1st December 2003
Mr Ramon Boixadós, President of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation and of the Executive Committee for Dalí Year, Mrs Montse Aguer, Director of the Centre for Dalinian Studies and Commissioner of Dalí Year, Mrs Natàlia Molero on behalf of the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia and of Turisme de Catalunya, Mr Ramon Ramos, Chairman of the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board, Mr Toni Izquierdo, Chairman of La Cuina de l'Empordanet members' group, and Ms Rosa Bel, campaign coordinator, presided over the official presentation of Dalí 2004 Art and Gastronomy.
The objective of this restauranteering initiative is to render homage to the Empordà artist on the centenary of his birth by means of an entirely novel combination of gastronomy and Empordà fast decision-making. The ingredient common to all the recipes is the egg, one of Salvador Dalí's most representative icons but also one that gives cooks a chance to express their own particular way of understanding and perceiving Salvador Dalí's personality and oeuvre. The campaign was presented by Rosa Bel and has a Web page of its own at www.art-gastronomia.com where visitors can find all the establishments forming part of the La Cuina de l'Empordanet group, which now extends beyond Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà regions. They are as follows: Aiguablava and Sa Punta in Begur, Almadraba Park, La Llar and El Bulli in Roses, Aradi in Platja d'Aro, Can Duran and Hotel Empordà in Figueres (the latter also being a collaborator in Dalí Year), Can Salvi in St. Feliu de Guíxols, Cal Sagristà, Hotel Golf Peralada and Casino Castell de Peralada in Peralada (Grup Peralada is a member of the Dalí Year Promotion Council), El Celler de la Planassa, La Gamba and Mas dels Arcs in Palamós, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, El Molí de l'Escala and El Roser 2 in L'Escala, Els Tinars de Llagostera, La Costa and Mas Roig in Pals, La Cúpula in Vila-sacra, La Plaça in Madremanya, La Xicra in Palafrugell, Les Cols in Olot, Les Panolles in Santa Cristina d'Aro, Llevant in Llafranc, Mar Joli in Navata, Mas de Torrent in Torrent, Mas Pau in Avinyonet de Puigventós and Miramar in Llançà.
Thanks to the collaboration of the Dalí Foundation, the Art and Gastronomy campaign offers the establishments' clients an opportunity to visit the Dalí museums under special conditions in the form of a cultural and gastronomic weekend package. The participating restaurants will be showing works dedicated to Salvador Dalí by local artists. There are painters such as Antoni Pitxot, Josep Niebla, Modest Cuixart, Leonard Beard, Carme Sanglas, Gino Rubert, Guerrero Medina, Roca Sans, Gustau Carbó, Jordi Sàbat, Santiago Roca D. Costa, photographers such as Torner, Banús, Toti Mestres, Capellà, Humberto Ribas, Joan Comalat, Carrera, and sculptors such as Ansón, Alzamora, Udaeta, Manel Álvarez, Narcís Costa, Claude Lambert, Domènec Fita and Torres Monsó. All campaign promotion materials will bear the Dalí Year logotype.
The idea of the group goes back to September 2002, when each of the 17 restaurants then forming part of the group made a recipe in which eggs were the main ingredient, and they served it on a dish expressly designed for the occasion, also taking the egg as main motif. The campaign, already called Art and Gastronomy back then, was presented at the Gala Dalí Castle House-Museum in Púbol. Furthermore, a precedent for a homage such as today's is to be found in the campaign Pla, Plat a Plat [Pla, Dish by Dish] on the occasion of Pla Year, held to honour the well-known writer Josep Pla, an initiative rated as highly successful.
