Tenerife cuenta con un nuevo acuerdo de colaboración que ha firmado recientemente con Basque Culinary Center, la institución en la que formación, investigación y emprendimiento coexisten, con el objetivo de desarrollar e impulsar la gastronomía de la isla. De la mano de Turismo de Tenerife, entidad perteneciente al Cabildo, la iniciativa ofrecerá un programa de formación e innovación gastronómica de excelencia para el sector de la gastronomía de la isla durante los próximos tres años.

La presentación del acuerdo de las entidades, que tiene lugar este viernes 10 de noviembre en el Salón de Plenos de la corporación insular, cuenta con la participación de la consejera delegada de Turismo de Tenerife, Dimple Melwani, el consejero de Sector Primario y Bienestar Animal, Valentín González, y la directora de Masters y Cursos Basque Culinary Center, Idoia Calleja.

La iniciativa está basada en tres ejes principales, abordando la formación, la promoción y el patrocinio de acciones, que suponen una apuesta firme para el destino por su gran repercusión mediática, tanto a nivel nacional como internacional.

A través de este acuerdo, la isla contará con acciones formativas del talento para la mejora de la formación en el sector gastronómico. Este bloque se desarrollará a través de dos líneas de acciones estratégicas: por un lado, la mejora de la capacitación de profesionales a través de la formación online, con una formación mínima para 25 profesionales en diferentes cursos con temáticas adaptadas a sus necesidades; y, por otro lado, a través de actividades formativas en destino, con la impartición de ocho cursos, repartidos en varias temáticas, y que serán impartidos en varias zonas de la isla y hasta en dos ocasiones cada uno.

Las temáticas de las formaciones propuestas, a modo orientativo, van desde la metodología para docentes y la formación para el servicio de sala o atención al cliente, hasta la formación en coctelería, pastelería o el mundo del vino, así como en técnicas y tratamiento de determinados productos, como carnes, pescados, salsas o caldos. La elección de las temáticas definitivas de cada curso, la selección de docentes o las fechas de impartición serán trabajadas en consenso con la oficina técnica del Plan Director de Gastronomía y Turismo.

Dentro de la acción promocional, Tenerife será protagonista en Basque Culinary Center, con unas jornadas gastronómicas que contarán con ponencias de agentes relevantes del sector de la isla. En esta misma línea, se ofrecerá una cena donde participarán chefs, productores y productos de Tenerife para prescriptores de la gastronomía local.

El acuerdo también incluye el patrocinio de un proyecto de innovación gastronómica en la isla de Tenerife, a través de BCC Innovation, centro tecnológico en gastronomía de la institución colaboradora, para la mejora de las relaciones del sector primario con el sector de la restauración.

Tenerife cuenta desde 2017 con un Plan Director de gastronomía y Turismo 2018/2020 en el que se engloban todas las acciones que trabaja la isla en el ámbito gastronómico. Esta acción con Basque Culinary Center, en concreto, se enmarca en el eje estratégico nº 2, “Impulso del conocimiento, la formación y el I+D+i”, y que supone una continuación e impulso de las acciones que la entidad insular ha venido desarrollando en este ámbito los últimos años.

In April, Blanca del Noval, a chef researcher, and Pedro Cueva Rodríguez, an innovation and strategy consultant at BCC Innovation, traveled to Ghana as part of the Gastrovalue project in collaboration with the International Trade Center (ITC) - EU Funded ACP program. The project aims to support business-friendly and inclusive capacities at the national and regional levels while strengthening productivity. BCC Innovation trains small and medium-sized companies in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific to enhance the production and development of value-added products from coconut, cocoa, coffee, and kava.

Del Noval and Cueva visited Accra and the southern area of Volta, one of the regions with the largest coffee crops in the country, to gain insight into the unique aspects of Robusta coffee, including its cultivation and production processes. They also met with the stakeholders involved in the value chain of this product. It's worth noting that the majority of coffee in Ghana belongs to the Robusta variety, as the country's climatic conditions and low altitude make it challenging to grow other types such as Arabica.

The main objective of their trip was to raise awareness among the population about coffee consumption and to showcase the commercial and culinary potential that exists in Ghana. Del Noval and Cueva conducted an analysis of the country's methodology and production methods and engaged with various actors involved in the different stages of the transformation process. This helped them understand their needs and the primary barriers they face in strengthening their value chain.

While in Accra, they visited several local markets, where they had the opportunity to explore representative products of the country and evaluate their potential for creating gastronomic proposals using coffee. Considering these representative products, they organized two CSIR Food Research Institute workshops. These workshops demonstrated the possible uses of coffee as an ingredient in culinary creations that are adapted to the local culture:

• Culinary innovation and recipe development workshop: They developed several recipes using coffee as the main ingredient, such as a meat sauce, coffee crumble with banana mousse, coffee-infused mayonnaise, and even incorporating coffee into an Akpeteshie cocktail—a local liquor made by distilling palm wine.
• Co-creation workshop for prototype development: Collaboratively, they created various prototypes using coffee, such as a spicy sauce seasoned with coffee, an energizing drink combining coffee and fruits, and coffee bags infused with aromatic flavors.

During the first workshop, a collaborative work proposal was introduced, following the cluster association model, where different actors within the value chain can partner, share resources, and build capabilities to enhance competitiveness and increase the value of coffee both within the country and internationally. At BCC Innovation, we believe that gastronomy is a pivotal tool for driving an efficient and sustainable value chain—from production to consumption. Therefore, through projects like this, we aim to contribute to the transformation of gastronomy and the food chain by providing specialized knowledge to companies, territories, and entrepreneurs. This project offers technical support to the Alliances for Action and SMEs supported by the ITC in the target value chains.

After our travels to Portugal, Italy, Lebanon, and Egypt and collecting information from recipes from various kitchens and conducting interviews with different agents in the value chain of the gastronomy sector, the BCC Innovation culinary team with the help of the sensory analysis area has started with the process of designing healthy snacks. Here are some of the chefs’ first proposals: seed cracker, honey granola bar, and a cake bliss ball.

DELICIOUS attempts to tackle the problem of the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity in Mediterranean counties – Spain, Portugal, Italy, Lebanon, and Egypt – through education, physical activity, and healthy, sustainable gastronomy.

2022 was a year filled with incredibly interesting projects in which we continued to develop the 360o Gastronomy concept which is both part of our vision and our DNA as a technology centre.
We worked closely with companies that are designing new products which attempt to combine cutting edge developments and culinary science with sustainability and health. Several of the challenges revolved around the use of microalgae or insects as a new source of protein, and, for a further year, we observed how the notion of plant-based foods remains one of the major focuses in the gastronomy and food industry, which led to us continuing our efforts regarding vegan desserts and charcuterie.

In addition, thanks to the Basque Government's programme for supporting the hospitality industry (also known as HORECA, an acronym of Hotel, Restaurant, and Catering) we collaborated with numerous restaurants and helped them to extend their culinary offering by creating new ranges of meat products, flavoured butters, and organic cheeses and by repurposing surplus vegetables, among other things. As we have been able to observe on a first-hand basis, the food service sector is constantly innovating itself.

In the area of research, we continue to increase our presence in Europe. For example, we are currently working with four countries from the Mediterranean basin on redesigning the selection of food offered in school cafeterias. The goal is to make the food on offer more attractive to children and, in turn, even healthier. The project also pursues an especially aspirational goal; not only is it contributing to improving the health of future generations but at the same time it is helping to revive culinary techniques and customs that had fallen into disuse, helping to preserve our cultural heritage. This is an aspect that is extremely relevant to the concept of gastronomy we foster at BCC Innovation and thus makes the project very special for us.

Over the course of the last few years, we have gone deep into the woods and undergrowth of the Iberian Peninsula, into the mountains and the most typical landscapes of its different regions, with the intention of categorising the small treasures they hold: their wild plants. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), apple mint (Mentha suaveolens), plants of the Malva genus and dandelions (the Taraxacum genus) contribute the required touch of freshness, acidity, a bitter taste or spiciness to the culinary creations we prepare. We recorded all this scientific and culinary knowledge about wild plants in the book Silvestre: La Gastronomía de las Plantas, which was published in 2022.

Gastronomy's great transformational capacity at a socio-economic level led us to travel during the year to countries such as Ecuador, Jamaica, and Israel.

In one case, our goal was to foster research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, creating a more robust value chain; in another, it was to showcase the richness of the raw materials found in the country. Lastly, we wanted to connect our ecosystem with other leading innovation ecosystems, because in today's environment, innovation must be open and collaborative.

All of this was possible thanks to a magnificent team comprising chefs and researchers who put their creativity, expertise, and passion into everything we do at BCC Innovation.

Begoña Rodríguez, Director of BCC Innovation

DOWNLOAD THE BCC INNOVATION 2022 ANUAL REPORT HERE.

BCC Innovation will participate in the Food 4 Future event to be held in Bilbao BEC Barakaldo on May 16, 17 and 18.

Food 4 Future is an innovation event that brings together professionals from the entire value chain of the food sector, where the latest solutions in foodtech, robotics and automation, food safety and processing and packaging techniques for the different segments of the food industry are presented.

At this event, BCC Innovation will present its technological innovations in the food and beverage sector and show how its solutions can help transform the food industry. 

You will find us in G721 stand placed in the first pavilion. Come to visit us! Buy your ticket here.

The use of devices to measure the implicit response, such as pulse rate, pupil dilation and skin sweating, are at the center of innovation for many technology developers, as well as the scientific community. These types of responses are known as powerful indicators for understanding consumer choices.

The latest paper published by the research team from the sensory area of ​​BCC Innovation: Ph.D. Laura Vázquez-Araújo, Ph.D. María Mora, Ph.D. Elena Romeo-Arroyo, Ekaitz Esteban y Eneko Larrañaga-Ayastuy in the Journal of Sensory Studies, are the first results of the tests carried out as part of the LABe technology table and address the study of differences in the consumer's physiological or implicit response triggered by a stimulus, in this case beer, and their relationship with the explicit or verbalized answer by the user. In addition, they studied whether there were differences between two types of context in the implicit and explicit responses, one being a real context of a restaurant (LABe – Digital Gastronomy Lab) and another, a controlled one of a tasting room (Basque Culinary Center Sensory Analysis Laboratory). 

Study in a real restaurant context

129 people were part of this research, of which 64 carried out the study at LABe restaurant, located in the center of Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain).

To study the implicit response, the electrodermal skin activity (EDA) or galvanic skin response (GSR), which is a type of physiological response related to sweating generated by the autonomic nervous system, was measured. Theoretically, greater sweating translates into greater skin conductivity, which is related to greater activation of the individual. For this purpose, BitBrain® skin conductance biosensors (Bitbrain Technologies, Zaragoza, Spain) were used.

At BCC Innovation, as well as at LABe, we are aware of the technological revolution in which gastronomy is immersed, which is why we seek new ways of working and studying the application of certain technologies within the framework of a restaurant, offering the opportunity to our diners to participate in various research projects, and therefore to contribute to the advancement of science and gastronomy in this field.

How can implicit consumer responses help us understand their tastes and preferences?

The aim of the study was to determine if the electrodermal activity generated by different types of beer could be related to the response provided by consumers, such as acceptance and emotional response, both positive and negative, to the consumption of the same types of beer. 

The results showed that there were differences in the explicit response between the different types of beer, as well as between contexts: liking and positive emotional response (valence) scores were higher in the real context than in the controlled context. In addition, a negative relationship was found between explicit acceptance and valence, with skin conductivity on the utility of signs.

Our BCC Innovation team will continue to work hand in hand with LABe restaurant in this type of methodologies to better understanding of the consumer and the different responses that they provide us in the context of a restaurant, as well as to delve into the usefulness of technologies such as EDA within in the field of sensory analysis.

Read the full article here: Electrodermal response and its relationship with explicit response in controlled and real contexts: A case study with different beer styles - Larrañaga‐Ayastuy - Journal of Sensory Studies - Wiley Online Library

In October we traveled to Jamaica for two weeks to make our first field trip under the framework of Gastrovalue, a project of the EU-funded ACP Business Friendly Programme, implemented by the International Trade Center (ITC) with which we are working to provide technical support in the capacity of different small and medium-sized enterprises in different countries of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific group to develop and produce value-added products from coconut, cocoa, coffee, and kava.

This first mission in Jamaica is focused on promoting cocoa and coconut, Blanca del Noval, gastronomist researcher specialized in territorial development and sustainability, José Francisco Pelaez Peña, gastronomist researcher responsible for strategy and digital transformation, and Ph.D. Olaia Estrada, head of our physicochemical laboratory had the opportunity to:

• Know and analyze in situ different players alongside the cocoa and coconut value chain in the Caribbean country
• Give a talk on innovative food trends around the development and marketing of these products

Among the actors and leaders visited are: farmers, processors, chocolate makers, as well as products derived from coconut. They have also met centers and public institutions promoting the project such as Jampro (Jamaica Promotions Corporation), SRC (Science Research Council) or CIB (Coconut Industry Board) with which we work hand-to-hand to identify new opportunities for the development of this sector in the country at an international level.

In addition to the visits, during the trip we dynamized a co-creation workshop session on gastronomic innovation and brand strategy 'Developing value-added products from Jamaica for foreign markets', in which different agents of the food value chain have been able to learn from the BCC Innovation team on the keys to creating a country brand.

The objectives of the workshop were the following:

• Understand the concept of 'country brand'
• Analyze the advantages of developing products tied to their origin
• Understand the advantages of quality standard protocols
• Identify some keys to develop and market value-added products to foreign markets
• Promote collaboration among supply chain stakeholders

At BCC Innovation we understand that gastronomy is a key tool for change to achieve an efficient and sustainable value chain, from production to consumption. With this type of initiatives we seek to contribute to the transformation of gastronomy and the food chain, providing differential knowledge to companies, territories and entrepreneurs.

BCC Innovation physical-chemical laboratory team has participated on the 36th conference: EFFoST 2022: ‘Shaping the Production of Sustainable, Healthy Foods for the Future’ hosted by University College Dublin from 7 – 9 November in Dublin, Ireland.

Olaia Estrada, Ph.D and Ziortza Agirrezabala, researchers from our physical-chemical laboratory team, have attended to the conference presenting the following posters:

Spent Coffee grounds (SCGs): food waste or new ingredient for fermented beverages?

Authors: Blanca del Noval, Lucía Gayoso, Gorka Ortega, Shuyana Deba, Olaia Estrada

Valorization of fruit and vegetable by-products as novel ingredients towards zero waste

Authors: Shuyana Deba, Maider Zugazua, Ziortza Agirrezabala, Olaia Estrada

Gastronomy to engage citizens for a more sustainable future: Espelette pepper as a case  study.

Authors: Paula Torán, Novoa S, Mora María, Agirrezabala Z, Laura Vázquez-Araújo .

Each year the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) organises this prestigious academic food science and technology conference. Join world-renowned researchers, scientists, policy makers, professionals and students from multidisciplinary food-related fields to share the latest developments and create new partnerships.