Traditional Cuisine from the Caribbean and Cuba Delighted International Experts in Havana

Traditional Cuisine from the Caribbean and Cuba Delighted International Experts in Havana

The tasting of several hors d’oeuvres, main courses and desserts from both Cuba and the Caribbean brought delight to over 200 participants and guests from a dozen nations attending the International Gastronomic Seminar in Havana organized by the Excelencias Group under the title “Restaurant Business in Cuba and the Caribbean: Fusion and Pairing.

The event also included master lectures and other tasting sessions of habanos and spirits hailing from the region. The closing session will be crowned by lecturer Rafael Anson, President of Spain’s Royal Gastronomic Academy.

The seminar is taking place at the Melia Cohiba Hotel in the Cuban capital and its second session embraced a number of master lectures that dealt with traditional cuisine in Cuba and the Caribbean in its wide array of preferences and assortments.

Acela Matamoros, a professor at Cuba’s Higher Institute of Hotel Business and Tourism, explained that Cuban cuisine is marked by an array of shades and influences stemming from different world regions, featuring a variety of products from this neck of the woods, like fruits and vegetables.

Color, aroma and taste are the three main ingredients of Caribbean cuisine, in which the authenticity of Spanish, African and Chinese ancestors, coupled with influences from other parts of the planet, are combined.

As a result of this fusion of cultures, the finest hors d’oeuvres and their pairings with other products have lived out. In his lecture, Prof. Leonardo Greenidge talked about their characteristics and their insertion in the menu cards.

His colleague Jorge Junco highlighted the fact that each and every dish is the result of cooking and preparation based on the most representative ingredients from the Caribbean region. Calalu, asopado, pabellon criollo and rice cooked with coconut and shrimps, among others, are good cases in point.

In the afternoon session, attendees learned about different water applications aimed at upgrading restaurant service. Miriam Alfonso, a member of the Cuban Sommelier Club’s Board of Directors, underscored that the tradition of washing meals down with water harks back to many centuries ago as she stressed on the many benefits this custom holds.

The afternoon session came to a close with a tasting session that featured habanos and spirits from the Caribbean region, suggested by FORMATUR Head Prof. Fernando Fernandez, and Orlando Blanco, world champion of the 2010 Habanosommelier Contest.

The International Gastronomic Seminar will come to an end Thursday with a master lecture on the present and the future of Caribbean and Hispanic American gastronomic academies, to be dictated by Rafael Anson, President of the Spanish Royal Gastronomic Academy.

During the closing ceremony, the Sabor Caribe (Caribbean Taste) prizes will be doled out. Convened by the Excelencias Group, organizers received nearly fifty recipes sent out by chefs and sommeliers from various countries. Down the stretch, finalists are supposed to vie live before jurors for the awards to the Best Hors d’oeuvre, the Best Main Course and the Best Dessert. A grand prize for the Best Pairing will also be up for grabs. Likewise, attendees will enjoy the performance of La Colmenita Children’s Theater Company.

Later in the evening and following an exhibit of classic cars at the traditional Paseo del Prado in Havana, the capital’s Grand Theater will host the gala for the 100th issue of the Caribbean Tourist Excellence magazine, featuring the presentation of Cuba’s National Ballet Company, the Flamenco Boulevard group –made up of Andalusian performers- and the Junior Symphonic Orchestra.