El Celler de Can Roca’s Jordi Roca will take place on November 4-5, 2023 at the International Gastromasa Gastronomy Conference.
The 8th Edition of the International Gastromasa Gastronomy Conference which continues to serve as a bridge between Turkey and world gastronomy and is in the first two places among world gastronomy events, will be held on November 4-5, 2023 at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul. The theme of the conference will be “Geography”. Gastromasa Hospitality, Gastromasa Coffee, Gastromasa Bar and Gastromasa Pastry concepts, which will take place within our Gastromasa Conference, will bring together world-renowned gastronomy professionals who shape the sector under the same roof. 60+ world-renowned chefs and pastry chefs, 30+ baristas, sommeliers and mixologists, 200+ professional speakers, the most important investors of the tourism and hospitality sector, famous chefs, gastronomy professionals, general managers, F&B managers, purchasing managers and many others will have the opportunity to take part at the 8th Edition of the International Gastromasa Gastronomy Conference.
About Jordi Roca
In Spanish, the word postrero means something that comes in last place, but Jordi has taken the poetic license to give it a new meaning. For him, being last has a vital significance, since he was the last of his brothers to be born—hence, the postrero—, and he is also the one who comes last to the banqueter. “It is not in vain that I make desserts (postres, in Spanish); not cakes,” he clarifies, while also defining with this word the way he interprets his profession.
His training in the sweets world began in an amateurish way, not academic at all. It was hand in hand with Damián Allsop, a talented Welsh pastry chef who touched down at the Roca house after a long journey through great European restaurants. Allsop was in charge of the desserts section at El Celler de Can Roca in the late 1990s. Working with him, Jordi learned the importance of sweet cuisine, its specificity and uniqueness. The Welshman helped him expand his curiosity, first as his assistant, later as his successor. He provided him with the necessary tools to understand the reasoning behind sweet cuisine, as well as the method, precision, craftsmanship to the minute, patience, mettle, confidence and obsessive engagement. During these beginnings, rules and quantification were basic signs.
He learned why a soufflé foams, why chocolate is tempered, or why jelly sets; and he learned to blow sugar as if making artisan glass… “and more, many more things. This is how my ability to create and fly began.”
Since then, he claims he has never stopped having fun, dreaming, provoking, being amazed and, above all, playing. He considers himself addicted to sweet fun for more than 15 years. He feels an absolute need to translate his life into sweet. A walk, a landscape, a smell, a cartoon, a noise, a transgression, an emotion; any path—says Jordi—can lead to creativity. Freedom and freshness. Radicality and extremism. He likes to play on the edge, irreverently and breaking molds. Fantasy enchants him and explores his universe in the sweet moment, far from the rigor and seriousness of the proposals of main courses or robust dishes on the menu. He is an expert at surprising the banqueter at the final moment of the menu, where the frontier between the established and fascination can be crossed.
2019 Jordi Roca is named Honorary Academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors.
2016 Prix au Chef Pâtissier by the International Academy of Gastronomy.
Jordi, Joan and Josep Roca are named Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations Sustainable Development Program.
2015 For the second consecutive year, El Celler de Can Roca is chosen best restaurant in the world by The World’s 50 Best Awards, topping number 1 in its annual ranking.
2015 Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca are awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.
2014 Jordi receives the World’s Best Pastry Chef Award by The World’s 50 Best Awards.
2013 El Celler de Can Roca is chosen best restaurant in the world by The World’s 50 Best Awards, topping number 1 in its annual ranking.
2013 IV Chef Millesime Award by Cruzcampo Gran Reserva
2003 Best pastry chef of the year by The Best of Gastronomy Guide.