Two years ago, I saw some adverts announcing Forum Gastronòmic in Coruña. I had’t been there the previous month because I had to work, so when I saw the dates, my heart broke. I couldn’t go. So I waited for two long years hoping they bring it back to my city (with some thoughts of going to Girona or Barcelona where it is celebrated as well, but always work got in the middle).

Finally it was February 2017 and I searched for it to discover work wouldn’t let me go again. The release of my third album Hope was due 10 days after the Forum Gastronomic, which ment I would be working like crazy. But not, not this time. I needed to redeem myself and experience the Forum. And so I took just a couple of activities, although I would have loved to go to many more, but again time won’t allow me.

I remember researching about the chefs and restaurants for hours in order to choose the activities that suited me best. I have a problem, whenever I have too many options, especially when it comes to food, I get nervous. In a good way full of excitement, but I get really anxious and spend days deciding. I chose 5 different activities in order to take some more after some weeks.

Then, a week before, while shooting our latest music video Burning Inside, I got a whiplash in my neck. Carlos must have thought he was a rugby player of some sort and pushed me to the sand in one of the shots. To the day, I still don’t know what the hell was he thinking. Maybe he was used to the Sílvia with 15 kg more, and when he pushed he didn’t notice the difference. (Because I’ve lost a lot of weight recently, in case you don’t know me from too long) I was scared, mainly because I’m a drummer now., but mostly because the tour started in a little bit more than two weeks. I wasn’t sure I would be 100% healthy to enjoy the gigs, and I was scared rehearsing would make it worse. So I started one step at a time and had to be very careful.

One thing I didn’t mention is I was really worried about not being able to go to the Forum Gastronòmic. After that long wait, I wasn’t sure my neck would be alright to assist a seminar that lasted three long days, knowing that I wanted to shoot video, and take photos as well, for the blog.

In the end it turned out OK. I wasn’t 100% me and I didn’t have as much time as I wish to spend there, but it was enough to feel happy after those three days. And the truth is, I loved it. I’m such a food nerd. I loved every single bit of it. The chats, the activities, the things people had to offer.
This year was focused in meat and fish, so I chose two activities in which they would use those products. Two monographic courses on matured meat and fish to start.

I enjoyed more the meat one, but maybe because I’m really fond of matured beef. I love the smell and the flavour and it really fascinates me when people use it in such a great way as Carles Tejedor. I admire this man for doing what he does, but also how he tells you his story, and how passionate he is about his job.

The monographic on fish was as interesting as the meat one. I must confess I didn’t know people used raw matured fish and seafood. The chefs they brought to tell us about it, Hideki Matsuhisa and Andrés Médici, were perfect for explaining the process and make us learn about this fascinating art.

Extra points for chef Hideki for bringing ultra-concentrated octopus juice. Apparently everyone was so in love with the idea of him using the same juice for many preparations that the questions at the end were all related to that. I was very happy to know that chef Andrés owns a restaurant in Vigo (PurOsushi), because I’m sure it will be featured soon on my Instagram.

Although you know I’m not a dessert person, I enjoy sweet treats, and puff pastry is something that has been fascinating me for a long while. I’ve never dared to try and make my own, although the thought crossed my mind several times.

I went to feed a little bit more those thoughts with Toni Vera (from Pastisseria Canal). He’s won the price for the best croissant and being able to try different varieties and listen to his story and how important every single detail involving pastry is, was a luxury. I loved the idea of adding seaweed to one of the croissant he offered us, as a tribute to Galicia. Also, the one made with Ibérico ham was incredible.

By the end of the activity they gave us a piece of raw pastry in order to take our own croissant home (as you can see, mine won’t win any prize soon).

There was a speech on Galician bread which I attended gladly. I love bread, many types of bread, but none like Galician countryside bread. It’s just the most amazing product one can ever taste. This activity was interesting, although seeing the bakers kneading the bread made me want to do it myself and I would have loved a practical course about it. But that must be just me and my addiction to kneading bread, probably.

I remember Guillermo Moscoso asking a final question to Jose Luis Miño: “What is Galician bread to you?” To which Jose Luis answered: “The best bread in the world”. The most patriotic feeling got to my heart.

I’m a very proud of the food in my country and I enjoy traditional food as much as international food, but when it comes to bread…Galician countryside bread and French baguettes make me feel like the world makes sense again.

One of the activities I was really looking forward to was the one presented by Jesús Segura and David Chamorro from Trivio Restaurant, in Cuenca. They talked about fermenting processes and how they use cereals in a very different way. What they told us was very enlighting to me, a beginner fermenter that has started making Korean kimchi recently, aiming to learn new ways of fermentation.

They gave us a couple of samples for making our own stuff at home, including the equivalent of sourdough, but in vinegar. Really fascinating. But due to this activity I had to skip the one led by Xesc Reina about cured meats. I’m really sorry I wasn’t able to go to both due to the schedule, but I had to decide and it was a really tough decision. Maybe next time I’ll be able to listen to Xesc about the procedures for curing meat.

The rest of the time that I spent in the Forum, I went to a couple more activities, mainly olive oil tastings, which I enjoyed a lot. Maybe olive oil is one of the other things that really fascinates me together with bread. It’s like the most simple thing, but a piece of fresh Galician bread with some nice bitter Picual olive oil is my most desired breakfast or snack. When I was a little girl I’ve never had it like that…just bread and olive oil for me was something weird. Olive oil was ment to use for cooking. One day at my grandma’s house, Ana, my aunt from Asturias, asked my grandma for a little plate to pour some olive oil and took some bread to give to the kids for merienda (kind of the same as brunch but between lunch and dinner). My mind went from: “What the hell?” To “I really need to try that”. Since then it’s one of my favourite things.

Appart from the tastings, I would have loved to try some more from the foodtrucks. The first day I bought an Ossobuco Sandwich and a Veggie pizza from O Fogar de Santiso, which was very nice.

I couldn’t try Lacon Lover, and I’m still sad about it, but I’m sure I’ll be able to try it soon. The “problem” was that the stands offered me so much food to try, that when the time to have lunch came I couldn’t even think of eating a whole sandwich, burger or even a tapa.

In these stands, I also tasted some nice wines. And here I would like to mention Janel, from Bodegas Antonio Montero. He made me live the Forum very differently. He took me by surprise because he recognized my face and thought it was from his job, but it wasn’t. So he started offering me wines to taste and explaining different details about them.

After that, he took me to a couple of stands in which I could try amazing products like the ones from Selectos de Castilla (which had duck and trout products) and Morcillas de la abuela Kika (blood sausage from Palencia). I spent a couple of hours with these guys, who were amazingly nice and told me stories about their food and lives, and I shared some of mine and my job.

But the golden medal must go to Óscar and Gerardo from Orballo. Their company sells bio herbs and spices, but they also have flavoured rices and other products, like teas. These guys were so nice and fun that I spent most of the last day’s afternoon talking to them. Óscar told me their story and Gerardo confirmed it was all true (not that I didn’t trust you Óscar…) Actually he and I had already met in one festival I was playing last Summer (Inspira) but he confessed he was shy to talk to me and Carlos, so his friend, África, was the one talking. It’s nice how the world connects us human beings in ways we can’t imagine. Don’t you think?

To end with, I want to say that although I’d probably have a thousand more anecdotes to tell about these three days, I have all the time in the world to do it in a future post. But meanwhile you can go watch the video of my experience posted in youtube.

Have fun!