Santiago Castro
El 'Madrid Gastronomic International Center' (MaGIC) has organised a series of activities related to gastronomy, attended by a total of 77 people this past January. “The courses have been a great success, highlighting the great interest in haute cuisine and the preparation of dough for pizzas and focaccias,” says Blanca Mayandía, director of MaGIC.
These courses include: “Haute cuisine for all”, “Appetizers” and “Pizza Course”. In addition, an event has been organised with the collaborating company 'Hisense', in which a new product has been presented and a 'showcooking' has been carried out in its facilities at the Antigua Casa del Gobernador in Aranjuez.
MaGIC is a high-performance centre for gastronomic research created by the Rey Juan Carlos University, in collaboration with the Felipe II Foundation. Its aim is to promote gastronomic training at university level among people with a passion for cooking, professionals and students of the hospitality industry and people with official qualifications. “We are a project for talented people who want to study something related to cooking and do not have the financial means to do so,” explains the director.
“We are currently developing short-term micro-university credentials (between 1 and 2 ECTS) to bring university studies closer to people in the sector,” says the director.
They also collaborate with private companies. “We seek help to cover the tuition fees of students with financial difficulties and social exclusion, as well as allowing students to do extracurricular internships in restaurants,” he says.
The center has a total of 6 courses scheduled for amateurs during the month of February. These courses include activities on rice, batch cooking, Mexican cuisine, American cakes, ceviches, as well as a special Valentine's Day course. Registration for these courses can be done this article.
“We want to bring traditional cooking from other cultures closer to our students and help them learn to organise themselves when cooking for the whole week,” says the director. “Batch cooking is particularly interesting, as it can be useful for students and people with little time,” she adds.