- He presented the Cocido badge by placing it on the lapel of two Galician actors such as Xoel Fernández and Sergio Pazos.
- The promoter of the idea of celebrating the Cocido de Lalín Month in Madrid, José Luis Caba, coordinator of Airiños Gastro stressed in his speech that ‘there are some restaurants in Madrid that make Galician stew, but with the initiative that is being launched now, we want to put Cocido de Lalín on our tables, which is a step forward both in quality and dissemination’.
The mayor of Lalín, José Crespo, accompanied by the Regional Minister of Education, Román Rodríguez, and the delegate of the Xunta de Galicia in Madrid, Luis E. Ramos, and directors of the Galician Centre of Madrid, with its president at the head, Fernando Rey Paz, presented this morning the Month of the Cocido of Lalín in the first act of diffusion of the LVII Fair of the Cocido that counted with the presence of well-known faces like the actor from Lalín Xoel Fernández and the Galician Sergio Pazos or the father Andrés Ramos.
In addition to the dissemination event, which was attended by local and Galician media, the event was used to launch what will be the Cocido de Lalín Month in Madrid, which will feature eight restaurants in the community, including El Jamón and El Churrasco, and the Galician Centre of Madrid itself, among others. At the beginning of the event, the Lalín chef Alberto González from Casa Currás explained to some of the chefs present the characteristics and particularities of Cocido de Lalín and the idiosyncrasy of the dish itself so that those restaurateurs who prepare it in their establishments meet similar standards to those of Lalín.
These days of the Month of the Cocido de Lalín in Madrid will begin on January 24, coinciding with the celebration of FITUR, and will extend throughout the month of February. Although 8 restaurants are initially confirmed, the call is still open for new establishments to join and increase the number of restaurants that promote and offer this dish and make Lalín products known.
Mayor Crespo also took the opportunity to present the Cocido de Lalín pin, which is already being distributed in the restaurants that offer Cocido de Lalín from today in the capital of Lalín. The pins were placed in the lapels of the actors Sergio Pazos and Xoel Fernández, who wore them like the rest of the guests.
The promoter of the idea of celebrating the Cocido de Lalín Month in Madrid, José Luis Caba, coordinator of Airiños Gastro stressed in his speech that ‘there are some restaurants that make Galician stew in Madrid, but with the initiative that is being launched now, we want to offer the people of Madrid Cocido de Lalín on our tables, which is a step forward both in quality and dissemination’. Over the next few years ‘we will work to ensure that more restaurants offer this top quality cocido in winter’.
The Regional Minister highlighted the ‘importance of these events in promoting both Galician gastronomy and the attractions of Lalín and Galicia’ and that it is the best way ‘to raise awareness of Lalín's quality products’.
For his part, the mayor said in his speech that ‘we managed that in the capital of Spain and in the interland of Madrid know Lalín and the Feria del Cocido very well and that it is the best known point of the Fair, even better than in others that are closer’. Some restaurateurs in Madrid who have high quality restaurants ‘got in touch with me in the Senate three or four months ago and told me how I would see the possibility of making Lalín's Cocido Month in Madrid’. He said that anything that ‘gives publicity to the Cocido and to my town council is fine. In order for us to use the name of Lalín, we want a series of requirements to be met: that the products are bought in Lalín...’.
There are already a few restaurants in Madrid that ‘want to put on the Mes del Cocido de Lalín’. Some, such as Restaurante Sanxenxo (from Sanxenxo) and Restaurante Él Jamón y Él Churrasco (from Cercio) have been doing the ‘Mes del Cocido’ themselves for many years, coinciding with the ‘Mes del Cocido de Lalín’. Now ‘they want to do it as a lobby and the directors of the Galician Centre are precisely those who promoted this meeting and today we are going to explain to them precisely what the Month of Cocido is, what it is for, some are already convinced and others will see if we can convince them so that the Month of Cocido de Lalín can be held in the capital of Spain: firstly because the products must be bought in Lalín; secondly because if a Madrilenian eats the Cocido de Lalín in Madrid, surely when he comes to Galicia he will visit Lalín to try the original cocido’. It is a way of ‘making our country and selling our products and it is a way of making the Cocido Fair and the town of Lalín more famous, if possible’.
The good thing would be to hold next year the first real edition of the Month of Cocido in Lalín in Madrid and ‘let's see if we have a dozen restaurateurs, it would be a historic achievement because there is no restaurateur anywhere that makes the month of a product in Madrid capital’. For us ‘it would be a luxury: twelve good restaurants serving cocido for a month in Madrid will provide good publicity without us paying anything. We would provide logistical support and publicity, and they would pay for the rest. The City Council of Lalín would have a very good return with a relatively small cost’.
After the speeches, the attendees, more than fifty, took the opportunity to taste the Cocido de Lalín as it is served and prepared in Lalín, prepared by the chef Alberto Currás.
