The Centenary Menu travels by train

The gastronomy of the Costa Brava is promoted in Catalonia through a radio campaign, and in the rest of Spain and abroad with an initiative in eight night train restaurants of the Renfe and Elipsos rail companies.

The Centenary of the Costa Brava is promoting Girona’s gastronomy and chefs in Catalonia, the rest of Spain and abroad with promotional and communication campaigns aimed at promoting the Costa Brava brand and raising awareness of the quality and gastronomic wealth of the destination.

As part of the Girona Gastronomic Forum, held at the end of February 2009, the Patronat de Turisme, together with the Empordà Denomination of Origin Regulatory Council, presented the Empordà DO (denomination of origin) wines chosen and labelled as Centenary Wines. This initiative is still underway and is aimed at promoting the oenological quality of the wine produced in the destination.

The Costa Brava Menu gastronomic campaign got underway in April. The campaign includes the Centenary Menu, currently offered by more than eighty restaurants in the area. The Costa Brava Menu and Centenary Wines enable quality, identity and gastronomic wealth to be promoted in the restaurants that have signed up to this Centenary commemoration campaign.

The Centenary was presented in Madrid with gastronomy as a promotional vehicle. Four Costa Brava chefs held tasting sessions in Madrid offering 12 dishes from the Costa Brava Menu. Almost 200 people from Madrid’s business, politics, culture and tourism sectors attended the opening event of the gastronomic Centenary.

From 1st July to the summer of 2010 the rail companies Renfe and Elipsos Internacional (a company set up by Renfe and SNCF) will be involved in the commemoration of the Centenary of the Costa Brava, promoted by the Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona, with a gastronomic promotional campaign through which the Costa Brava Menu will be made available in the restaurants of 8 long-distance trains with routes in Spain and around Europe. The Costa Brava Menu made available to train passengers consists of three representative dishes of the gastronomy of the Girona area that are listed in the Costa Brava Menu: escalivada (grilled and peeled aubergine and red pepper) with anchovies, cod with samfaina (vegetable sauce) and baked apple. The menu, of which 750 copies have been made, is published in five languages (Catalan, Spanish, French, English and Galician).

From 19th June to 26th July a promotional campaign of the Centenary Menu has been carried out across Catalonia on the RAC1 radio station. For more than a month the 20-second advert has been broadcast during the station’s highest-rating programmes.