The gastronomic side of things at the congress features Ángel León (Aponiente***), the only chef who has been at all previous Meeting of the Sea events. No one like him in the world has undertaken such exploration of the sea, making it part of his recipes, investigating its richness and its enormous gastronomic potential. An enthusiast of the sea, which has marked his life and his career. Another speaker is Quique Dacosta (Rest. Quique Dacosta***), a pioneer of a personal project on the basis of a beach restaurant, El Poblet, who took it to the maximum expression with three Michelin stars. His understanding of cookery in relation to his own territory is apparent in all of his recipes. In Valencia or London, his cuisine is Mediterranean. 

Albert Adrià (Enigma*) is considered one of the most influential people in the world of gastronomy. He worked at elBulli from 1985 to 2008. He is on the elBullifoundation board of trustees, and since 2022 he has headed up the newly reopened Enigma restaurant, which again won a Michelin star in its first year. And Andoni Luis Aduriz (Mugaritz**) runs the world's most influential restaurant in terms of creativity and innovation. A chef who has succeeded in building bridges between the culinary world and the scientific world, while comfortably ensconced on the dividing line between art and gastronomy.

They are joined by other leading chefs from the peninsula and from the island of Tenerife. Such as Sergio Bastard, (La Casona del Judío*, Santander), one of the young chefs with the greatest projection on the Cantabria seaboard, fond of working with algae and "salmuria", a peculiar anchovy brine which enhances flavour and has an amazing ability to modify the textures of other foodstuffs. Or Lucía Freitas (A Tafona*), whose cuisine can only be understood with her work to showcase small-scale producers at the Santiago de Compostela Market, where she goes to buy every day. Her project, Amas da terra, targets female producers, chefs, shellfish gatherers and businesswomen in rural areas.

Chile and the sea

There is also a considerable international contingent at the event. Lorna Muñoz continues to inspire the best regional cuisine in Castro (Chiloé). Talent in the kitchen and the rescue of Chiloé cuisine. What she really likes is conducting research into cookery. She travelled the entire archipelago compiling a list of forgotten recipes and products that were not reaching the market. Her restaurant Travesía is located on the first floor of the family home, which formerly belonged to her mother and to her great-grandparents before that. In her recipes Lorna tells the story of Chiloé cuisine, the cuisine which took her to ExpoMilan in 2015 and in which she immersed herself through her research. At Travesía she dries and smokes seafood, Chilean guava berries and herbs ... she makes native recipes with fresh fish and Chiloé "papa" potatoes, and shares the infinite secrets of the gastronomy of her native land.

Another international chef at Meeting of the Seas is Rui Paula (Casa de Chá da Boa Nova**, Portugal), held as an essential reference in modern Portuguese cuisine. His recipes are inspired by traditional flavours, and the sea is a constant feature of his menu - cod, "aguja", "tamboril", scallop or eel. 

The Italian red tuna chef

Italian chef Luigi Pomata represents the third generation of chefs in his family since his grandfather Luigi, a farmer with a great passion for cookery, decided to take over management of the restaurant of a historical hotel. Born in Carloforte on San Pietro island in southern Sardinia, home to the famous 17th century "almadraba" fishing technique, in Italy Luigi Pomata is known as "the tuna chef" thanks to his family's connection with the species and to his well-known illustrious contemporary "tuna-only" menus at the Luigi Pomata restaurant in Cagliari. But this chef went much further, and has been maturing cans of red tuna for years. The oldest go back ... 32 years. 

Seaweed in the Arctic

This year Meeting of the Seas greets, from the Lofoten Islands (Norway), Angelita Erikessen and Tamara Singer, two Norwegian businesswomen who cultivate Nordic seaweed. Tamara knows about seaweed thanks to her family, originally from Japan. It has been part of her diet for her entire life. Angelita, born into a fishing family, grew up cutting out cod tongues and baiting longlines for her father, a fisherman in the village of Napp. With roots firmly established in Nordic fishing traditions, she developed a passionate curiosity for seaweed as the food of the future, and contributes the scientific side of the world of seaweed to the overall project, a business selling seaweed by-products: Lofoten Seaweed.