‘Foodie’ travellers are in for a treat from 19-28 June 2014 as renowned international chefs and the famous “Green Island” of Sao Miguel in the Azores will host 10 Fest Azores, one of the largest and most important food festivals in Portugal.
The festival is the archipelago’s largest international culinary event, and will take place at Anfiteatro Restaurant, a stylish restaurant and a cookery school for aspiring local chefs in the picturesque marina of Sao Miguel’s main city, Ponta Delgada. Especially for 10 Fest Azores, acclaimed and Michelin Star chefs from England, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, America and Canada will hit the kitchens to create their interpretations of modern Azorean cuisine.
The festival will take place over 10 consecutive days and will see each international chef head up a team of local aspiring chefs from the Azorean School of Tourism & Hospitality Training for a night, as they compete to offer approximately 70 guests (each night) the best Azorean-influenced menu.
Michelin Star Chef Fernado Agrasar from Restaurant Las Garzas in Galicia, Spain will kick off the festival with his menu on the first night (19 June), while Michelin Star Chef Ricardo Costa from the Yeatman Hotel in Oporto, Portugal will close the show with his menu on 28 June. Adam Gray, Head Chef at London’s Skylon Restaurant (who held a Michelin Star for a decade) will present his menu on 26 June.
Other highly-acclaimed participating chefs include Helena Loureiro of Helena Restaurant and PortusCalle Restaurant in Montreal on 20 June, Albano Lourenco of Quinta das Lagrimas Hotel in Coimbra, Portugal on 22 June, Paulo Matos of Aquapura Douro Hotel in Lamego, Portugal on 23 June, Kevin Duffy of Johnson and Wales University in Providence, USA on 24 June, Rui Martins of Cuisin’ Arts & Management in Paris, France on 25 June and David Fischer of Restaurant Hos Fischer in Copenhagen, Denmark on 27 June.
The festival will feature international barmen, winemakers and sommeliers and on 21 June, 10 local chefs from the Azorean School of Tourism & Hospitality Training team will offer their own special night of Azorean cuisine.
Azorean cuisine is typified by delicious local seafood dishes including squid, clams, tuna, swordfish, limpets and crabs, as well as local beef and meat dishes. These include ‘Cozido das Furnas’, a traditional stew containing local sausage, beef and a variety of vegetables which are cooked underground by the heat of a volcano in the village of Furnas. Each region also produces its own local cheese, which is often enjoyed as an appetiser and served with Azorean sweet bread. Local produce includes pineapples, bananas, guavas and passion fruits, teas, liquors, red wine and white wine grown on Pico Mountain, the highest mountain in Portugal.
To find out more about cuisine in the Azores,visitwww.taste.visitazores.com
For more information about the Azores, visit www.visitazores.com
20 May 2014
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Editor’s Notes:
About the Azores
The nine islands of the Azores are in the middle of the North Atlantic and belong to Portugal. They can be reached by direct flight from the UK in less than four hours from April – October, or via Lisbon. These volcanic islands are renowned for their craters, beautiful lakes, stunning sea, thermal pools and mountain vistas, their impressive flora and fauna and marine life. The islands have played a hugely important part in European maritime history, due to their strategically significant position as the westernmost point of Europe.
Click here to find out more about the Azores Islands’ new app, available for IOS and Andriod.
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