Gastronomic Forum Barcelona claims culinary tradition as a source of innovation

The Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona will host the Gastronomic Forum Barcelona for the first time, which this year is growing in terms of the number of participants and exhibition area. From November 2nd to 4th, the show will bring together more than 450 companies under the theme "Revisiting tradition", an invitation to rediscover the culinary legacy as a source of inspiration for new ways of cooking, serving and undertaking.

The show is gaining capacity and will occupy 14,500 m². The larger number of companies, producers, distributors, restaurateurs and professionals represents 12% more participants than in the last edition. The event will address culinary tradition as a creative engine and its legacy in the new generation of chefs who will take center stage in this year's edition.

The meeting will bring together 140 prominent professionals of national and international gastronomy. Over three days, chefs, producers, artisans and specialists will share experiences, knowledge and demonstrations on the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

Manuel Costiña (Retiro da Costiña), Pedro Sánchez (Bagá), Artur Martínez (Trü), Enrique Valentí (Caja de Cerillas), Oliver Peña (Mineral) and Viviana Varese (FAAK), among others, will perform live cooking demonstrations and hold debates that will address tradition from very diverse perspectives.

Great references of haute cuisine, such as the three-Michelin-starred chefs Oriol Castro (Disfrutar), Paco Pérez (Miramar), Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta Restaurante), Jordi Cruz (ABaC) and Nacho Manzano (Casa Marcial) will share how the culinary legacy continues to be a source of creativity and innovation.

Return to the origins

"Once again, Gastronomic Forum Barcelona will bring together the professionals who are defining the present and future of gastronomy. Our vocation is to offer a space where knowledge, products, and companies connect to respond to the great challenges of the sector," states Josep Alcaraz, director of the show.

With this new edition, Gastronomic Forum Barcelona will reinforce its role as a reference platform for professionals in the sector, combining a wide exhibition offer with a content program designed to encourage debate, foster the exchange of experiences, and generate new business opportunities.

Emerging talent and new ways of cooking, serving, and undertaking will have a special prominence within the exhibition offer. Gastronomic products, which will represent 73% of the total, followed by hospitality equipment (17%), professional tableware (6%), and technological solutions (5%), will occupy the Gran Via space.

The show will also feature a prominent institutional and territorial representation through grouped participations promoted by Prodeca, the provincial councils of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona, Barcelona City Council, Mercabarna, the Xunta de Galicia, Extremadura, A Coruña, Burgos, Palencia, Cáceres, and Teruel, among other entities.

A gastronomic bar

The 2026 edition will pay special attention to some of the trends that are redefining the gastronomic experience. Among these, the growing prominence of front-of-house service and the rise of gastronomic bars as spaces for direct interaction between chefs and customers stand out. For this reason, the show will recreate a large live bar led by Albert Raurich (Dos Palillos), João Kather (Tetsu), and Martín Comamala (539, Plats Forts), who will show how this format is transforming the relationship between the kitchen and the diner and is consolidating itself as one of the models with the most projection in current catering.

The show will also pay special attention to the generational handover through the Talent Z symposium, dedicated to a new generation of professionals who are transforming gastronomy. Chef Alatz Bilbao (Bakea), Alba Aguilera, the youngest fisherwoman in Catalonia, pastry chef Lluc Crusellas, and chefs Lucía Gutiérrez (Lur) and Helena Termes Adan (La Cort del Mos), among others, will debate digitalization, entrepreneurship, work-life balance, leadership, and talent management, and will show how gastronomic trades and ways of doing business in the sector are evolving.

The program will be completed with the presentation of the 2026 Gastronomic Forum Barcelona Chef Award, organized with La Vanguardia. The finalists are Àlex López, Marcos Valyi and Jordi Carbonell (Arraval, Barcelona), Neus Faiges (Cal Faiges, Poblenou del Delta), Miquel Pardo (Melós, Barcelona), Soledad Lema (Piedra, Barcelona), Alba Hugas and João Pedro Fontes (Unça, Banyoles) and Juanan Vizcaíno (Zaytun, Barcelona). Everyone will prepare their proposals live to compete for the award. The Innoforum Awards will distinguish gastronomic innovation, and the Josep Mercader Awards will recognize outstanding trajectories and contributions to the sector.

The 'The Baker' awards for the best bread and the 'Best Panettone in Spain' will also be presented, promoted respectively by the Bakers' Guild and the Pastry Chefs' Guild. In addition, the show will once again host the presentation of reference publications such as the Slow Food Guide 2027 and the Guia Augusta.