Ferran Adrià reveals the secrets to joining the culinary elite at Andorra Taste: 'Planning, investment, identity and hard work'

High mountain cuisine is once again the star of the fourth edition of Andorra Taste, an international gastronomy event that debates the authenticity of these territories. Until Friday 19 September, Andorra will host the event's professional conferences, which will continue to explore the unique features of a cuisine that links tradition and territory with creativity and innovation, with the presence of more than 20 national and international chefs.

The latter two concepts are particularly relevant in this fourth edition, which saw Ferran Adrià receive the Andorra Taste Award. Thirty years ago, he spearheaded a gastronomic revolution that changed the global culinary landscape. During his acceptance speech, the Catalan chef pointed out several steps that Andorra must take to consolidate its position as a gastronomic destination. “First of all,” he said, “you have to plan, be willing to invest and work hard, and seek your own culinary identity.” He applauded Andorra's commitment in this regard, as it has collaborated with Vocento Gastronomía to launch a strategic plan for gastronomic positioning that 'is a fundamental tool for knowing where you are going'. Adrià also positively assessed the role of Andorra Taste in this process, stating that ‘sharing is essential, and although there are many conferences, it is important that these events take place in smaller countries so they can examine their own territory’. During the official opening of the event, the Minister of Tourism and Trade of the Government of Andorra, Jordi Torres, emphasised the sense of community within the sector, stating that at Andorra Taste, 'we believe in dialogue between mountain people'. This dialogue must allow Andorran chefs to grow while maintaining their identity and adapting to the demands of the modern era, as emphasised by Benjamín Lana, the conference director.

The professional conference, held in Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra, once again looked to the neighbouring Alps, a mountain range with much to offer as it is home to a convergence of culinary traditions. The first day of Andorra Taste 2025 focused on some of these traditions and the value of mountain produce, featuring a noteworthy presentation by Oriol Castro, chef at Disfrutar*** (Barcelona), who shared the stage with master distiller Carles Bonin to unveil their first alcohol-free spirits. Having already participated in the first edition of Andorra Taste, Disfrutar returns to the Principality with a new product that ‘aims to inspire Andorran chefs to look to the territory’.

This time, the Disfrutar team wanted to translate 'the landscape created by the thaw in the Andorran valleys' into a drink: a non-alcoholic distillate, which is very much in line with the current trend for non-alcoholic pairings. Using ingredients such as moss, mushrooms, fennel, liquorice, juniper and pine flowers, the Andorran mountains have been recreated in the drink "Terroir del Desglaç" (“Terroir of the Thaw”). There is also a smoked version of this distillate, made with smoked pine cones, as 'the smoke from chimneys and the comfort of fire are also part of that mountain imagery', explained Bonin.

The mountains are a pantry and a source of endless inspiration

One advantage enjoyed by chefs in high mountain areas is the availability of a wide variety of products that capture the essence of the local area, all within a short distance of their restaurants. The mountains are a pantry full of possibilities, and several of the presentations on the first day of the fourth edition of Andorra Taste focused on some of the products they offer. The first presentation focused on game and was given by Luis Alberto Lera (Lera**, Castroverde de Campos, Zamora), one of the Spanish chefs who has worked most extensively with this type of cuisine and knows it best.

Lera has brought traditional culinary techniques from the Spanish plateau to Andorra for cooking game products found in the Pyrenees. During his talk, the chef from Zamora emphasised the importance of focusing on 'identity and roots' to avoid homogenised cuisine. "You have to know how to look inward," he said. He demonstrated this on stage at the Auditori del Prat del Roure by reviving preservation techniques from the popular Tierra de Campos recipe book — 'after all, they are survival techniques' — with which he prepared a wild boar tongue marinade and chamois jerky, for example. Finally, Luis Lera argued that game should be included on restaurant menus, even if it means making it more elegant, because this will prevent the culinary richness that defines each region from being forgotten.

From hunting to gathering mushrooms. A star product of the mountains and an extreme example of seasonality, mushrooms were the absolute stars of a mycological jam session organised by Pau Santamaria. The son of the renowned chef Santi Santamaria, Pau is a distributor of garden produce and mushrooms through his company, Santamaria Gastronòmic. Several Andorran chefs participated in the event. Four chefs from the Principality demonstrated that mushrooms are not only a magnificent accompaniment, but can also form the basis of a recipe, using different varieties such as cargo mushrooms, cauliflower mushrooms and boletus edulis. These included cargo mushrooms, cauliflower mushrooms and boletus edulis. Santamaria had a request for the chefs regarding the latter: “I ask you to appreciate the local boletus mushrooms, because we have become accustomed to those from Romania or other countries and no longer value the ones from here”. Victoria Kemerer (Kökosnøt, Andorra La Vella), Jordi Grau (Ibaya*, Soldeu), Marcel Besolí (El Celler d'en Toni, Andorra la Vella) and José Antonio Guillermo (Odetti Bistro, Escaldes-Engordany) agreed with the distributor, adding that 'even within the same country, mushrooms taste different depending on the area'. 'Each mushroom tells you about a terroir,' summarised Kemerer.

And from specific products to the global. At Andorra Taste, Francis Paniego, chef at El Portal de Echaurren** (Ezcaray, La Rioja), spoke about how the forest can be transferred to the plate. The chef from La Rioja is committed to 'escaping from a faithful representation of the landscape. We don't want to paint a picture, but rather to reflect the sensations that this landscape evokes in us on the plate'. The recipes he presented, which are currently on the menu at Echaurren, illustrate this approach perfectly. Using cheese, walnut oil and parsley powder, Paniego evoked the scent of fresh grass. With crispy tapioca, marrow butter and frozen broccoli, which adds moisture, he transported the audience to a damp forest. And with pebbles made from trout paste and bathed in gelatine, he took them on a journey down a river. These are examples of a very personal approach to cuisine, working with nature, seasonality, commitment to the territory and inherited memory. Paniego acknowledged that this memory is vital for chefs because 'our mothers' cuisine is deeply rooted in our DNA as cooks'. Reinterpreting and preserving this cuisine is therefore 'vital for our territories'.

Austrian chef Maximilian Stock shares this vision. He offers Alpine cuisine at Die Geniesserstube Im Alpenhof (Tux), a small restaurant in Tyrol that has recently been awarded a Michelin star. Stock does not use seafood in his menu, basing his cuisine almost exclusively on local products. He advocates 'rediscovering the local to promote the creation of value from the producer and the product, through the chef and the area of origin'.