and opened a dialogue about contemporary haute cuisine, its creative processes, and its cultural identity.
Madrid Fusión also solidified spaces such as Dreams #spainfoodtechnation, Pastry, and The Wine Edition Wines from Spain. Pastry confirmed the importance of pastry as a creative discipline with its own distinct voice, and The Wine Edition offered tastings and experiences with leading figures in the wine industry.
The final figures were 1,722 delegates, 25,992 visitors, and 224 exhibiting companies. More than a thousand journalists were accredited, the event brought together visitors from 61 countries, and featured the largest number of chefs in its 24-year history. Its six stages, most of them packed, were particularly notable for the quality of the content.
Pía León, who makes the most of every product from the Peruvian pantry at her restaurant Kjolle (Lima), explained: “Normally, only 15% of the cacao is used, and we use almost 85%.” Gil Fernandes, from Fortaleza do Guincho (Cascais), gathers wild products in the surrounding forests and cliffs: “Our menu is different because we cook something that the industry can’t sell us.”
On the Wine Edition stage, Luis Gutiérrez, critic for The Wine Advocate, explained how the granitic soils and high-altitude Garnacha vines of the Sierra de Gredos produce vertical, mineral, and elegant red wines. The Juli Soler Award for Young Talents of Tomorrow, in its sixth edition, was given to five wine professionals, including Lluís Subirós, sommelier at Almadraba (Girona).
At Dreams, José Miguel Mulet, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, presented CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that modifies DNA without incorporating anything external: "It is not a transgenic organism because there is nothing foreign. Transgenic organisms involve cutting and pasting, and this is different."
On the final day, the Revelation Awards were announced. The Balfegó Revelation Chef Award went to Javier Ochoa and Garikoitz Arruabarrena of Masta Taberna (Zarautz, Guipúzcoa). Albert Adrià was chosen as Europe's Best Chef of the Year, and José Gordón of Bodega El Capricho (Jiménez de Jamuz, León) received the Madrid Fusión Food Award for Spain's Product Advocacy.