FESTIVAL GOURMET |
Festival Gourmet International 2007 - Inauguration
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The launching of the International Gourmet Festival 2007 turned out to be a warm and moving event, the highlights  being the international guest chefs invited by the 26 participating restaurants. The organizing committee members: Chef Thierry Blouet, Chef Heinz Reize y Chef Roland Menetrey, were excellent hosts, always showing their true joy at arriving at this date with huge smiles.
Among the personalities of the select Vallarta and global gourmet universe you could always feel the flow of sincere and heartfelt camaraderie, embraced by the vibrant spirit of passion and belonging for the fine cuisine, fine wine, fine dining, sharing and good living.
At 8pm Sharp on the 8th of November, guests and the general public started to arrive to the gates of the event which took place in a section of the wide and elegant terrace of Plaza Peninsula as well as on the terrace of Thierry’s Prime Steak House. Soon the space was flooded with chatter, a naturally bejeweled and beautiful night sky bore witness to the first celebration that officially opened the 13th International Gourmet Festival.
 Among lights and camera flashes, all invited chefs were welcomed to Puerto Vallarta and each one was presented with cheers and fanfare. The owners and chefs of the participating restaurants were hosts to charismatic and experimented chefs, who, filled with emotion at their greeting, chatted about their impressions on our port and its inhabitants and about their excitement at the prospect of their participation elaborating and presenting their most exquisite creations to Vallarta’s gastronomic world.
Italy, France, Asia, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, United States, Canada and of course Mexico, among others, were represented in the event we attended along with hundreds of persons. I pondered while looking at all the chefs in the front line: “thanks to the longing, commitment, dedication and efforts of the organizing committee, close to (if not more) one thousand years of gastronomic and culinary experience have come together in this precise moment and were about to show themselves during the following ten days among the participating restaurants all the way across the bay!” It was there and then that I started to discern the magnitude of the Gourmet Festival and what it represents to our destination to celebrate it every year.
 Just try to imagine one thousand years of culinary experience in one single place and with the sole purpose of pleasing your palate!... that is definitely quite a delicious privilege!... don’t you think?
Through my perspective, the highlights of the night was the impression on the invited chefs who stood on our delicious soil for the first time. I am sure that a seed of love for our Puerto Vallarta and our people was planted as has been a tradition in our port for centuries.
 The place was packed and the press was there for sure, as were all the sponsors who received a sincere, heartfelt and moving recognition for their trust and participation.
Right after the high-level invited chefs were greeted and celebrated with fireworks, the gates to Thiery’s Prime Steak House were opened to welcome and treat all attendees with thick and juicy slices of prime beef accompanied with fine wines which were the perfect complement to the soirée!
This is how the International Gourmet Festival 2007 started; while driving home I remembered a part of the inaugural address by Thierry Blouet guaranteeing a complete success... he said while he officially declared the festival open: “May God bless us all!... and so it was!
Festival Gourmet 2007 Photo Galleries
The inauguration click here
Brunch in Flamingos click here
Chef’s Table at Le Kliff click here
Chef’s Table at The River Café click here
Chef’s Table at Kaiser Maximillian click here
Chef’s Table at Mestizo click here
Gala Night click here
Jesús de Avila.
E-mail: editor@pvmirror.com
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