Virgilio Martínez (Lima, 1977) is one of the most renowned chefs in the world. His restaurant Central, in Lima, was considered the best in the world in 2023. It was a milestone that no one had ever achieved in Latin America. And he achieved it by placing at the center the ingredients used in all the ecosystems and altitudes of Peru. Many of them, safeguarded by indigenous communities. “When I was a child, they told me that these people were poor. Later I understood that they were rich,” says the chef. In addition to Central, he has the Mil restaurant, where he cooks Andean cuisine at 3,800 meters, and a multidisciplinary knowledge center called Mater. Martínez speaks to ARA at the Andorra Taste congress, dedicated to high-mountain gastronomy, where he was awarded the career achievement award. An award previously received by Michel Bras, Gastón Acurio, Ferran Adrià, and Carme Ruscalleda.

"Andorra is a country that uses the word a lot diversify Because we used to have a magic formula, and it's been dismantled. The commercial sector is robust, but people tell you that prices aren't what they used to be. "Snow is a huge draw, but there's less and less of it, and resorts are working to stay open in the summer," food journalist Josep Lluís Trabal explains. This is the reason why the Andorran government has made gastronomy a key focus for the past four years, putting a lot of effort into it.

"I have a reputation for being politically incorrect because I say things that people don't dare say," said Ferran Adrià today in Escaldes-Engordany. The chef from Hospitalet de Llobregat received the honorary Andorra Taste Award and in his speech, he didn't mince his words when it came to sharing his vision of the world of gastronomy. Some of his reflections included that "we must distinguish between food and gastronomy: gastronomy is linked to quality, and a restaurant that has all its seafood frozen is not gastronomic."