The 8th Partner Meeting of the European Region of Gastronomy Platform, organised by IGCAT and hosted by the City of Aarhus and the FOOD Organisation, Central Denmark Region, took place between the 20 and 22 June. The meetings took place in the FOOD Office and the City Hall of Aarhus and brought together 31 colleagues and new members representing 10 European regions and IGCAT, the coordinating body. The Platform welcomed the South Aegean Region, Greece, as a new partner of the Platform which is responsible for 50% of all Greek tourism. The Governor of the region signed a collaboration agreement with the President of IGCAT and spoke of the hope to rebuild pride and confidence in local communities by promoting high quality cuisine found on islands throughout the region.
During the meeting, the partners heard about the progress in the process in each region, in particular the report from Catalonia as host of European Region of Gastronomy 2016 by Blanca Cross. The lessons learnt from the year so far were told to the partners which included positive participation from some 600 stakeholders who are now taking part.
The meeting also discussed the monitoring and evaluation of the Award process following a jury visit to Galway. The communication and marketing strategy discussion had the added benefit of a workshop led by Henrick Zacho and a talk by the head of communications for Aarhus European Capital of Culture 2017. Further to this, the partners spoke about different matters related to new proposals such as the Sustainable Food Products Award, the ERG Shop Hosting and other funding proposals. During the meeting, the regions were reminded that finalists will part in the European Young Chef Award which will be celebrated on 14 November 2016 at EUHTStPOl in the framework of Catalonia, European region of Gastronomy 2016 and partners will participate in the Fòrum Gastrònomic.
