After the impasse of 2020, Gastronomika 21 will again be an in situ event for visitors, who can now obtain their accreditations on the website as of Monday 13 September, enabling them to gain access to all the talks scheduled, including tasting events, as has been the case since the very first congress.

With open arms and a programme full of surprises and emotions, San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country 2021 will count on the participation of important chefs from all over the world. Marc Veyrat, Pierre Gagnaire, Guillaume Gomez, Alexandre Mazzia, Nadia Sammut, Beatriz González, Amandine Chaignot and Alain Dutournier are some of the French chefs who will be at the 23rd edition of Gastronomika. As well as the Brazilian Alex Atala and the Peruvian Virgilio Martínez. The Spanish representation is extensive and among the chefs who will be present are Eneko Atxa, Ángel León, Pedro Subijana, Elena Arzak, Quique Dacosta, Jesús Sánchez, Paco Morales, Fran Martínez, Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas, Josean Alija, Luis Valls, Hilario Arbelaitz and the Barcelona-based Frenchman Romain Fornell.

In addition, the journalist Julie Andrieu, gastronomic critic and star of French television, whose programmes have also been shown on TVE's La 2, will receive the Pau Albornà Award for Gastronomic Journalism.

In accordance with the premises stipulated by the authorities, the event will cover the main auditorium and its ancillary rooms, and also the trade fair space, where companies can display their produce and make contact with visitors. With limited maximum capacities, the event has been resized with an audiovisual projection. In the wake of the virtual congress experience in 2020 (earning it recognition by the International Gastronomy Academy as the world's first digital gastronomy congress), the new Gastronomika will be held in a hybrid format, and in addition to the in situ event at the Kursaal, there will be a live broadcast of all the talks, and events arranged at restaurants all over the world. 

The San Sebastián congress returns to its usual venue after a successful experience in October 2020, during which it managed to take some of the culinary world's most acclaimed cuisines to the homes of thousands of spectators all over the planet via the event's digital platform. 

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 health crisis, which hit the events sector particularly hard, as it did the hospitality and catering sector, the veteran congress reinvented itself with a home-made digital format, and over five days it succeeded in bringing together more than 23,000 people from 108 countries, with dozens of experiences and educational talks (more than 70 talks), staged at several television studios set up in some of San Sebastián's best restaurants. A total of 50 hours of high-quality audiovisual broadcasts, still available at www.sansebastiangastronomika.com, which succeeded in raising the expectations of chefs, entrepreneurs, employees and the entire value chain of a burgeoning activity curtailed by the coronavirus.