• Products, flavours and gastronomy have come together once again at Infecar to highlight the island’s primary sector.
• Tomorrow, Monday, the Fair will experience a final day dedicated exclusively to professionals in the gastronomic sector with the celebration of the VI Origins Congress.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Sunday 23 April 2023-. The Gran Canaria Me Gusta Fair celebrated its tenth edition this weekend with the visit of more than 10,000 people who demonstrated their commitment to the primary sector and local products of the island, touring the nearly sixty exhibitors selling local produce and enjoying gastronomic exhibitions, tastings, competitions and workshops.

Promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and organised by Infecar, the Fair closed its doors this Sunday afternoon after three days in which the thousands of visitors were able to buy zero kilometre products and learn about them; they got to know first-hand the work of the national and local chefs invited to this edition and tasted hundreds of foods produced in Gran Canaria.

The highlight of this Sunday was the celebration of the final phase of the Professional category of the Gran Canaria Me Gusta Regional Cooking Competition. Alejandro Elías Santana from Restaurante Bevir (Gran Canaria) won the competition after delighting the jury with his dish ‘Caldo Pescao’. The competition was accompanied by a gastronomic exhibition by the winning chef of the last edition, Ruymán González Artiles. Second and third place went to Simone Olivier (Restaurante Kabuki Meloneras – Gran Canaria) and Domingo Juárez (Restaurante Poemas by Hermanos Padrón – Gran Canaria), respectively.

After the gastronomic exhibitions held yesterday (Saturday) by the guests of honour of this edition, the national chefs Carito Lou, Juanjo López, Marta Verona, Tomeu Arbona and María José Orero, it was the local chefs Víctor Lugo and Aridani Alonso, from Restaurante Casa Romántica in Agaete, and Rubén Medina from the Pastería Zulay bakery in La Palma, who took over the kitchen of the Fair to bid farewell to this edition. The little ones also enjoyed this last day with the children’s workshops led by the winner of the sixth edition of MasterChef Junior, Aurora Ruiz.

The benefits of fish and how to prepare them for consumption at home, including a blind tasting; a demonstration of how to make gofio in a stone mill or why the festive nougat is an indivisible part of the popular festivals of Gran Canaria are some of the knowledge that the Primary Sector and Food Sovereignty activities have left visitors with.

Workshops and games for the little ones, a felted wool workshop, making and tasting fruit cocktails and a demonstration of a cutting of the island’s beef, kid and goat meats, all accompanied by wine tastings and tastings of the island’s cheeses and many other foods, completed the programme of activities this Sunday.

Origins Professional Day

The last day of the Gran Canaria Me Gusta Fair will take place tomorrow, Monday 24th April, with the sixth edition of the Origins Gastronomy Conference, organised by the Regional Ministry of Industry and Trade and aimed exclusively at professionals from the gastronomy sector.

The chef Abraham Ortega (from Restaurante Tabaiba, one MICHELIN Star and one Repsol Sun), the head waiter at Diverxo (three MICHELIN Stars and three Repsol Suns), Marta Campillo, Cristina Monge (Borneo), Carme Ruscalleda (seven MICHELIN Stars), Adrián Bosh (San-HÔ, one MICHELIN Star) and Teresa Moon (El Bento Japonés) and Mikel Asiain (222 SW), in addition to Sergio Torres (Cocina Hnos. Torres, three MICHELIN Stars and three Repsol Suns), Gran Canarian chef Borja Marrero (Muxgo, one MICHELIN Green Star, one Repsol Sun and Food of Spain Award), Dominique Bouchait (MOF), Benito Gómez (Bardal, two Michelin Stars and two Repsol Suns) and the cocktail maker Antonio García (El Desmarque), will offer an intense educational day whose main theme, on this occasion, will be the influence of Asian culture on the gastronomic identity of Gran Canaria.

The tenth Gran Canaria Me Gusta Fair has been promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and organised by Infecar. The Fair also has SPAR Gran Canaria, Alcampo and El Corte Inglés as sponsors, Cajasiete as official collaborator; Gran Canaria Me Gusta, the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria, Fegastrocan and Fagor Profesional.