The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, yesterday attended the presentation of the first Guide to Gastronomic Diplomacy, a document that aims to strengthen the multiplier effect of this sector, “one of the strengths of Spain’s image in the world”, in areas such as tourism or exports.
“Our gastronomy is one of our best assets and strengths in the creation of our image and our reputation abroad”, declared González Laya in the preamble of the document, whose presentation took place at the Casino de Madrid and counted with the participation of chefs Pepe Rodríguez, Paco Rocero, Maca de Castro and Marcos Morán.
The document has been prepared by Global Spain in coordination with AECID, Instituto Cervantes, AC/E, ICEX, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Turespaña, the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, several autonomous communities and industry associations and is intended to be a “roadmap” that “will be updated every year to evaluate what has been achieved” and that “will serve to coordinate efforts and synergies in the projection of national gastronomy,” continued the Department of González Laya. “There are already successful examples of strategies developed by some countries such as Japan, Thailand, France or Peru, aimed at taking advantage of the potential offered by gastronomy as an element of foreign projection and key to their cultural identity”, assured the Secretary of State for Global Spain, Manuel Muñiz, in the introduction to the Guide.
According to Foreign Affairs, “gastronomy is one of the strengths of Spain’s image in the world, according to the latest Barometer of the Image of Spain of the Real Instituto Elcano and it also identifies us as a country”. Likewise, “Spain is the country with more representatives in the ranking of The Best Chefs Awards (15 out of 100) and more restaurants in the list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (seven out of 50). Spain also has 217 restaurants with at least one Michelin star in the 2021 edition of the Guide, making it the fifth most awarded country behind Germany and ahead of the United States. “Added to this is the potential of the Mediterranean diet, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013”.
On the other hand, the Ministry recalled that gastronomy, “in its broadest sense, is the sum of a set of activities that encompass a substantial part of our economy and have an important tractor effect”, such as agricultural, livestock and fisheries production, the food and beverage industry, wholesale and retail trade of beverages and consumer food and hospitality, in addition to imports and exports and hospitality in all its variants. Adding all these activities together, gastronomy “represents around 33% of our GDP and 18% of total employment”.
In addition, Spain is the seventh largest exporter of agri-food products in the world, the largest exporter of olive oil, the second largest exporter of meat and pork products and the third largest exporter of wine (first in terms of volume) and fruit and vegetables. “Agri-food exports account for more than one-fifth of Spain’s total sales abroad and their value has grown steadily over the last five years, even during the context of the pandemic”, it added.
Gastronomy is also an asset and a strength of the Spanish tourism sector, because it not only forms part of the country’s culture and lifestyle, but “is an essential element of the tourist experience” and constitutes “a priority product” within the international promotion strategy due to the importance of gastronomic activities within tourist spending. It also stands out as a “differentiating attribute of the Spain brand” thanks to the “great prestige and international recognition” it enjoys.
