One more year, Alícia Foundation and the Food Observatory (ODELA) of the University of Barcelona hold the V International Congress on Food which, this year, focuses on the relation between heritage, tourism and sustainability. From June 19 to 21, the Faculty of Geography and History of the UB and la Pedrera will hold a series of conferences, roundtables and communications as part of this symposium, and the day before, June 18, there will be a practical session in Món Sant Benet, headquarters of the Alícia Foundation.

This pre-congress on June 18, will consist of a series of workshops and practical activities about one of the specialities of the R&D system in the Alicia Foundation. The session aims to be a place for knowledge transfer and debate on the experience of the professionals of management, creation and maintenance of food heritage processes. With specific cases, the session will treat the complexity of the heritage process, which aims to promote, with touristic and leisure activities, the territorial development and its sustainability. Working sessions will treat topics such as the creation of sustainable tourist products with food heritage or the analysis of how we eat, with a tasting included. There will be a creativity workshop on how to support small companies and agricultural artisans. The session includes a meal, Àpat Catalunya, linked to the Catalan gastronomic traditions and local products, to share some singularities of the offered products. Àpat Catalunya is a project carried out by Alicia Foundation and Prodeca, a public company from the Catalan Government promoting external commerce and internationalization of the agricultural and food industry. This activity aims to create a series of meals to explain the Catalan cuisine and gastronomic culture to a foreign audience and to promote the products that are produced in the territory. 

The V International Congress of Food Heritage in la Pedrera

Josep Roca, from Celler de Can Roca, will open the congress with the conference “Geografia física i geografia humana. Sobre gastronomia i sostenibilitat” in la Pedrera on June 19 at 9.45 a.m. The conference will be followed by a roundtable on food culture policies with the participation of Julie Cavignat, from Brazil URGN; Anindita Dasgupta, from Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus in Malaysia; Cyrille Laporte, from the University of Toulouse Jean-Jaures, and Jordi Gascón, from the University of Lleida.

There will be more than 150 oral presentations on themes related to the main topics of this edition, as well as roundtables, among which is the one chaired by the director of Alicia Foundation, Toni Massanés, titled “Qui, què i com es difonen i comuniquen els missatges de valorització del patrimoni alimentary”, or another titled “Polítiques públiques en favour de cultures alimentàries”, with the participation of the prestigious sociologist Jean-Pierre Poulain. 

Program and registrations.