Gourmet Seminar Puts Camaguey’s Cuisine Traditions on the Front Burner

The promotion of Cuba’s culinary traditions to the world is one of the key goals behind the gourmet seminars the Excelencias Group has been sponsoring in the country over the past three years. This time around, the event left its customary venues in Havana and moved eastbound to Camaguey, a city teeming with historic and cultural values that’s celebrating its 500th anniversary this week.

An exchange of traditional dishes from the region and the chance to watch closely the skills of the local chefs and cooks marked the seminar sessions at the Gran Hotel, the venue of choice for this edition that also showcased recipes and exhibits seasoned with the art of the Andarte Flamenco Dance Company at the San Juan de Dios Square in the downtown area.

Cuba’s Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero was in attendance, together with Jorge Luis Tapia and Isabel Gonzalez, the highest-ranking authorities in the province of Camaguey.

“We need to show that Cuba is far more than just sun and beach… that we have huge values and potentials in its heritage cities, which are not still doing this effort at full throttle,” Minister Marrero said during the opening of this seminar in Camaguey. “Private businesses in the travel and tourism sector have been on the rise recently, and Camaguey is a good example of how much we can actually achieve in this sense, with top-quality offers and wise management.”

Fully committed with the advance of those same values, Excelencias Group President and CEO Jose Carlos de Santiago said there’s still a long way to go toward perfection.

“They still need to provide a better, faster and more efficient service, to pamper patrons, guests and customers, with all due respect, of course,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s in the Cuban people’s nature to cater to others, and that makes them very special. Yet the realm of restaurants and service has rules of its own they must abide by because customers want to feel at home in the hands of professionals,” he went on to say.

“As representative of the Iberian-American Gastronomy Academy, we’re willing to provide the knowledge and expertise we have acquired for decades, without any financial interest whatsoever, so that this country, this brand, this city and this region could march together down the pathways of the tourism industry, thus giving an enhanced view of this city’s lifestyle,” Mr. Jose Carlos de Santiago added.

“That’s what the Excelencias Group has founded these seminars, lectures, contests and exhibitions for,” he concluded.