PAIRING: The harmonious union between two things.
How do we pair the Audiovisual Communication and Tourism degrees? This question had been in the back of our minds for years. We both realized the enormous potential of this union, but we wanted, we needed, to come up with an idea that was both simple and powerful enough so that finding backing would be a piece of cake. Then we started thinking, “Everybody likes to see good movies and everybody likes to eat good food.” And in that’s how we came up with the idea of Bocados de Cine, a gastronomic event, that celebrated its sixth edition in 2018.
The workings of the event are easy to explain and understand: we see a food-related film and then we taste the delicacies that appear on screen in one of the excellent restaurants in Gandia and La Safor partnering with us.
UNION
This journey from the screen to the tablecloth, luminous canvases where they show off their best works, features film specialists from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and renowned chef as the guides. Guides that aren’t restricted to simply showing us the way, but rather illustrate and generate creative dialog that allow us to learn about the creative universe of film and cuisine.
The two main objectives of the event have always been to educate people about film, tourism and gastronomy, and to make the relationship between our university and the city of Gandia even closer. And there is nothing closer or more intimate than the few centimeters that separate us from the person sitting next to us in the movie theater, or with whom we are sharing a meal.
And we mustn’t fail to mention the touristic perspective. The active participation of the restaurants in the project has not only enhanced the establishment but, above all, the Bocados de Cine experience. During each session, the restaurants accept the challenge of departing from their seasonal offering to imagine, adapt and ultimately achieve a unique interpretation of a recipe.
In addition, Bocados de Cine contributes to the diversification away from seasonal tourism, since it is offered outside the summer season and away from other events that attract a large number of tourists to the destination. We can call it a dynamic activity, as well as a highly creative one, that contributes to the merging of cinematographic and gastronomic tourism by way of a recreational experience.
We are proud to be able to say that this project, like so many others, came to life in the “kitchens” of the Campus Gandia of the Universitat Politècnica de València.Y si hay algo que bien define a Bocados de Cine es la contribución social de este proyecto, a lo largo de los años de existencia, se destaca la capacidad que ha demostrado para involucrar a diferentes instituciones y organizaciones como: Ayuntamiento de Gandia, Cátedra de Turismo Gandia, Turisme Comunitat Valencia, Centro de Desarrollo Turístico l’Alquería del Duc, el Teatro Serrano, etc. And what best defines the Bocados de Cine project is what it has achieved on a social level, especially its ability to connect with different institutions and organizations such as Ayuntamiento de Gandia, Cátedra de Turismo Gandia, Turisme Comunitat Valencia, Centro de Desarrollo Turístico l’Alquería del Duc, el Teatro Serrano, etc.
Equally, another important achievement facilitated by this transfer of knowledge have been the inaugural sessions in the form of conferences, round table discussions and food tastings open to the general public that permit the knowledge of the UPV to reach a greater number of people.
Bocados de Cine has served as a meeting table for various professors and experts from various departments of the UPV such as: Food Technology, Communications, Art History, among others. At times even, this symbiosis meant the collaboration between departments to combine aromas with the viewing and tasting of a recipe.
HARMONIOUS
The experience accumulated throug Bocados de Cine gives way to future projects that allow continued learning and enjoyment of gastronomic experiences that link this activity to the tourist destination, but, above all, that improve the quality of tourism. The dissemination of this knowledge will be embodied in a “script” in the format of a recipe book that will include a selection of dishes and techniques from the different sessions of Bocados de Cine.
Throughout these six editions, dozens of professors, students and tecnicalofficers from Campus Gandia have shared Bocados de Cine session with so many neighbors from Gandia and the nearby areas. Friendships have been started, as well as new collaborations between professors from different departments and, above all, hundreds of restless, curious people with a voracious hunger to learn have all been brought together. We are a great big family that keeps on growing.
For all these reasons, we are very proud and grateful for the recognition granted by the jury of the Gandia Tourism Awards “for contributing to the organization of activities that have a positive impact on the city and its tourism”.
As the famous and feared food critic Anton Ego said in the delightful film Ratatouille, “The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.” Thanks to the friends of Bocados de Cine who have helped us to pair film and gastronomy since 2013.
Lola Teruel and Luis López Cuenca, creators of Bocados de Cine.