The journalist from Madrid is one of the best-known faces on the national news and one of the country's most famous gastronomic critics and reporters. He received the Álvaro Cunqueiro award in 2011.
The mayor of Lalín, José Crespo Iglesias, has just unveiled the name of the person who will be the town crier of the LV Feria del Cocido, the journalist José Ribagorda from Madrid. Currently a weekend news presenter on Telecinco, he is one of the best-known news faces in the country for his approachable, direct style, which is very close to the viewer. Ribagorda is a "reference point in the world of television and also in the world of gastronomy on a national level", making him the perfect figure to play the role of town crier for a special edition such as the 55th.
His professional career has always been linked to Telecinco and TVE in the field of news, although he also had television experience in the field of gastronomy in 2012 and 2013 with the programme "Cocineros sin estrella".
He is the editor of the website "De las cosas del comer", a leading gastronomy portal which gathers information, comments, reviews, recipes and information on current events in the gastronomic world and which in recent years has become one of the most prominent portals in this field.
In addition to his work as a television journalist, he has published two best-selling books: "Cocineros sin estrella: Un recurrido gastronómico por los mejores restaurantes aún por descubrir" (Chefs without a star: A gastronomic tour of the best restaurants yet to be discovered) and "De lanas cosas de él comer: Un viaje gastronómico extraordinario" (with Nines Mínguez).
AFFINITY WITH THE COCIDO FAIR
In 2011, Pepe Ribagorda received the Álvaro Cunqueiro Award for Gastronomic Journalism from the Mayor of Lalín for the work in favour of gastronomy done that year by the Mediaset channel and nominally by the weekend news programmes that presented his work.
Crespo indicates that Pepe Ribagorda always had "an affinity for our Fiesta", as in addition to participating in it through the journalism awards, he provided important "media coverage on the Mediaset channel for all the editions of the Cocido Fair". A circle that will close next Sunday 12th with the opening speech of the Feria del Cocido and his appointment as Commander of the Fair.
At the same time, the mayor announced that "negotiations are underway with Telecinco about the possibility of developing a special promotional action for the Fair in this 55th edition" with the broadcasting of a report or a specific programme from the capital of the province about the Cocido.
COCIDO WITH LA ONCE
On the other hand, the mayor advanced that contacts with ONCE were resumed to make the "cocido solidario de los 1111 de la ONCE en Madrid". This year ONCE wants to resume an event related to the Cocido in Madrid, which had to be cancelled last year because of the pandemic.
ONCE is a very important organisation and "it was their initiative that they chose the Cocido Fair as they could have chosen anything else". That "for us is an honour because it means that it has an important level" and that means that if they chose the Cocido Fair from all over Spain to make this first event "for us it is a reason for satisfaction and, above all, when in theory we are working so that the expenses are financed by sponsors that ONCE is going to look for and therefore the cost for the City Council of Lalín is minimal and we understand that the repercussion is going to be very big", commented Crespo.
The president of the ONCE is Comendador del Cocido, one day "he proposed to me that he would like to make a solidarity stew for 1,111 people and send the money raised entirely to ONGs" that have to do with solidarity issues that may be in the world ahead, they are thinking of things related to Ukraine. And then the expenses that the event may have had "to look for sponsorship, which ONCE is an expert in because it moves like a fish in water, because ONCE is a big enough entity that if it asks a company to collaborate, it can go hand in hand". Going hand in hand with ONCE "is a guarantee of success and, above all, it is no less important that the costs will be minimal for Lalín, which is also a very interesting objective", said the mayor.
Crespo said that the forecast is that it will be held towards the end of March, since before that, due to organisational issues, ONCE will not be able to carry it out. And the location, given the large number of diners, over 1000 people, will have to be one of the large Madrid venues, the congress centre or one of the large pavilions in Madrid. A stew that would be prepared by several cooks from Lalin.
