The National Environmental Council (Conama) took place in Madrid last November. This is the foremost annual gathering in Spain about environment. Among the large amount of strategic lines – energy, efficiency and climate change, mobility and transport, urban renewal and construction, biodiversity, rural development, waste management, environmental quality, health and well-being, water, economy and society, we want to draw attention to ConamaChef, precisely because it brings together gastronomy and many of the lines above.
ConamaChef is a contest aimed at bringing environmental concerns close to as many citizens as possible through social networks. Gastronomy is a good example of the link between many different areas and the environment. The entire food chain, from farming until the dinner plate is on the table, involves a continuous decision-making process, which is directly related to the respect for the environment on issues such as agriculture, carbon footprint, transport, packaging, cooking, conditions of purchase, and food supply chains. There is no doubt that, as our fiend Joaquín Araújo stated at the close of Conama, ‘eating can be a tool for nature conservation’. Here you have the winning recipes:
Pastry of foment wheat with chanterelles, chards and smoked eel, (‘coca de trigo forment con rebozuelos, acelgas y anguila ahumada’), by Xavier Fabra.
Boronía, by Natalia Elena and Isabel Alguacil: boronía, or alboronía, is a traditional dish of the al-Andalus period that, in this case, includes pumpkin, chick peas, tomato, garlic, pepper, bay, sweet paprika and ground cumin. Interestingly, boronía is also made in Colombia with ripe banana among its ingredients.
Spanish omelette (‘Tortilla de patatas’), by Eduardo Jesús Ferrando Valiente.
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