Villa Manuela and Excelencias: two ingredients and a good gourmet

The Villa Manuela Gallery, of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) hosted a special presentation of issues 46 and 47 of the magazine Arte por Excelencias attended by the participants in the IX International Gastronomic Seminar Excelencias Gourmet, and where the Photo Contest "The round trip kitchen" was also awarded, convened with the aim of "promoting creativity in the images of the gastronomic and cultural world".

The evening, chaired by José Carlos de Santiago, president of the Excelencias Group, and Alexis Triana, editor in chief, was assisted by Alfonso Marín, general secretary of the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy; Lesbia Vent Dumois, president of the Plastic Arts section of the Uneac; Virginia Alberdi, director of Villa Manuela; the plastic artist Alejandro Lescay, who contributed the work that adorns the delivery 47 of Arte por Excelencias, in addition to the editorial team, collaborators and representatives of companies and institutions that make possible the bimonthly exit of the magazine.

José Carlos de Santiago said that, although the idea of round-trip food had been his, it was owed to his teacher, Mr. Rafael Ansón Oliá, president of the Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy, and his predecessor, Nicolás Muela , «A man who loved this country, who put the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy first, over his life, and who, two months before died, the last trip he wanted to make, the last destination he wanted to visit, the Last place where he wanted to spend his days standing was Havana. He came here, was in a hotel next to the Malecon, which is what he wanted, and a week later he went to his house to die. We will pay tribute to that man, because today, precisely, marks the 10th anniversary of the Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy».

Alfonso Marín thanked José Carlos de Santiago for having spread and so importantly the culture of academy in the countries of Latin America. And he abounded about round-trip food, which "completely revolutionized the world panorama of gastronomy." “In the recent selection of the fifty best restaurants in the world,” he added, “sixteen are Latin American-speaking. That means that if we made an idyllic trip to visit all those restaurants, in one of every four they will speak to us in Spanish. And that is a success of all. We are a cultural power, and culture must be sponsored, it must be placed in the international focus. Investing in it is an unprecedented return».

Highlighting the most valid culture of our peoples and the multiple events that enrich it annually is already common in this multicultural publication of Latin America and the Caribbean, and that is why it is difficult to summarize the last two editions of the magazine Arte por Excelencias, which Alexis Triana reviewed for those present. The 46, dedicated to carnival, pays special tribute to that institution of institutions named Los Guaracheros de Regla. In his range of themes, he invites us to visit a theater with eighty years of history: Eddy Suñol, of Holguin, and gives readers a beautiful insert of the Villa Clara plastic artists. The 47, on the other hand, invites to celebrate the 500 years of Havana and puts asterisks to three events: The Feast of Fire of Santiago de Cuba, the Feast of the Cubanía in Bayamo, and the Feast of Ibero-American Culture of Holguín.

Triana highlighted the excellent response of professional photographers, photography students and amateurs in general to the convening of the magazine Arte por Excelencias y Excelencias Gourmet. In a very short time a total of one hundred works were received from eight countries: Spain, Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Italy and Cuba, of which forty-five were selected. The jury, chaired by Julio Larramendi, decided to finally reward three, with four mentions. The latter fell on the artists of the lens Diane Hernández (Cuba), the C.P. Art composed of Yram Marrero Jiménez, Yenelys I. Boada García and Miguel Ángel Valdivia (Cuba), Brisol García García (Mexico) and Rubén Aja (Cuba).

The first three awards went to photographers Marcelo Iturriaga Silva (Bolivia), Pedro Guzmán (Dominican Republic) and Juan Carlos Borjas (Cuba). The Photo Contest «The round trip kitchen», as the president of the Excelencias Group said, has been a good opportunity to «eat by the eyes».

Photos: Nelia Moreno

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