The first annual European Region of Gastronomy award candidates have been shortlisted. The regions of Catalonia (Spain) and Minho (Portugal) presented successful written proposals to IGCAT on Monday 19 January 2015. The shortlisted regions will have the opportunity to present their bid to a selected jury panel and public audience on Friday 6 February 2015 at 11:00am, at the Palacete Villa Moraes in Ponte de Lima, in the Portuguese region of Minho.
Following the presentation, the shortlisted regions will receive recommendations from an international jury panel headed by deputy-chairman, Prof. Greg Richards. The list of international jury members include Ilie Rotariu from the University ‘Lucian Blaga’ of Sibiu (Romania), Roberta Garibaldi from the University of Bergamo (Italy), Anna Blaua from the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (Latvia), Claire Robert from the Conservatoire International des Cuisines Méditerranéennes (France), Anja van Hout from Agrifood Capital (the Netherlands), Carmel Cassar from the University of Malta (Malta) and Jesper H. B. Christensen from City of Aarhus (Denmark).
The regulations for the award have been developed as bottom-up initiative with nine European regions working together with the operative body for the award – the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), over the past year and a half to design the concept. Members from the founding regions will also meet in Minho on 4-5 February 2015 to further discussion on the development of the platform.
The European Region of Gastronomy award will be officially launched in May 2015, with the selection and announcement of the final winning regions by the Chairman of the Jury, Mr. Anton Rambouts.
‘We are hugely excited by the interest in the European Region of Gastronomy award and by the quality of the candidacies’, said Prof. Greg Richards, ‘this confirms the demand for such an initiative within Europe’, he added.
The award seeks to link food, tourism, culture, identity, health and sustainability to support regional development, whether at an economic, social, environmental or cultural level. It will be bestowed each year to a European region which combines innovation and sustainability to local culinary and cultural identity. For more information and to find out how to bid for the 2017 award, please visit: europeanregionofgastronomy.org