Spain will offer 300,000 typical meals in 6 months

MADRID -- During the Shanghai 2010 Expo Spain will prepare and serve 300,000 meals made from ingredients that reflect traditional Spanish cuisine.

That is what Pedro Larumbe, the official concession holder for the Spanish Pavilion in the Shanghai told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

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"Our proposal is mainly product and taste. We are going to prepare what is basically classical cuisine, but with some modern touches. However, you have to bear in mind the predicted number of visitors and the number of meals, which means we have to chose a different format in each of the three different areas that we have, " he explained, adding that the Spanish pavilion is divided into a bar, cabaret and multiuse area.

During the six months of the exhibition, Larumbe has the challenge of serving 300,000 meals, which he will prepare in a 1, 000 square meter kitchen area with the help of 30 chefs and 50 waiters.

"We won't have any problems with fish or with our Iberian ( pork) products, but in some cases we will use cheeses that are not too strongly flavored and we will also give gazpacho a try ( gazpacho is a cold soup, which is typical in the southern region of Andalucia)," indicated Larumbe, who designed menus to showcase traditional Spanish food, while adopting it on occasions to Oriental tastes.

The Spanish chef has decided to give priority to the quality of the product and Spanish cuisine ahead of other concepts. He will be traveling with 15 tones of fresh meat from Iberian pigs, 1,000 cured hams, 300,000 liters of beer, 3,000 cases of wine, 20,000 liters of olive oil and 50,000 bottles of water as well as other ingredients.

The Project, which is led by Pedro Larumbe wants to take another step towards publicizing Spain's main gastronomic products in Asia and he has created the Expo Shanghai Agenda platform. This is an international business initiative which aims to take advantage of the Expo exhibition to help Spanish companies access into the Chinese market.

The Expo Shanghai Agenda will offer information, consultancy, training and representation services. It will also provide integrated communication services, among which will be the responsibility to transmit the acts celebrated in the Spanish pavilion on the internet.

Larumbe owns a restaurant in the center of Madrid, and has been awarded at National Spanish Gastronomy Award.