Ist EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON ASIAN CUISINE AND CULTURE

Press Notes   28/09/2005 Press Notification Barcelona presents CuinAsia, I European Congress of Asian Culture and Cuisine · The Congress will convene chefs and international experts in Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Thai cuisine. · Catalan chef Ferran Adrià will participate and advise in support of the event. Barcelona, August 29, 2005. - The 1st European Congress of Asian Culture and Cuisine, Cuinasia, will be held from the 7th to the 10th of November 2005 in CosmoCaixa, Barcelona's Science Museum. As part of the "Catalan Year of Gastronomy" the Congress will present Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines and cultures through their respective culinary techniques and products. The program offers cooks, restaurateurs, food writers, and culinary enthusiasts a series of conferences, demonstrations, tastings and gala dinners in four leading Barcelona hotels: Gran Hotel La Florida, Hotel Arts Ritz Carlton, Hotel Omm and Hotel Husa Palace (formerly The Hotel Ritz), all under the supervision of chefs and gastronomical experts of international prestige. The event has the advice and support of star Catalan chef Ferran Adrià. Julie Sahni author of books including "Classic Indian Cooking", "Classic Indian Vegetarian Cooking", "Savoring Spices and Herbs: Recipe Secrets of Flavor, Aroma and Color" along with Indian chef Jesudoss Prabhaker Rao, owner of the well known restaurant "Spice Route" of Zurich, Switzerland and introducer of Indian Cuisine in the most prestigious hotels and restaurants of Europe and Asia, will create and supervise India's presentation. The Japanese program will be designed by Hiroko Shimbo, author of the book "The Japanese Kitchen", conceived and written in an effort to demystify Japanese cuisine. Shimbo's work has become well known in prestigious international gastronomical magazines such as Saveur, and through numerous radio and television appearances in the United States. She will be accompanied by Japanese chef Kenichiro Ooe, directing chef of the restaurant Kozue of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo. The expertise of these two chefs in Japanese traditional cuisine is widely recognized, as is their interpretation of kaiseki menus. Chef Ooe is one of the few cooks to have received the permission of Japanese authorities to cook and serve the famous blowfish or fugu. Ian Chalermkittichai, former executive of the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok - the first chef of Thai nationality to occupy a position of this importance in one of the most outstanding hotels of the Thai capital -- has recently opened the restaurant "Kittichai" in New York. Australian chef and expert David Thompson, whose London restaurant, "Nahm" received its first Michelin star in 2002, will direct and present Thailand's contribution. Chinese Cuisine from the Cantonese region will be presented by expert Fucsia Dunlop, born in the United Kingdom and author of "Sichuan Land of Plenty: A treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking", and chef Susur Lee, originally of Hong Kong, who started in the kitchen of the famous Peninsula Hotel, where he worked for 7 years. Susur Lee, presently ranked one of the world's 10 best chefs by the prestigious American magazine "Food and Wine Magazine", is owner of his eponymous restaurant "Susur" in Toronto. The Organization Annette Abstoss, expert in gastronomy and sales and marketing manager of Mercabarna's Fruits Guzmán S.A., and Anna Saura, owner of the restaurant Sakura-ya and pioneer in the introduction of Japanese cuisine in Spain, are the co-producers and creators of CuinAsia. Founders of the first Classroom of Asian cuisine in Spain, founders and collaborators of the ALFAD (Culinary Arts Association), Annette Abstoss and Anna Saura are, in addition, founding partners of ASiAA Consulting, a company specialized in the organization of culinary congresses as well as a consultancy and organizer of training courses in Asian cuisine. Mark Miller, external adviser of the Congress organizing staff, chef-consultant for the Japanese Council of Rice, is author of several books on Asian cuisine and consultant to several important groups of Asian restaurants, as well as owner of various restaurants around the world. CuinAsia enjoys the official support of La Generalitat de Catalunya (The Catalan Government), the Barcelona City Council, and Casa Asia.