Catalan food featured in Italian gastronomic fair

Barcelona (Gastroteca.cat).- The Town Hall of Gorizia has invited Catalan businesses from the agro-food sector to participate in the Gusti di Frontiera Fair. The businesses will present and promote their products under the Catalan brand name. The fair will bring in around 400,000 people and aims to promote the commercialisation of gastronomic products both within the region and around Italy. 

A total of 7 Catalan businesses will present their products on the 24th and 25th of September for the gastronomic fair, Gusti di Frontiera. The fair takes place in the Italian village of Gorizia located in the north-eastern region of Italy. Catalonia has been invited as the guest of honour for this year’s fair. The objective is to “introduce and promote our business, but also to see what products are made there and find a local distributor”, said Josep Sabater of the business Mas d'en Nogués, a small producer of dried fruits out of Lleida. “It is also an opportunity to show that Catalan companies also have the initiative to move around; Italians are not the only ones who come here to buy our olive oil”, he added. The chocolatier David Fabré is participating in the fair for the first time this year. He hopes to be able to find a place for his “small chocolate delicacies such as pralines, nougats, truffles” in the Italian and European markets. His chocolate creations are currently sold in pastry shops, restaurants and specialty stores throughout the Spanish state. “For us, the exposure we receive at the fair helps us to promote our products to a wider public”, said Fabré. This year the organisers of the fair have invited Catalonia as the guest of honour for their gastronomic showcase through the El Consorci de Comerç, Artesania i Moda de Catalunya (CCAM), an organization developed for the promotion of Catalan handmade products. Ramon Sentmartí, head of the Agro-food Commercialisation Unit of the CCAM, said that “it is an excellent opportunity to get our products on the market in this zone”.

Catalan producers will have an exhibition space in Gorizia called ‘piazza Catalogna’ (Catalonia Square). Dried fruits, chocolate, Alella wines from the Celler Altrabanda (Martorelles), Penedès cava and wine from the Celler del Raval (Terrassa), Conca de Barberà wine from the Celler Cal Joan (Sarral), cheeses from the cheese makers Formatgeria Mogent (Sant Antoni de Vilamajor) and honey from the company Can Toni (Seròs) will be on display at the fair. Last year, the fair included 129 exhibitors from countries like Italy, Austria, France Belgium, Germany, Greece and Hungary and brought in some 400,000 visitors. The presence of Catalan products this year is made possible thanks to an invitation from the Town Hall of Gorizia as well as the collaboration with the Catalan Government’s Department of Trade and the Gastroteca.