A one-of-a-kind gastronomic show had brought the behind-the-scenes secrets of the kitchen in the spotlight.

Sometimes, it happens that we go to a restaurant and enjoy the chosen dishes without actually seeing the whole process of cooking and what the atmosphere is like in the kitchen, behind the closed doors.

The 300 exhibitors gave the 16.000 visitors the opportunity to admire raw materials, equipment and machinery, software and technology elements, devices for pastry and bakery, kitchen utensils, materials for the table service, uniforms, even cleaning products, specific furniture, décor and design elements. Specialists’ stands could not be misses from such an event, offering the expertise for those that need it.

The Forum lasted for 3 days and it took place inside Barcelona’s Fira Exhibition Hall, summing up a total of 100 activities and 140 speakers.

The visitors had the possibility to seek new business opportunities and find out innovative ideas that could help redirect the sector, hit hard by the pandemic, to interact with the best professionals from all the sectors of gastronomy, to enjoy the most spectacular live cooking, to see the latest tech and products from the domain and, furthermore, to discover thecurrent trends and going back to the classic ways of cooking and prioritization of vegetarian products.

This year, the Gastronomic Forum hosted, for the first time in Barcelona, the prestigious “We’re Smart Future Awards”festivity, in order to award the best restaurants in the world inthe vegetables and fruits category. At this ceremony,internationally famous chefs were present, such as Rene Mathieu, Xavier Pellicer, Tobias Lenaerts, Pietro Leemann, Rodrigo de la Calle, Emile van der Stak.

First place went to De Nieuwe Winkel restaurant from BJ Nijmegen, Netherlands, followed by El Invernadero from Madrid, Spain, and coming in third place was Piazza Duomo restaurant from Alba, Italy.

It could not be a full experience without any drinks, the main star of the show being sangria made exclusively through the maceration of fruits, without adding any sugar.

The next edition of the forum will take place in November, 2023.