ALGUSTO is the name of a new food and cuisine show to be held at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre from 29 November to 2 December 2007. The event will bring together leading producers who have built up a reputation for quality products and foodmaking processes by encapsulating the very attributes that the Slow Food movement promotes.
In staging the event the Bilbao Exhibition Centre has signed a partnership agreement with the Slow Food association by virtue of which the organisations it represents can select and categorise exhibitors, propose topics for discussion and the content of parallel events, and offer advisory services enabling contacts to be established with food industry experts on an international level.
ALGUSTO is a new date on the Bilbao Exhibition Centre’s trade show calendar and the event’s byline “Saber y Sabor” (Knowledge and Flavour) synthesises the philosophy behind it.
No fewer than nineteen major sectors and subsectors will be represented at ALGUSTO: the restaurant industry, official institutions, oil producers, beverages (wine, liqueurs, water, cider, coffee and tea), the canning industry, perishables (meat and cold meats, dairy products, fish and seafood, semipreserves and smoked food, ice-creams, vegetables and fruit) and cakes and pastries.
The competition brings together producers from the Iberian Peninsula, regions of the UK, Ireland and France and Latin American countries.
WHAT IS THE SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT??
Slow Food is an international movement founded in Italy and which opposes the standardisation of taste and promotes the dissemination of a new taste-related philosophy based on pleasure and knowledge. It is present in every continent and champions traditional regional cuisine, the products of these regions as well as the growing and rearing methods they employ. The logo of the Slow Food organisation is the snail, the symbol of slowness.
The association was founded in 1986 in Bra (in the province of Cuneo, Italy) by Carlo Petrini under the original name of ArciGola. The international Slow Food movement is now active in over 50 countries and has more than 80,000 members. In Italy, Slow Food boasts over 35,000 members represented by 330 local chapters called condotte. These local offices are known as convivia elsewhere in the world.
The statutes of Slow Food Italia set out the following objectives:
a) To endow issues connected to food and eating with cultural dignity.
b) To identify food products and methods of production linked to a geographical area from the perspective of protecting biodiversity, and promoting and protecting them as cultural assets.
c) To raise the public profile of the food culture, particularly among younger generations, for the purposes of raising full awareness of the right to pleasure and taste.
d) To promote the practice of a different quality of life involving a respect for natural rhythms, the environment and the health of consumers, thereby fostering the use and enjoyment of food with the highest possible quality.
Slow Food organises some of the most important food industry events in the world, including the Salone del Gusto (literally the “Hall of Taste”) at the Lingotto in Turin (a biennial event, held in even-numbered years), and Cheese, held in Bra (in odd-numbered years).
A TRADE SHOW FOR EVERYONE
Visitors to ALGUSTO include members of the general public from the Bilbao area, as well as gourmets, foodies and industry professionals from other regions and countries, including south west France and northern Portugal, and it is these people that the show’s organisers would like to attract to the event.
In addition to the exhibition, ALGUSTO also gives visitors the opportunity to purchase the products on display and to take part in taste workshops and laboratories, find out more about the mysterious world of wine in the Wine Cellar, and watch demonstrations by some of the world’s top chefs.
This new initiative, organised jointly by the Bilbao Exhibition Centre and Slow Food, aims to showcase sensible cuisine and food, promote the crossover and enriching of cultures through cuisine, and transmit a sustainable way of life that also protects the environment.
Both organisations have entered into an agreement by virtue of which they will bring their experience and quality to bear in staging events of this nature. Furthermore, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre will also be underlining its support of good cuisine in October by hosting another event aimed directly at industry professionals: Foccus Gastronómico.
