Gran Canaria will host Terrae, the rural cuisine congress, from 28 to 30 April.

The north of Gran Canaria will host the Terrae International Meeting of Rural Gastronomy from 28 to 30 April. An event created in 2019 to raise the voice in defence of the rural environment as a source of life and wealth through gastronomy, and to maintain the same spirit. To achieve this goal, chefs, restaurateurs, producers and journalists will meet for three days in different locations in Gáldar, Arucas, Agaete and Guía. A unique event that goes beyond the traditional structure of a congress, with presentations, interdisciplinary workshops, show cooking, visits to Gran Canaria farms, gastronomic dinners and popular activities, organised by the Gastronomy Department of Vocento, the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria. This edition of Terrae is the first of four that will be held on the island, visiting different towns and municipalities each time.

A major platform for rural gastronomy

In this edition, Terrae wants to consolidate itself as a major platform to give visibility and support to the work of chefs in the most depopulated areas, allies of tourism and village life, and an important tool in the fight against depopulation. Terrae also aims to improve the link between producers, raw materials and chefs, and to discuss the need to protect local products and market them without obstacles or bureaucracy. Over three days, the 70 or so guests will seek to highlight the value of the rural environment and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of making a living from catering in small towns and villages. 

The congress will open with a public day in the Plaza de Santiago in Gáldar on Sunday 28 April. Three of the most important rural chefs on the peninsula, the Asturian Pepe Ron (Bar Blanco, Cangas de Narcea), the Catalan Nandu Jubany (Can Jubany, Calldetenes) and the Basque Roberto Ruiz (Hika Gastronomiko, Villabona) will cook together with the Canarians Carmelo Florido (El Equilibrista 33), Rafael Bueno (Embarcadero) and Braulio Rodríguez (Majuga). Each will prepare 400 portions of a dish that will be sold at popular prices. There will also be a tent with cheeses from Gran Canaria and another with wines from the island. 

More than 40 country chefs

This second edition of the event brings together more than 40 chefs from different countries, who will be able to share their experiences and opinions in order to draw conclusions that will help them improve. There will be three intense days during which the group will carry out activities in different places: from the Gáldar Town Hall or its Municipal Theatre to various bars and restaurants in different towns of the region. The sugar cane harvest, coffee in the only coffee plantation area on the continent and the most important crop in the Canary Islands, the banana plantations, will also be part of this adventure, with visits to the production areas to find out on the spot how the work of local producers is developing.

Acurio's social cuisine

Terrae is a forum for work and the future that will also pay tribute to Gastón Acurio, the chef who managed to recover the local tradition of Peruvian gastronomy and put it on the world stage. Acurio was the first chef to change everything and to highlight the enormous work of the producers. With him, social cuisine was born, understood as a total discipline. Through his work, his speeches, his television programmes, the direct relationships he established between his restaurants and Andean producers or artisanal fishermen and shellfish collectors, he gave impetus to what is known as the Peruvian gastronomic revolution. Gastón Acurio will come to Gran Canaria to collect the prize and share his extraordinary experience with the chefs taking part in Terrae.

Terrae is not just about words and debates, but also about getting to know examples of rural businesses and farms, such as the Ron Arehucas distillery, where one of the working sessions will take place, and visiting the sugar cane harvest. Another important session will be the Terrae Talks at Finca La Laja, with a format of short three-minute speeches, at the foot of the Tamadaba Mountains, in the heart of the Agaete Valley. 

The chefs invited will present their points of view on identity and historical cuisines, the alliance between gastronomy and rural tourism, the legal obstacles to cooking in the territory, the visibility of their work through storytelling and the contributions that urban chefs can make to rural cuisine. 

International representation

Colombian chef Miguel Warren is another of the chefs who will be present at Terrae. The first revelation chef of Bogotá Madrid Fusión has just launched a project he has always dreamed of. It is Gesto, his new restaurant, a fourteen-seater dining room 40 kilometres from Medellín, with a menu based on the harvest and the product, with no set number of steps. This is where his dream of agriculture comes to life: to cultivate, nurture and transform. 

They will not be the only international chefs present. From Portugal, some of the best chefs have confirmed their presence in Gran Canaria: Carlos Teixeira (Herdade do Esporão*, Reguengos de Monsaraz), Rodrigo Castelo (Ó Balcão*, Santarém), João Rodrigues (Canalha, Lisbon), Diogo Rocha (Mesa de Lemos*, Viseu).

Big names in Spanish rural cuisine

The confirmed Spanish chefs already include most of the big names in rural gastronomy, an excellent and diverse representation from the different autonomous communities of mainland Spain and the islands: Francis Paniego (El Portal de Echaurren**, Ezcaray, La Rioja), Kiko Moya (L'Escaleta**, Cocentaina, Alicante), Fran Martínez (Maralba**, Almansa, Albacete), Álvaro Salazar (Voro**, Canyamel, Mallorca), Maria Solivellas (Ca Na Toneta, Caimari, Mallorca), Luis Alberto Lera (Lera*, Castroverde de Campos, Zamora), Nandu Jubany (Can Jubany*, Calldetenes, Barcelona), Edorta Lamo (Arrea! *Santa Cruz de Campezo, Álava), Miguel Ángel de la Cruz (La Botica*, Matapozuelos, Valladolid), Ricardo González Sotres (El Retiro*, Pancar, Llanes, Asturias), Elena Lucas (La Lobita*, Navaleno, Soria, Castilla y León), Nacho Solana (Solana*, Ampuero, Cantabria), Alejandro Hernández (Versátil*, Zarza de Granadilla, Cáceres), Joan Capilla (L'Algadir del Delta*, Poblenou del Delta, Tarragona), Enrique Pérez (El Doncel*, Sigüenza, Guadalajara), Xune Andrade (Monte*, San Feliz, Asturias), Samuel Moreno (El Molino de Alcuneza*, Sigüenza, Guadalajara), Iris Jordán (Ansils, Ansiles, Huesca), Juan Carlos García (Vandelvira*, Baeza, Jaén), Roberto Ruiz (Hika Gastronomiko, Villabona, Gipuzkoa), Óscar García (Baluarte*, Soria, Castilla y León), David Pérez (Ronquillo, Ramales de La Victoria, Cantabria), Pedro Martino (Martino, Caces, Asturias), Pepe Ron (Bar Blanco, Cangas del Narcea, Asturias), Diego Schattenhofer (Taste 1973*, Arona, Tenerife), Miguel Carretero (Santerra*, Madrid, Spain) and Josetxo Souto & Ramón Aso (Callizo, Aínsa, Huesca).

Chefs from Gran Canaria

A wide range of chefs from Gran Canaria will also be taking part in the various Terrae 2024 activities, including Borja Marrero (Muxgo*), José Luis Espino (Bevir*), Abraham Ortega (Tabaiba*), Adrián García (Poemas by Hermanos Padrón*), Jenisse Ferrari (Qué Leche! ), Aridani Alonso (Casa Romántica), José González Brito (Casa Brito), Nereida Rodríguez and Carmelo Múgica (Trastienda de Chago), Víctor García (La Pizarra), José Castellano (La Cuarta de Gáldar) and Juan Pedro García Jorge (La Tasca de Juan Pedro).

Terrae is a congress that aims to give visibility to the rural gastronomic ecosystem and to review the updating of identity cuisines. It is about defending the village, defending the countryside and showing its potential. A congress to promote rural gastronomy from a vision of commitment, quality and modernity, and to debate and highlight the work being done in small environments all over the world.