The BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca 2016 Tour will travel around the world
London, Hong-Kong, Phoenix, San Francisco and Santiago de Chile are (in that order) the cities chosen for the third BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca Tour: a trip around the world. For 5 weeks, the Roca brothers and 40 members of staff from their restaurant will embark on a journey that will take them from Europe to the Asian continent and then across the Pacific to the U.S., then down the continent to the Chilean capital.
The BBVA - El Celler de Can Roca 2016 Tour will kick off in early August and continue until the first week of September. Before that, as in previous years, Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca will dedicate a number of weeks to visiting the countries chosen to learn from their culture and gastronomy, to which they will pay tribute by preparing menus inspired in regional dishes and using only local ingredients.
With this third journey, the Tour with BBVA will have visited 9 countries and add more than 42,000 kilometers to the 120,000 traveled in 2014 and 2015. Since the first tour, they have served some 100,000 plates to over 4,000 BBVA customers and guests in Argentina, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Turkey.
"We want to do better each year, and our goal for this third tour is really ambitious. We are very excited and aware of the enormous responsibility involved in the challenge of traveling around the world with our team. My brothers and I see the tour with BBVA as a sincere tribute to some extraordinary cuisines that are also so different from each other", says Joan Roca.
BBVA scholarship program at El Celler de Can Roca
The 2016 Tour is the result of a global alliance between BBVA and El Celler de Can Roca, which has kept its social component intact. The Roca brothers will select two hospitality students from each of the places they visit as a way of promoting local talent. The young chefs chosen will be given a scholarship to the Roca brothers' restaurant in Girona for 4 months. Every year the restaurant receives more than 400 applications from people who want work experience, which is why the chance of being part of the El Celler de Can Roca team can be seen as the best incentive possible.
The BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca tours on screen
The first BBVA- El Celler de Can Roca Tour visited the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Peru. A documentary film was also made of it, called Cooking Up a Tribute. After being featured at the main international film festivals, the second film, The Turkish Way, will be premiered soon. It is an account of the Roca brothers' experience of the culture and gastronomy of Turkey, the last stop on the second tour, which also visited Argentina and the United States. This is the trailer of The Turkish Way:
In addition, all detailed information, photos and videos on the BBVA-El Celler de Can Roca Tour are available on the El Celler and BBVA website and via the profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.