The first Global Conference on Gastronomy, held at Barcelona’s Palau de Pedralbes and organized by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), emphasized that food is more than sustenance or industry. The event highlighted food as a cultural resource deserving recognition on the global stage.
More than 160 participants—from UNESCO officials and grassroots movements like Slow Food to chefs, farmers, and cultural networks—signed a declaration affirming gastronomy’s role in shaping identity, protecting the environment, and fostering social wellbeing. Their message was urgent: the way humanity eats is inseparable from the way it sustains itself and remembers who it is.
Food as shared responsibility
“Food’s future is everyone’s responsibility,” reminded IGCAT president Diane Dodd, who celebrated Catalonia’s title as World Region of Gastronomy 2025.
The region, she noted, stands as an example of how culinary heritage can be both preserved and reinvented.
Government leaders echoed that sentiment, stressing that for Catalonia, the link between food and culture is not innovation but tradition itself.
Stories from around the world
Conference discussions moved far beyond Catalonia. From the mountainous Asir region of Saudi Arabia to coastal Manabí in Ecuador, from Thai culinary traditions to African food systems, stories revealed how gastronomy can anchor communities against the tides of globalization.
Food, in these accounts, was more than sustenance—it was memory, resilience, and sometimes survival.
Imagining 2050 at the table
One of the most provocative sessions asked participants to imagine food in 2050. Around shared tables, they sketched both hopeful and dystopian futures: vibrant local food economies versus sterile diets designed for efficiency; thriving cultural diversity versus monocultures driven by technology.
These visions will inform an IGCAT policy report intended to guide governments in protecting culinary diversity before it’s too late.
Passing the torch
The closing ceremony offered a symbolic moment: Catalonia passed its title to Ecuador’s Manabí, which will host the next gathering in 2026.
For Catalan leaders, it was also a chance to affirm their intent to bring the conference’s declaration to MONDIACULT 2025, ensuring that the conversation on food and culture is heard in the broader international agenda.
Culture at the table
Outside plenary halls, the conference unfolded through flavor—film screenings, tastings of local products, and a celebratory dinner that showcased Catalonia’s culinary diversity. In these moments, the argument that food is culture became undeniable: heritage, creativity, and community were served with every bite.
The story told in Barcelona was clear. To safeguard food is to safeguard culture itself. And as climate, migration, and globalization reshape the way the world eats, the call for recognition grows louder: food is not only what sustains us—it is who we are.
