The European Region of Gastronomy is a title given every year to one or more cities or regions in Europe. The title is awarded by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT). [1] [2]
]]
The goal of the project is to contribute to the better quality of life by:
A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to enable dishes unique to a region.
A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social, and economic benefits, and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city's image, and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale. Multiple cities can be a European Capital of Culture simultaneously.
Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds, and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It promotes local small businesses and sustainable foods. It also focuses on food quality, rather than quantity. It was the first established part of the broader slow movement. It speaks out against overproduction and food waste. It sees globalization as a process in which small and local farmers and food producers should be simultaneously protected from and included in the global food system.
Rhône-Alpes was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris. Rhône-Alpes has the sixth-largest economy of any European region.
Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.
Sibiu is a middle-sized, well-preserved fortified medieval town in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some 275 km (171 mi) north-west of Bucharest, the town straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the Olt River. Now the county seat of the Sibiu County, between 1692 and 1791 and 1849–65 Sibiu was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania. During the Modern era, the Hecht hause in Sibiu served as the seat of the Transylvanian Saxon University.
Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastronomy is called a gastronome, while a gastronomist is one who unites theory and practice in the study of gastronomy. Practical gastronomy is associated with the practice and study of the preparation, production, and service of the various foods and beverages, from countries around the world. Theoretical gastronomy supports practical gastronomy. It is related with a system and process approach, focused on recipes, techniques and cookery books. Food gastronomy is connected with food and beverages and their genesis. Technical gastronomy underpins practical gastronomy, introducing a rigorous approach to evaluation of gastronomic topics.
Cultural heritage tourism is a form of non-business travel whereby tourists engage with the heritage, tangible and intangible, moveable and immovable, of a region through activities, experiences, and purchases which facilitate a connection to the people, objects, and places of the past associated with the locations being visited. As opposed to natural heritage tourism, which focuses on visitors' interaction with the unimproved environment of the area being visited, including outdoor sports and recreation, hiking, diving, fishing, and naturalism, and pleasure tourism without any heritage interest, such as indoor recreation, gastronomy, and hospitality without any significant precedent in the history and heritage of the region, cultural heritage tourism can include activities such as tours of immovable cultural sites, such as historic house museums, historic fortifications, human history museums, and library documentary heritage collections, opportunities for purchases of moveable cultural property, such as antiques, antiquarian books, and other works and ephemera associated with the locations being visited, and opportunities for admission to or purchase of intangible heritage experiences associated with the tourism region, including gastronomic heritage and admissions to performances such as theatre, opera, ballet, indigenous dances, and storytelling.
Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or cooks, although, at its most general, the terms culinary artist and culinarian are also used. Table manners are sometimes referred to as a culinary art.
Alan Coxon is a TV chef and British television presenter. Coxon is a chef, culinary consultant, food archaeologist, TV presenter, author of five cookbooks, International judge, food and travel writer and product creator.
The University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) is an international university located in northern Italy. The campus is in Pollenzo, near Bra, a city in the north-west region of Piedmont. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement, established the university to focus on gastronomic sciences and the organic relationships between food, ecology, and cultures. More than 2,500 students have taken courses at UNISG since it opened in 2004. UNISG offers a variety of courses leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees in areas related to gastronomic sciences, food cultures and heritage, food ecologies, and food communications and management. As part of their curriculum, students every year are engaged in a number of field study trips in Italy and also in other European and extra-European countries.
Istanbul Beykent University is a foundation university in Istanbul, Turkey, teaching in English, Russian combined and Turkish with 30.000 students.
The European Green Capital Award (EGCA) is an award given by the European Commission each year to a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008, with the first award being given to Stockholm for the year 2010. The European Commission has long recognised the important role that local authorities play in improving the environment, and their high level of commitment to genuine progress. The European Green Capital Award has been conceived as an initiative to promote and reward these efforts.
The European Youth Capital is the title awarded by the European Youth Forum to a European city, designed to empower young people, boost youth participation and strengthen European identity through projects focused on youth-related cultural, social, political and economic life and development. The European Youth Capital is an initiative by the European Youth Forum and is awarded for a period of one year. The first capital was chosen in 2009. Since 2014, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is an official partner the European Youth Capital title. The current, capital for the 2024 calendar year is Ghent, Belgium.
Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire is an Irish lecturer and professional chef. He was awarded Ireland's first PhD on food history, in October 2009.
The global cuisine or world cuisine is a cuisine that is practiced around the world. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific region, country or culture. To become a global cuisine, a local, regional or national cuisine must spread around the world, its food served worldwide. There have been significant improvements and advances during the 20th century in food preservation, storage, shipping and production, and today many countries, cities and regions have access to their traditional cuisines and many other global cuisines.
Navarino Icons is a brand of food products and art objects introduced in 2011 by Costa Navarino, the prime, sustainable destination in the Mediterranean, located in Messinia developed by the Tourism Enterprises of Messinia S. A.. Navarino Icons brand of food products and art objects are based on the history and culture of the Messinian region and the Peloponnese of Greece.
Leonor Espinosa De La Ossa, also known by her nickname 'Leo', is a Colombian chef whose Bogotá restaurant, Leo Cocina y Cava, featuring a fusion of traditional and modern Colombian cuisine, first brought her to international attention when it opened in 2007. Espinosa appears regularly on Colombian television, and also runs the restaurants Leo Cocina y Cava and Misia.
The Basque Culinary Center, based in San Sebastián, in the Basque region of Spain, is a culinary foundation created in 2009 by Mondragon University and a group of prominent Basque chefs as a training, research and innovation project, aimed at developing the culinary sector, with the idea of relating cooking with management, science and other disciplines.
Inés Páez Nin, also known as Chef Tita, is a Dominican chef, activist and television personality. Owner of MoriSoñando and Aguají restaurants, Páez is a member of the Dominican Chefs Association, has been a judge on several versions of the reality show MasterChef and has represented her country in different international cooking festivals.