2023-10-02 19:06:33
“This is not a congress, it is a party for everyone to enjoy gastronomy,” Quique Dacosta likes to say about D*NA, the festival that has turned Denia upside down this weekend. More than 25,000 attendees, around twenty guest chefs, tens of thousands of portions served and red shrimp reaching record prices – up to 415 euros per kilo have been paid these days in the local market – are some of the figures that launches a festival that reaches its sixth edition this year, returning to its playful and street origins.
The atmosphere on the Paseo de la Marineta Cassiana has not faltered for a moment over the course of two days that serve to bring iconic haute cuisine dishes to the street – such as the famous foie ‘cubalibre’ signed by Quique Dacosta or the ravioli from red shrimp from the Nómada restaurant, but above all to show the public the best of the area’s popular cuisine. Cocas, rice, fideuás or salads were served by hundreds in an event that does not understand gastronomy as something elitist, but as one of the most enjoyable aspects of life.
After exploring different formulas in six editions in which it has had to adapt to the rigors of the pandemic, D*NA thus recovered the festive and multitudinous spirit with which it was born, taking the kitchens of local restaurants to the streets. An extensive program of workshops and activities for the whole family completed an event in which there was no shortage of great chefs to share with the public their different views on seafood cuisine.
Return to town
The Galician Lucía Freitas, for example, proposes what she calls ‘primary avant-garde’, which is nothing other than placing producers – in her case, especially female producers – at the center of their creative work. What started 15 years ago as a daily menu restaurant – A Tafona – is now a beacon not only for Galician cuisine, “but for many young people who return to the town after training around the world not because they have failed, but because “Our land deserves it.” Her goal as her cook is to “return some of the attention that we chefs receive to those who make it possible for us to have this great product,” she said, displaying some blood clams that she had brought to Denia.
Sergio Torres, half of the three-star Cocina Hermanos Torres, evoked the example of his grandmother, “who served in stately homes until she emigrated to Barcelona and took care of us as children, we grew up with her in the kitchen.” They trained in some of the best restaurants in the world following a parallel strategy with a clear objective – three Michelin stars – which they just achieved less than a year ago. “We have worked hard, no one has given us anything, I even thought they would arrive sooner,” Sergio confessed on stage, bringing smiles to the audience.
Josean Alija, for his part, talked about the marriage between the sea and the garden that is at the root of Basque cuisine. “The sea has always been a source of wealth, also for the countryside, because it was the sailors who brought us such valuable ingredients as peppers or tomatoes, without which our cuisine today would not be understood.” Ángel Leon, along his lines, put the public in his pocket by inviting them to look at the sea with hunger and eat much more than the half dozen species of fish that arrive at the market every day. After the discovery of the possibilities of seagrass that led him to be on the cover of Time magazine last year, he announced that next week he will present a new ingredient at San Sebastián Gastronomika.
The Asturian Nacho Manzano was surrounded by all his colleagues in one of the most fun interventions of the closing day, a lively conversation with Alija, Freitas, Dacosta and Maca de Castro as witnesses, which well represents the spirit of the event. “We chefs are a brotherhood and that has allowed us to grow a lot professionally,” they acknowledged. Now his goal is for his work to go beyond the doors of haute cuisine restaurants, like in this festival with which Quique Dacosta has turned Denia into one of the most interesting gastronomic places in Levante.
#Apotheosis #red #shrimp #Denia