The tenth edition of the Saborea Lanzarote Food and Wine Festival has opened its doors this Saturday morning in Villa de Teguise, which this weekend will become the great kitchen of the Atlantic, the center of gastronomy of Macaronesia and a space for leisure and culture.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, the councilor of the Centers for Art, Culture and Tourism, Ángel Vázquez, and the mayor of Teguise, Olivia Duque, among other island authorities and representatives of the Government of the Canary Islands, have been present at the opening to the public of the facilities that will host during this Saturday and Sunday, in the Historic Center of Teguise, the largest food and wine event in the Canary Islands, organized by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Society for the Promotion of Lanzarote, SPEL, and the Tourist Centers, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and the Government of the Canary Islands, through Promotur, ICCA and GMR.
"Saborea Lanzarote not only brings prestige and added value to the island as a tourist destination, but it is the best showcase for the primary sector and for the island's restaurants. For a few days this wonderful Historic Center of Teguise, and the island of Lanzarote and La Graciosa stand as the best example of public and private collaboration. We can and should export our products, our cuisine and feel proud of our land," said the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, during the opening day of the food and wine festival.
In a festive atmosphere, and with pleasant weather to match, thousands of people have begun to fill the streets of La Villa to visit the different stands of this Saborea Lanzarote and taste the tapas, pinchos and gastronomic proposals that the restaurant, hospitality and primary sector companies have prepared with great work and dedication.
For the councilor of the Tourist Centers, Ángel Vazquez, "there will be a before and after this edition of Saborea Lanzarote, I am sure. The organization of this event and the participation of the island's business community is unparalleled with any other economic and cultural event."
The mayor of Teguise, Olivia Duque, was equally satisfied, "La Villa is a town with a rich historical, cultural and artistic heritage, and today we can say, without fear of being wrong, that it is also the capital of food and wine and the best host that this festival can have, which has been growing exponentially."
More than a hundred exhibitors, including restaurants, pastry shops, cheese factories and wineries offer the best of their products in the more than a dozen tents installed in the squares of La Mareta and Los Leones in the historic center of one of the most beautiful cities in the Canary Islands and for a few days the epicenter of food and wine culture.
A world of flavors in a short walk
The Casa Museo del Timple, in front of the Plaza de la Constitución or de Los Leones, becomes, together with an adjacent tent, the Casa del Producto Canario where 36 exhibitors from Lanzarote offer the best food and wine experiences in small bites exquisitely paired with some of the best wines of the island.
The Plaza de La Mareta will be, as in previous editions, the nerve center of the festival with a central round tent that hosts the Saborea España stand, which this year has Dublin as its guest city, which comes with the endorsement of the representation of two restaurants with Michelin stars. In this stand you can also enjoy the representation of Saborea Canarias, with the best stoves of ten restaurants from all over the Canary archipelago, and the innovative gastronomic offer of Lanzarote.
Without leaving the Plaza de La Mareta, the tour of the rest of the stands is mandatory, here we find a universe of sensations with the Gastro Market Area, two large and spacious tents to taste the original work and culinary skills of the Lanzarote restaurant sector; Saborea del Atlántico Medio, a meeting with the creativity of the cuisine of Macaronesia, with gastronomic offers from Lanzarote, Oporto, Cape Verde or Madeira.
The sensory journey through the flavor and gastronomic quality of Saborea Lanzarote will also take us through the Plaza de La Mareta to the Slow Food stand where we will enjoy the innovative commitment of the restaurants of the Tourist Centers. The Cocktail Classroom, the Chinijos Classroom or the area dedicated to vegan food make up a gastronomic offer for all tastes and all ages.
The great chefs in the Taste and Saborea Lanzarote Classrooms
The presentations and showcooking of the most prestigious chefs of the islands, the country and outside our borders will take place in the stands of the Aula del Gusto and the Aula Saborea Lanzarote, also located in the Plaza de La Mareta. The demand to attend these events has exceeded all expectations and pre-registration has sold out since its opening, as well as the Chinijo Chef workshops.
This Saturday in the Aula del Gusto you can enjoy the creativity of chefs of the stature of Pepa Muñoz of El Qüenco de Pepa, Thrainn Freyr of Óx Story of Reykjavik (Iceland), the cuisine of Oporto with chefs such as Arnaldo Días, Rafaela Barbosa or Vasco Coelho, the high cuisine of La Mancha by Fran Martínez, from the Maralba restaurant in Albacete or the proposal of Maca Castro, from Hilario Arbelaitz, of eat close, go far.
The award-winning and media-savvy Jordi Cruz, one of the judges of the successful TVE program Masterchef and owner, among others, of the ABaC restaurant, brings us in the afternoon of Saturday his proposal on Tradition in texture. After Jordi Cruz, the Aula del Gusto will feature the presence of prestigious chefs from Gran Canaria such as Abraham Ortega, Rafael Hurtado and Desiré Cabrera who bring us closer to the identity and gastronomy of the round island.
And the corner of the cuisine from here, from Lanzarote, of our zero kilometer products have their space for dissemination in the Gastronomic Classroom Saborea Lanzarote. The knowledge about the primary sector and its gastronomic creation have in this tent their meeting place. Vicente Félix will talk about the seeds of the island applied to the new hotel cuisine, the Tribute to the island of Rubén Cuesta with pairing by Víctor Gudiño, the Products of the Finca de Uga with the Roots of French Cuisine with Gonzalo Calzadilla, the New Canarian Cuisine with Joao Faraco, Salazones and Alisios with Yeray Gil, The Goat of Lanzarote by David Brito, the Carabineros of La Santa and the Gazpacho of the Lands of Don Quixote de La Mancha by Luis Benito, the Honor to Arrieta by Javier González or Aqual by Omar Viña. A team of specialists dissecting the roots of our products and the potential of Lanzarote's raw materials in creative cuisine that transcends borders.
Concert area
The best option to go to Saborea Lanzarote is to let yourself go and think that you can spend all day and all night enjoying excellent gastronomy, but also a musical offer for all tastes and for all ages. Saborea Lanzarote has installed a concert area in the Plaza de la Mareta so that the party is complete.
On Saturday night, between 9.30 pm and 12.00 am, one of the revelation groups of current pop music, the Madrid-based La La Love You, one of the great musical phenomena of recent years in our country, will perform. In October 2020 they won the MTV Award for Best Spanish Artist, in March 2021 they were Revelation Artist at the Odeón Awards and in 2022 they received the Quadruple Platinum Record for their song El Fin del Mundo, which is approaching 100 million views on Spotify and has been on the charts for three years.
Saborea Lanzarote will also feature on Saturday night with the live performance of a group from Lanzarote, Graduado Escolar, which brings us the best musical hits of the 80s and 90s, with the strength and determination of a group that has a legion of loyal followers on the island.
On Saturday, November 25, from 10:00 to 12:00, the Chinijos Fest will be held, with the performance, among others, of Juanfran, a 20-year-old singer and composer from Gran Canaria, a revealing figure of the urban genre. He started uploading covers and songs to social networks, and in 2019, he rose to fame with his single Mi Morena, a trend on Spotify, YouTube and Tik Tok. Later he repeated success with Ganga Clean and Nunca Te Cambie, and in 2020, he was awarded Top Urbano at the Premios Tu Música Urbano.
Together with Juanfran will also perform at this festival the leading DJ in electronic music, Victor Magán, the group La Suerte de mi vida, a musical project based on a tribute to El Canto del Loco, led by the Canarian singer Jacobo Brito, former vocalist of the pop-electronic band Bohemia; and other young promises of urban music such as Alda and Czzeta.
For Sunday afternoon, the last day of Saborea Lanzarote, the icing on the cake, the oil of the salad and the musical touch of Saborea Lanzarote is provided by Los Lola, the group from Gran Canaria with whom we have danced so many times on this island. A cover band that owes its foundation to the music that built the golden age of pop and rock in Spain, to the copla and the romantic song.
