MIAMI, United States. – On Wednesday, the XIII International Festival Varadero Gourmet was inaugurated at the Plaza América Convention Center, according to the Cuban News Agency (ACN, by its Spanish acronym).
The keynote speech, titled Panorámica general a los orígenes, evolución, preservación y actualidad de la gasronomía cubana, con énfasis en su patrimonialidad (Overview of the Origins, Evolution, Preservation and Current Characteristics of Cuban Gastronomy, with an Emphasis on Its Legacy), was delivered by Havana University professor Félix Julio Alfonso López, Doctor of Social Sciences.
The program will include the creation of main-dish recipes, cocktails and desserts, all made in Cuba by contemporary artists. According to ACN, these presentations will take place in the Salón y Arte VI hall.
The festival will include competitions about the promotion of hotel chains, better designs for food stands, dishes and gastronomical services. Also, there will be presentations about products related to sustainability, traditions and small farms.
For this 2023 edition, Varadero Gourmet International Festival will gather businessmen and specialists in the manufacture and marketing of beverages and food products (both domestic and foreign), academics, clients of the country’s tourism poles, as well as professionals linked to the so-called leisure industry.
The event, which is organized by Empresa Extrahotelera Palmares, Grupo Empresarial Cubasol and the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR, by its Spanish acronym) will last until next Saturday.
Varadero Gourmet is taking place at a time when Cuba is facing an unprecedented food crisis marked by shortages of food and essential necessities, as well as a rate of inflation that has greatly raised prices.
In mid 2022, CubaData revealed that 82.5% of the island’s residents worried about food shortages in the country.
A survey on food security conducted by that platform showed that food shortages was the reason that 70.8% of households surveyed had family members that either ate less, or were skipping meals altogether.
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