Only a few hours remain as many uncork their champagne bottles to bid farewell to 2016 and welcome the New Year. We are sure that many will be hoping that 2017 will be better on many fronts particularly given the global experiences and challenges that we have all witnessed in the past year.
On a global level, 2016 will be remembered as one that has brought about tumultuous change. It is still hard to see what impact this will have on the long term but certainly the year has regaled us with many uncertainties, only the extent of which will be visible in the years to come.
The changes in the food and wine world might not have been as profound though even here there are signs that change could also be coming but we will cover that in a subsequent article on what we see as the main trends coming in the food and wine world.
Clearly, there has continued to be more pressure guides and lists as more and more people start to question their consistency and reliability. We have started the debate in Belgium particularly after a lacklustre release in Belgium, Luxembourg which was followed by similar disappointments in the Netherlands.
The questions we put to Michelin remained unanswered not that we expected any answers to be forthcoming. The same could be said for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants which was the subject of a lot of criticism the previous year.
2016 was the year that crowned Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana as the number 1 restaurant in the world. But the Italian chef was more in the limelight for opening more soup kitchens through his new foundation Food for Soul. He spread the word on the importance of creativity and liberating your mind to be open to new ideas.
A few weeks back I was asked by Gabriele Zanatta to come up with my favourite dish for 2016. It is not an easy decision not only because memory can play tricks but also because it is close to impossible to judge a number of dishes separately. Some might be technically complex and exceptional while others might be improvised and quick. How can you choose among such dishes? My final choice was made more a choice that came from the heart. It was the Kung Fu Panda Bolognese dish served by Christophe Hardiquest and Enrico Crippa for the Gelinaz! Headquarters event. Was it the best dish? Not necessarily but it did strike a chord and it is one that will never be recreated again hence the choice.
2016 has seen Food and Wine Gazette welcome two new writers, Isabel Gilbert Palmer and Geeta Bansaal.
Here are the list of new articles our readers have enjoyed most during 2016.
- Air Republic, Sergio Herman’s new project in Cadzand taking shape
- The Belgian chef giving a Maltese twist to his restaurant in Gent
- Michelin’s guide for Belgium exposes problem of consistency and credibility
- 10 things we learnt from Syrco Bakker (Pure C)
- Italian chef Massimo Bottura launches Food for Soul to open soup kitchens around the world
- Barone Ricasoli: A visit to the oldest winery in Italy and the one which created the Chianti Classico
- Kobe Desramaults (In de Wulf): ‘Adapt, create, evolve’
- Albert Adrià and the new Enigma restaurant: ‘An enigma for me, for my staff and for my clients’
- Dan Brennan: ‘Time makes the wine’ and time makes a wine career
- ‘I’ve spent a lot of time travelling to find what I wanted to do after Noma’ – Yannick Van Aeken (Humphrey)
Keep following us in 2017 for more news from the food and wine world, interviews. We promise to be back in the New Year full of new ideas and articles.
In the meantime we wish you a Happy New Year full of health, joy and happiness.
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