"To be universal you must be local," said Javier González, Director of Culinary Art School. One of the institution’s mottos that also applies to the Baja Culinary Fest, an event that aims to give Baja’s gastronomic movement more exposure, and that officially started today.

This morning, the Culinary Art School was filled with students from all of the state’s municipalities and culinary professionals, as well as two students hailing from Veracruz; this year’s invited state, and other people interested in the culinary arts.

The conference kicked off at 9:00 am at the school auditorium, and around 11:00 am, the "De la Tierra y El Mar"competition started, with more than 50 students and professionals participating on stage, the event was divided into sweet and salty dishes.

Misión 19, L’apricot, Bracero Cocina de Raíz, Malva and Sensorial Repostería are some of the restaurants from which these culinary professionals hail from; while students from the Instituto de Gastronomía de Baja California, Unifront, UNEA, Universidad Oriente de Veracruz and the Culinary Art School, among others/ [/b]

The event results will be announced this afternoon and the winners will be able to attend the opening dinner, which will be part of a tribute about the Baja California cuisine pioneers, and it’ll be held at El Cubo’s lobby at 7:00 pm.

Baja Culinary Fest will run until this Sunday, October 11th at the Centro Cultural Tijuana with the exhibition of restaurants, local producers and chefs, including workshops and lectures given by internationally renowned chefs, including Poncho Cadena, Darren Walsh and Dante Ferrero.

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miranda.garcia@sandiegored.com

Translated by: edgar.martinez@sandiegored.com