A revolution regarding the "New Romanian hospitality", a new way of thinking - for innovation, identification of new products, services and projects for tourism, the food industry and HoReCa in Romania - this is the goal of the permanent forum for debates and discussions "Gastronomy - with good, with bad", launched on September 19, 2024 by the platform WeAreRomania / YOU ARE WELCOME! under the slogan of the starting partner of the program, Holdingul Agricola: "Who eats together, stays together". Along with Agricola, supporters without whom the inaugural edition could not have taken place are Eisberg, Tazz, Teamfresh Horeca and Food & Glory.
Representatives of the academic environment, writers, sociologists, artists, publicists and publicists, as well as representatives of the HoReCa environment, are invited monthly to the stage of the conferences at La Mama restaurant - Clubul Ţăranului Român, to extract useful solutions for the development of hospitality and food production from the history , the traditions and current conditions of Romania. The conferences will be broadcast live and audio-video documented on the main social media platforms, in order to produce effects among the interested public opinion.
"In the mind of the rooster" - and not really!
"The starting theme, the starting point in this endeavor, is the question meant to position us and differentiate our identity and offer us practical solutions: Who and what are we, Romanians, on the geographical, historical and cultural map of the world?", said writer and gastronomy journalist Cosmin Dragomir, initiator of the project together with entrepreneur Cătălin Mahu, owner of the La Mama restaurant chain. "It seems like something in the mind of the rooster, but the experiences of the past - since we organized the first Congress dedicated to gastronomy and wines in Romania, which led to the legislation of a dedicated National Day - show that this is exactly the kind of question from which ideas of very concrete products and services, with added economic and social value, some of them immediately feasible", Dragomir also pointed out, who also emphasized that there is a permanent need to attract intellectual resources from outside the sphere of food production and services to develop these fields .
At the Gates of the East, on the outskirts of the West or...?
The series of conferences begins with the definition of the framework of opportunities that arise from Romania's geographical and multicultural positioning: "At the Gates of the Orient, on the outskirts of the West or...?". The special guest speakers of the inaugural edition on September 19 – moderated by journalists Cosmin Dragomir and Cezar Ioan and entrepreneur Cătălin Mahu – are:
Dr. Adriana Sohodoleanu, gastronomist, specialist in the sociology of culinary practices;
Dr. Daniela Popescu, University Lecturer of the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest;
Dr. Miruna Vlada, writer and researcher in Balkan studies
Chef Cezar Munteanu, president of ANBCT
Damian Anfile, cultural influencer.
"The Sarmale Collector", "The Sausage Curator", "Zămuri - soups, soups and năcreli", "Dulce Românie" or "What's new in the new Romanian kitchen" are just some of the most recent inspirational book titles for practitioners from HoReCa and food companies published at the specialized publishing house led by Cosmin Dragomir – GastroArt. For his part, Cătălin Mahu, the owner of La Mama restaurants, is the author of a volume of entrepreneurial memoirs appreciated as "the best business book I have read in the last ten years" by the editorial director of the Financial Newspaper in 2019, volume entitled "The story from the corner of the table". Cezar Ioan is co-author of several books about Romanian wines and gastronomy and author of the volume "Connaisseur without ifose".
The thinking and action platform for the promotion of Romania WeAreRomania / YOU ARE WELCOME was founded in 2024 through a project of the "Courage Ahead" Association with the aim of catalyzing the development of Romania's image and tourist offer, starting from the culinary specificity historically influenced by the intersection of three great empires and numerous ethnic and cultural groups.
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