Tasting Spain joined forces with two of its destinations, Lanzarote and Valladolid, for a promotional action on Spanish gastronomic tourism held at the Spanish Embassy in Budapest on 23 and 24 September. Over two days, around seventy Hungarian tourism professionals discovered why, in Spain, the best way to understand a destination is to sit down at its table.
The action was organised by the Spanish Tourist Office in Vienna, which manages Spain’s tourism promotion in the Hungarian market from Austria. Its Tourism Counsellor, María Inmaculada Aguado-Muñoz Ramírez, championed a format that uses gastronomy as a gateway to a market where Spain aims to grow its presence.
Day one: the table where decisions are made
The action opened with a lunch for 24 guests, including leading Budapest business figures and representatives of Hungarian tourism institutions. The menu was created by Víctor Talavera of Restaurante Talavera in Valladolid, named best chef at the 2024 national championship and best assistant chef in 2023. His menu was a journey through the larder of Castilla y León. It began with a cauliflower cream tartlet with broccoli couscous, followed by picanha of Castilian beef wrapped in Iberian pork jowl, with a truffled wagyu centre and a Ribera del Duero demi-glace. It closed with a traditional torrija made with Valladolid bread, Spain’s beloved take on French toast.
Day two: cooking with the people who sell the trip
The second day was dedicated to travel agencies and the media, the professionals who turn interest into bookings. Saborea España destinations cooked live in front of them.
Valladolid turned its showcooking into a workshop for small groups, built around the Lechacitro, the pincho that won Talavera the Pincho de Cobre 2026 award. It combines PGI Castilla y León suckling lamb (lechazo) slow-roasted and shredded, caramelised onion, a Ribera del Duero reduction, cauliflower cream and a citrus note. Before tasting it, participants experimented with flavour combinations and suggested how they would have built the pincho themselves. They then tasted it in parts and finally as a whole, to understand why the citrus balances the richness of the lamb and the cauliflower refreshes the ensemble. The workshop closed with an idea that sums up pincho culture: “A pincho is born when a flavour asks for company and you know how to listen.”
Lanzarote: the landscape on the plate
Chefs Fernando Guadalupe and Adrián Brusel of Lambra restaurant presented the island through its wines, its cheeses, escaldón de gofio (a traditional dish made with toasted grain flour) and sancocho (the island’s salted fish stew). It is a cuisine that cannot be understood without the volcanic land it comes from, and the best way into the destination.
The network, opening markets
The action is part of the partnership between Saborea España and Turespaña, which uses its network of Spanish Tourist Offices to bring the gastronomic offer of Saborea destinations to key international source markets. In Budapest, that offer went straight to the plates of those who make decisions and into the hands of those who sell.
