Day 2 from Madrid Fusion, one of the world's leading chef and gastronomy conferences, where themes took an ecological turn, and we were treated to a discussion of creativity between three Spanish culinary heavyweights. Find out what was going on ...
After such a whirlwind first day, how could the second day compete? Pretty well in all honesty! The conference took a more ecological turn today with presentations on the produce on Bornholm Island (in the Baltic Sea) by 2* Danish chef Nicolai Norregaard, a thoughtful talk about sustainability and carbon neutral beef ranches by Anthony Myint of The Perennial in San Francisco and an exploration of Hungarian Wildlife from Michelin starred Eszter Palagyi from Costes Restaurant in Budapest.
We were also treated to an exploration of salt with one of Spain's best fish chefs Angel Leon from Aponiente Restaurant in Cadiz. He created an amazing new cooking technique using the exothermic properties of salt's phase change from a liquid to a solid – almost magical.
Fish was still on the menu with a demonstration of the magic of cod by chefs Inigo Lavado, from Singular Restaurant, and Juanjo Lopez, from La Tasquita, both in Spain. In addition, one of the Basque Country's best chefs, Elena Arzak took us through how she uses collagen to create new textures in her sauces. We were also given a talk about the "nose to tail" of wine – the fermentation, cooking and technology - from one of Madrid's hottest chefs, Mario Sandoval (Coque, Spain).
It was also announced that Madrid Fusion is on the move. In November 2019 Bogota will be the first destination for Madrid Fusion international. Reflecting the influence that South America has across the globe.
Furthermore, we were lucky to witness a discussion of creativity between three Spanish culinary heavyweights, Albert Adria, Adoni Luis Aduriz and Dabiz Muñoz. Creativity was summed up by Albert Adria: to be creative you need energy and a curious mind, anyone can be creative if they have time, money and space!
The final act for the day was a discussion with Dani Garcia who made the shock announcement in December that he was going to close his 3 star Michelin Restaurant on 22 nd October 2019 having just won three stars for the first-time last November. Now he has bigger, more global dreams spreading Andalusian cuisine throughout the world.
There's more to come tomorrow from the final day at the conference, stay tuned. Find out more about Madrid Fusion on the website here.