GastroUrban is a multidisciplinary concept designed to capitalize on the tangible and intangible local gastronomic heritage through a series of events under the umbrella of which gastronomy, and debates, and music and other arts also fit.
The main pretext is to discover (or rediscover) local/ethnic urban food and more. Chefs, anthropologists, sociologists, writers, enogastronomy journalists, entrepreneurs are invited and the debates tend to be concretely useful through conclusions and the subsequent establishment of "a battle plan" in the short, medium and long term.
The promotion of the specific regional/local or micro-local gastronomy is done both by increasing the awareness of the riversiders on the culinary potential through tastings and communication sessions (scientific and informal) and by highlighting the potential of its exploitation with indisputable advantages for regional development.
Four important events are scheduled for this year, each centered on a general theme. The first edition is dedicated to "the gastronomic identity of Banat" and so far the following have confirmed their participation as speakers: Adriana Babeți, Otilia Hedeșan, Caius Ovidiu Merșa and Cosmin Dragomir.
"GastroUrban wants to revive old recipes and increase the sense of local social belonging through food. Gastronomy has always been a calling card and one of the main pillars of national/regional identity. Debates and tastings are accompanied by local artists with personal projects for a multisensory experience. I consider such events extremely necessary because gastronomy - and I don't understand why - although it is culture, it is often unfairly ignored.
We have a duty of honor towards the future generation to protect the local heritage and we are obliged to discover old urban legends through the communities of Timisoara, which are waiting to be rediscovered. The culinary recipes revived by the people of Timisoara, accompanied by stories from the past, will spice up the atmosphere and help us bring back to life traditions, customs and unique tastes.
Food thus becomes an excellent pretext for socializing and getting to know urban architecture, in tasteful events, with live music, artistic performances and guests who will talk about gastronomic culture," said Răzvan Tempean, the initiator of GastroUrban.
Who are the guests?
Adriana Babeti he is an emeritus professor at the West University of Timisoara and an associate professor at the University of Bucharest, where he teaches comparative literature; is an editor at Orizont magazine. He coordinated, together with Cornel Ungureanu, the Central European anthologies. Neuroses, dilemmas, utopias (1997) and Central Europe. Memory, Paradise, Apocalypse (1998). Among the published volumes: Femeia în roşu (1990, together with Mircea Mihăieş and Mircea Nedelciu, the book has reached its sixth edition and is included in high school literature textbooks); Lost battles. Dimitrie Cantemir, reading strategies (1997); Dilemmas of Central Europe (1998); Arachne and the web (2002); Dandyism. A history (Polirom, 2004); Le Banat: Un Eldorado aux confins (coord., Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne, 2007); The Amazons. A story (2013), Dictionary of Central-European Romanian from the 20th century (coordinating, 2022). His volumes have received numerous national prizes, and his work has been awarded with the Order of Chevalier of Arts and Letters of the French Republic, with the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of Knight awarded by the Presidency of Romania, with the title of honorary citizen of Timisoara. Also, for her academic and didactic activity, she was rewarded with important national and international awards.
Otilia HEDESAN is an ethnologist, professor of Romanian Civilization and Culture at the West University of Timișoara. Since 2015, he coordinates the interdisciplinary center RHeA – Research Center for Heritage and Cultural Anthropology. She is the author of several volumes or the coordinator of collective volumes that address her topics of interest: Romanian folk mythology, calendar customs, traditional storytelling, the history of Romanian ethnology in the communist and post-socialist period and the Romanian food heritage. Otilia Hedeșan has four decades of field experience, during which she did research in Romania (Banat, Bucovina, Oltenia), Serbia (Banat, Timoc, Morava), Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine (Transcarpathia and Bucovina de North).
Caius Ovidiu Merșa – he is an artist, a character eager for knowledge, a pragmatic dreamer. A rational anthropologist rather than an empirical ethnographer, a lover of cuisine, its histories, its philosophies... Since 1999, he has been active in the field of hospitality, with the last 10 years dedicated to cooking. Member of the Rhea Research Center of the Western University of Timișoara and the title of PhD student of the Faculty of Letters, the title of the paper being – History, Philosophy and Hermeneutics of Romanian Cuisine.
Cosmin Dragomir - gastronomy journalist, founder of gastroart.ro (the first magazine dedicated to the research of Romanian gastronomic history and hospitality), author of the volume "Curator of Zacuscă and other Romanian gastronomic stories", co-author of "Dulce Românie - a history of desserts from us", publisher of old gastronomy books, Eurosomelier.
He writes constantly on gastroart.ro, Zile si Nopți, MindcraftStories.ro, eisberg.ro, Dilema Veche, revistatomis.ro and.amd. He is the moderator of the Amintiri Gustoase by Cronicari Digitali podcast. He is the author and curator of dulceromanie.ro by Dr. Oetker. He has published hundreds of articles, studies, editorials, interviews on culinary topics. Co-organizer of the National Gastronomy and Wine Congress, co-initiator of the National Gastronomy and Wine Day law, organizer of dozens of conferences and debates.
Awards: Gault & Millau, National Association of Chefs and Confectioners in Tourism, National Association of Travel Journalists, webstock: (2021 – 3rd place Best Company Blog – Word salad for Eisberg: #simplyfresh; 2022 – 2nd place Best Branded Podcasts with #asty memories by Digital Chronicles & Electrolux)
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