The Future of Food: Why all eyes are on Madrid this week.

Madrid Fusion, arguably the world’s most coveted culinary event, is a three day non-stop gastronomical endeavor. Think names like Adria, Roca and Arzak. The last time this many big guns fired in one place was when Sir Frances Drake welcomed the Spanish Armada into the English Channel. Nothing short of a culinary super-nova, Madrid Fusion hopes to answer the question on every foodie’s lips: where to now?

Ask your average Spaniard about the history of their country and they will be quick to point out that, despite the relatively minor role Spain currently plays on the world stage, once upon a time it ruled nearly half the world. And really, it wasn’t that long ago. The flame of Empirical Spain wasn’t completely snuffed out by 36 years of Franco enforced suppression, merely set on to ‘pilot’. It’s still there today, stronger and brighter than it has been in a long time; thanks to winning the 2010 soccer World Cup, and of course - Spain’s rise to prominence as the world’s culinary superpower.

History repeats itself. We are taught this in school, college, and university; and we see it throughout our lives. This lesson is seldom wasted, and least of all on the Spanish.

Thanks to the efforts of recent gastronomic pioneers (Arzak, Adria, etc) Spain now dominates a lot of the culinary turf; and damned if they’re going to let it slip away. Perhaps that is why they are continuing their ‘Training Young Professionals in High Spanish Gastronomy’ program (now in its fourth consecutive year). The TYPHSG program recruits promising young Chefs from around the world and, using intense and prolonged theoretical and practical training, cultivates a strong professional aesthetic within them: Cocina Espanola!

From a commercial point of view the program is interesting, to say the least. Funded by the Spanish Trade Council, the program’s objective is to increase future trade of Spanish produce; a speculative return. Consider that this year the program has doubled its intake of Chefs (now 20), one wonders if and how the ‘returns’ can be measured, in just four years? Scratch beneath the surface and one wonders if perhaps a little bit of national pride isn’t playing a part in the decision-makers hands. Perhaps this program can be seen as Spain fortifying the defenses in their distant culinary outposts: Moscow, Melbourne, Sao Paulo, and Singapore, among others.

Insider gossip reports that a recession is imminent, that cooking is going back to the basics - fire and wood. It’s certainly possible, but no-one really knows. One thing that is certain: Spain will play a big part in it. As El Bulli closes its doors, the path forward lies open for those willing to walk it. In Spain, the industry is leading the way with pioneering initiatives (such as TYPHSG), asserting their intentions as they breathlessly await the emergence of the next culinary Columbus;

the next Chef with the vision, ability, and bravado to sail off the edge of the known culinary map, to venture forwards in a bold quest to discover the ‘tierra nueva’, the new world.