The Croatian National Tourist Board, in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, organized “Croatian 365 Gourmet” workshops in Osijek and Zagreb.Thus, the workshop in Osijek was held on Thursday at the Museum of Taste, while the workshop in Zagreb took place yesterday at the Westin Hotel. The speakers at the workshops are top chefs Michelin Lionel Levy and Filippo Saporito, and the workshops themselves provide top educational content and information on world trends in the gastronomy and oenology segment, including marketing.”It is an exceptional honor for the Museum of Taste, as the best restaurant in Slavonia and the Danube region, to have hosted such an event, which was held in Slavonia for the first time. It’s a great feeling to cook together with top world names in the kitchen of the Museum of Taste “, pointed out Mirta Glavašić, marketing manager of the Museum of Taste.At the workshops, participants had the opportunity to listen to lectures on world culinary trends, local cuisine, modern confectionery, pairing food and wine, and restaurant management. Chef Lionel Levy from Marseille, talked about the preservation and identity of traditional cuisine and how to refresh the menu with modern techniques. His message was “Defend the recipes of your ancestors!”A strong message from chef Lionel Lavy that can certainly be interpreted as the philosophy of the whole tourism because that is exactly the very meaning of tourism. People travel to get to know new ways and culture of living, and authenticity is the very essence of tourism. “You must never forget who you are, what you are and where you come from and your skills with local products. I would not want Croatian chefs to make the same mistake as Italian or Spanish, who try to satisfy tourists and forget the tradition. It is important to protect and defend the recipes of your ancestors, otherwise they will get lost. I understand that you want to survive as a tourist, but you have to speak realistically to tourists”Said Lionel Levy, adding that French cuisine, although it has a huge tradition, was once strongly influenced by foreign cuisines, especially Spanish, but they managed to break away from those influences and return to their roots. Interestingly, the night before, Lionel Levy, was at a dinner where he tasted fish perkelt. This prompted him to modify this traditional Pannonian specialty a bit, and he mixed the pasta with fried bacon together with the cream in a blender, thus giving the fish perkel a new dimension.Chef Lionel Levy / Photo: Museum of TasteChef Filipo Saporito, whose last name is “delicious” in Italian. It comes from the gastronomic region of Tuscany and has Sicilian roots. It is crowned with one Michelin star. He stressed that we need to be open-minded and we need to look for inspiration in local foods and show our character through food. He emphasized that Tuscany as a tourist region has both culture and history, but that good food is still the main motive for tourist arrivals.Chef confectioner Yoan Dessarzin is an advocate of patience and passion for work. He believes that it takes time to gather knowledge and experience for a quality continuation of work and the creation of new desserts. Gabriel Vasquez, a gastro-marketing consultant, also joined us, emphasizing that we need to convey the real moment of our everyday life in the restaurant. He pointed to the marketing power of social media and how we can portray emotion through a story that portrays our vision and the values represented.The sommelier Mira Šemić and Sandi Paris, a four-time winner of the national championships of the best sommelier, who represented Croatia at numerous European and world sommelier competitions, also participated in the workshop program. By the way, the Croatian National Tourist Board organized the same workshops in Split and Opatija in June, and now it has completed a whole cycle of excellent workshops in Osijek and Zagreb.Authors: Mario Jukić / HrTurizam.hr
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