Puerto Vallarta festival
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Puerto Vallarta International Gourmet Festival (The Festival Gourmet International Vallarta) is an annual culinary festival held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, every November since 1995. Every year the Festival Gourmet International Vallarta invites leading culinary professionals from all over the world to come to Puerto Vallarta to cook and demonstrate the unique cuisines and diverse ingredients. The Festival is supported by local world class restaurants. During the Festival, high profile international and local food and beverage professionals run many festivals around town simultaneously, with each of the participating restaurants hosting a guest master chief and creating a festival of its own.
Other popular events include Sunday Festival Gourmet Brunch, Wine Tasting, and Cheese of the World. There are also Chef's Table and Winemakers dinners hosted by restaurants. The traditional Gala Dinner, called The Spirit of Mexico, concludes the Festival.
[edit] History of the Festival
The idea of organizing an event that brings together the art of culinary and Mexican tourism belongs to Thierry Blouet of Cafe des Artistes, Heinz Reize of Hotel Krystal and Sivan Muller of Nestle. As a result, the first Puerto Vallarta Festival was held in 1995. In November 18-26, 1995, six five-star hotels, six restaurants and twelve invited chefs participated in the festival. During the last eleven years of the Puerto Vallarta Festival celebration, about two hundred featured chefs participated in the event. In 2003, the honored guest of the festival was Anton Mossimann, who received an appointment by the Queen Elizabeth II as an "Officer of the British Empire" and is a twice winner of the gold medal at the world level and the proprietor of Club Mossimann in both London and Switzerland. Gerard Dupont, a president of Academie Culinaire de France, comes every year to teach classes and share his secrets with both colleagues and public. Considering all that, today's Puerto Vallarta Festival is a valuable experience for chefs of any level, who accept invitations without hesitation, and to numerous visitors, who appreciate and feel dedicated to the gourmet cuisine.
With the growth and spreading popularity of the Puerto Vallarta Festival, a number of activities, classes and events within the program have also expanded. The gastronomic festival celebrating includes cooking classes, specialized food seminars, a gourmet food fair, introducing the most innovative products, cocktail evenings and gourmet gala banquets. For numerous visitors (these were thirty five thousand people in 2006), the Puerto Vallarta Festival comes as a week of enchanting evenings, with its opening and closing nights, full of dances, songs and music, combined with gourmet delights and exquisite wines during a long-night celebration.
