BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca Culinary Tour

BBVA Compass culinary tour partner El Celler de Can Roca, named No. 1 by Restaurant magazine on this year’s influential World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, revealed a small taste of the ingredients the Roca brothers will use to prepare a series of exclusive client dinners during their BBVA Tour 2015 to Argentina, the U.S. and Turkey. 

Head chef Joan Roca and pastry chef Jordi Roca will recreate the experience from their Girona, Spain-based restaurant exclusively for bank clients, preparing 51 dishes paired with wines hand-selected by sommelier Josep Roca. The world tour begins in Buenos Aires, where the chefs will prepare culinary dishes that incorporate local Argentine products and ingredients, such as the lamb from the province of Salta, black hake, mate, cheese and quince, along with reinterpretations of traditional plates including alfajores, choripan or chimichurri.

The tour then moves to the U.S., making stops in Miami on Aug. 12-13 aboard the SeaFairMiami, a luxury yacht; in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 18-19 at a private country club; and in Houston on Aug. 24, 25 and 26 at Caracol, one of the city’s most celebrated restaurants. The chefs will prepare different specialties for each city, incorporating new versions of some of their classical recipes and new creations, from the «Viaje a La Habana (Trip to Havana)» dessert in Miami; Fried Green Tomatoes in Birmingham; and «Que Sabe Luna (Tastes of the Moon)» in Houston. 

The world tour comes to a close in Istanbul, Turkey, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 at the SALT Galata building. Dishes there will include kebab, lokum (Turkish delight) and ayran (yogurt beverage).

The second BBVA-sponsored gastronomic tour is part of the bank’s three-year partnership with El Celler de Can Roca. As part of that partnership, the Roca brothers will select two culinary students for scholarships from each country with the purpose of fostering local culinary talent. The selected students will receive a four-month scholarship at the Rocas’ restaurant in Spain. El Celler de Can Roca receives more than 400 internship applications annually. In addition, the trio will train hundreds of students through conferences in each city included on the 2015 tour.

The members of El Celler de Can Roca also recently celebrated the end of filming «The Turkish Way,» the second part of the epicurean documentary «Cooking up a Tribute,» released at the  65th Berlin Film Festival and currently being shown at the world’s major film festivals.