Rosa Tovar receives the María Luisa García National Award
The María Luisa García Awards recognize women who have dedicated their lives to cooking, preserving culinary culture and rural heritage.
María Luisa García dedicated her life to preserving and revitalizing traditional Asturian cuisine. A cook and writer, her books made her the leading popularizer of a popular gastronomy that, in some cases, was seriously threatened. Her work elevated the status of traditional cooks and restored to them a prominent role they should never have lost.
These activities are necessary because gastronomy is destined to be one of the main pillars of depopulated areas, an attraction that helps retain the rural population and protect ecosystems. In this endeavor, in addition to chefs and producers, the presence of those who work to recover and promote traditions is fundamental.
The winner of the national award is Rosa Tovar: chef, researcher, writer, translator, teacher, and advisor to some of the most influential projects in contemporary haute cuisine. Her expertise in the history of Arab cuisine, her collaboration on Ferran Adrià's Bullipedia, and her work as an advisor to Paco Morales during the early years of Noor, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant focused on Andalusian cuisine, are particularly noteworthy. She is the author of a dozen books; her latest, "De ida y vuelta" (Round Trip), traces the invisible footprints of Hispano-Muslim cuisine in America and Europe.
Other regional award winners include Ramona Menéndez, chef at Casa Belarmino, one of Asturias' most prestigious traditional restaurants; the Cabo Busto pastry shop; and the family business Olaya Miel. All of them contribute to supporting rural communities through gastronomy.