Rafa Peña, 'National Award' of Gastronomy 2023

The Pedralbes Palace Gardens were this Thursday the setting for the awards ceremony of the XXI Premis Nacionals de Gastronomia (National Gastronomy Awards) granted by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition. At this annual event, however, the main reason for joy is the return to Barcelona: "We meet again in Barcelona to celebrate, as every year, a gastronomy of complex roots that has managed to absorb the best of each era and create an extraordinary culinary heritage," highlights Carles Vilarrubí, president of the Academy.

With these Awards, and in particular with the selection of the awardees in this edition, the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition aims to highlight the excellent creative moment that gastronomy is experiencing in our home, where both the avant-garde and the look at tradition and its history coexist to offer locals and foreigners a truthful and qualitative experience of the Catalan spirit in the kitchen, representing the territory and its traditions without forgetting creativity.

A sweet moment for a city and a territory that enjoys a good pulse, with an effervescence that began a year ago and seems to be maintained, with local customers recovering leisure habits around gastronomy and visitors who have returned to continue enjoying a land that carries good cuisine and excellence in service in its DNA.

Rafa Peña is, this year, the brand new National Gastronomy Award 2023 in recognition of his career, which was already highlighted in 2018 when he was awarded the Revelation Award 2008. Arriving in the kitchen almost unintentionally, and almost by chance, with the beginning of the new millennium Rafa abandoned his previous life to embrace the profession, first gaining experience in great national and European kitchens (elBulli, Martín Berasategui, Pierre au Palais Royal, Rolfs Kok) and then opening the already mythical Gresca. A project of which he is co-owner with Mireia Navarro and which has inspired other restaurant formats that have opened later. An essence, that of making formal informal by adding dynamism, quality and innovation to each dish and at the bar. A spirit that with Bar Torpedo, opened in 2018, has led to understanding sandwiches as a succulent jewel. Peña received the award from the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and Carles Vilarrubí, president of the Academy.

The Revelation Award 2023 was presented by chef Carme Ruscalleda, vice-president of the Academy, and Ángel Simón, president of AGBAR, official sponsoring company of the event. It was received by Nil Dulcet, head chef of the Compartir restaurant in Barcelona. Dulcet is a key piece in the projects executed by the Xatruch-Castro-Casañas trio, whom he met at elBulli. In 2012, he joined them at Compartir in Cadaqués, and also in the opening of Disfrutar. When Compartir landed in Barcelona in 2022, Dulcet took the lead with the confidence of someone who understands the soul of the project, betting on roots in tradition that serve to explain innovation and the present with absolute mastery.

The Argentine Pablo Sacerdotte sees his valuable work at the helm of the Cocina Hermanos Torres restaurant's dining room recognized by obtaining the Head Waiter Award 2023. Before landing in Barcelona in 2011 to become part of the ABaC family, first as a sommelier assistant and ending up as director, Sacerdotte already had a significant career behind him working in the dining room, showing his passion for wine with passion and humble knowledge. After a year at Marea Alta, in 2019 he joined the Cocina Hermanos Torres team, and his contribution to obtaining, this year, the third Michelin star, has surely been evident. He received the award with emotion from Joan Font, vice-president of the Academy, and Nuria Marín, president of the Diputación de Barcelona, official sponsoring institution of the event and mayor of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The international chef José Ramón Andrés is honored with the Premi Especial de l'Acadèmia Catalana de Gastronomia i Nutrició 2023 for a career full of many relevant milestones, often linked to responding with good food to international crises, whether climatic, humanitarian or community through the World Central Kitchen foundation. Andrés, recognized both by the prestigious James Beard Foundation and included in Times magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People" has been, since his beginnings, beyond our borders, a firm promoter and defender of our gastronomy, whether in the kitchen, on television programs or writing books. Due to the impossibility of collecting the award in person, it was received by chef and friend Joan Roca from the hands of Academician and treasurer Ramon Agenjo and Jaume Masana, new business director of CaixaBank.

The list of awards and their recipients is completed with the granting of the Premi Néstor Luján de Periodisme Gastronòmic 2023 to Marc Casanovas for the article "The resistance of the last sung fish auction in Catalonia" published in La Vanguardia's Canal Comer. This born journalist is truly in love with the profession and the power of words to explain, stir, raise awareness and provide evolution. From the time he snacked in his grandmother's shop in the Mercat del Ninot to the present day, having edited his first book, "No soy uno de los vuestros" (AHORA Libros, 2023), Casanovas has contributed knowledge, opinion, truth and a sharp pen to gastronomic journalism, with quite important stages such as his experience at elBulli Foundation or PlayGround Food.

The winners of the Premis Nacionals de Gastronomia are the result of a secret voting process that the nearly 65 Academics carry out throughout the year, from which a selection of chefs, professionals, institutions or collectives is made for their excellence in their work and for their contribution to the cuisine and gastronomy of our country. In turn, the ACGN annually provides a summary of forecasts on trends in the sector, such as the strengthening of vegetables, the interest in giving a plus of sustainability to healthy food and the commitment to technology facilitating the relationship between the restaurant and the client.

"In Catalonia, we have reasons for self-esteem. We are living a stage that allows us to be proud and aspire to everything. From the Academy, with the stimulus of more than thirty years of history, we share the challenge and accompany our gastronomy in this evolution adapted to the fast pace of the times we live in," concluded Vilarrubí, who invited attendees to once again enjoy this celebration that the academy has been holding for more than three decades in 2024, thanks to the fact that journalist Nèstor Luján promoted the creation of the ACGN. An opportunity for meeting, dialogue and recognition that the entire sector eagerly awaits.