The teacher of the cooking training cycle of the Maria Ibars Institute of Dénia Núria Pérez Oreja has participated in the city of Tsuruoka, in Japan, in a local gastronomy program for a limited group of professionals and cooking students from different parts of the world .
Núria participated in the Creative Gastronomy Summer Program, an initiative of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Italy and the Geniun Education Network from Japan, which aims to promote exchanges and training between the cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy network to learn about local cooking techniques rooted in the respective territories.
Nuria Pérez was the only Spanish participant of the six selected students, also from countries such as Argentina, Italy, Poland, and India.
The program, which ran from the 16 to the 22 in August, included presentations on products, techniques and dishes from the local Japanese tradition, taught by renowned chefs and experts. Likewise, visits have been made to laboratories, transformation companies, farms, natural spaces and cultural references of the Yamagata prefecture, to which Tsuruoka belongs.
In this way, the participants have known the particular treatment they make to meat or the technique of ikejime applied to freshly caught fish. The participants have carried out practices and have shared experiences, at the same time that they have had the opportunity to taste the traditional and innovative cuisine of the best restaurants in the city.
The program did not forget encounters with the daily activity of the population, their customs and their way of life. Thus, the participants visited the Mont Haguro, scene of ancestral rites, enjoyed experiences such as the daily tea ceremony, and learned about the production of the most international Japanese drink, sake. The teacher from Dénia was interviewed in a Japanese television program.
For the teacher of the Dianense center it has been "a complete and fully satisfactory experience". He has also pointed out that the practice of local cuisine has similarities in any corner of the world, as he was able to verify during his stay in Japan. Furthermore, he points out that Tsuruoka and the Marina Alta They share a territory of sea and mountains and a kitchen with certain coincidences, especially regarding the use and treatment of local products, such as fish or natural herbs.
