The 2027 Pacific Cuisine International Festival will bring together gastronomy, art and cultures from around the world in Bahía Inglesa

BY: PAULA CARMONA CABRERA

Delegations from Indonesia, France, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Palestine will participate in a new edition of the event, which will take place between February 14 and 21, 2027. The event includes gastronomy, visual arts exhibitions, film, music, talks, tastings, and a large fair with more than 45 exhibitors, with all activities remaining free of charge.

Bahía Inglesa will once again become a meeting point between gastronomy, culture, heritage and tourism with a new edition of the International Pacific Cuisine Festival, an event that is preparing a wide program for February 2027 and will feature guests from different countries, in addition to outstanding national and regional exponents.

Adolfo Torres, director of the International Pacific Cuisine Festival, announced that this new version will maintain the different areas that have characterized the event, but will delve especially into the concept of food as a cultural expression that transcends the preparation of a dish.

“We are touching on a series of topics that go beyond the assembly of a dish, a product or a preparation, but also all the contexts and all the areas in which food develops,” Torres explained.

In this sense, the festival will address topics related to agriculture, the sea, fishing, water, education and domestic traditions, highlighting the relationship that exists between food and the identity of communities.

The 2027 edition is expected to include representatives from Indonesia, France, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Palestine, in addition to Chile and numerous national guests.

Among the international experiences, the Afro-Colombian cuisine of the Chocó region and its traditional drinks stand out, while from Argentina will come the Museum of Flavor of Catamarca, an institution dedicated to preserving and disseminating the elements related to the food and gastronomy of that territory.

Brazil will be represented by a cook linked to the gastronomic tradition of the Atlantic Forest, while Indonesia will allow the public to get closer to a cuisine marked by diverse Asian influences and by the geographical and cultural characteristics of its territory.

Meanwhile, a chef currently based in Valparaíso will arrive from France, who will address aspects of traditional French cuisine and products such as cheeses, cold cuts, fermented foods, wines, sparkling wines and cognac.

Representatives from other gastronomic festivals will also be present, allowing for an exchange of experiences and knowledge between different regions.

One of the main hallmarks of the Pacific Cuisine Festival will once again be the integration of different artistic expressions.

The program includes three visual arts exhibitions related to food. Among them will be the work “La Marraqueta,” by José Balmes, winner of the National Prize for Visual Arts, a piece that addresses one of the most representative foods of everyday Chilean culture.

In addition, there will be a visual recipe book exhibition by Marcelo Sánchez, Cristian Carti and Mauro Jofré, as well as the "Piñatas" project by sculptor Luz Jankovic, a proposal that will allow reflection on these popular objects from their artistic, cultural and festive dimension.

Film will also have a significant presence. The traditional film and gastronomy series will include short films related to food and a collaboration from Barcelona featuring audiovisual works by the artist Antoni Miralda, renowned for developing projects that connect art and food.

For Torres, this union between disciplines has a fundamental explanation: food has been linked to cultural and artistic expressions since the earliest records of humanity and continues to be used by contemporary creators as a source of reflection.

Among the national guests, the director highlighted the participation of journalist Jorge Said, who will give a talk focused on food in conflict zones.

Drawing on her experience covering international events, she will address how communities face access to and preparation of food in scenarios of war, humanitarian crises, and displacement.

The event will seek to broaden the public's perspective and demonstrate that talking about food also involves addressing social, territorial, and humanitarian issues.

Music will also play a prominent role through the "Eat Like It Sounds" section. This year's edition will feature the Argentinian band Años Sabáticos, who will present a post-punk-inspired sound, along with other musical activities.

The program will also feature Fat Pablo, DJ and music producer who will be in charge of accompanying different moments and spaces of the event.

One of the central moments will come during the weekend of Saturday, February 20th and Sunday, February 21st, when the Products and Preparations Fair takes place at Paseo Playa Las Machas.

The organization anticipates the participation of more than 45 exhibitors, mainly from Atacama, with representatives from Caldera, Copiapó, Vallenar and the Huasco Valley.

Food producers and exhibitors will be able to present there foods, preparations and products that have reached different levels of consolidation, including wines and piscos from the area.

The fair will also feature a live cooking stage, tastings, talks, project presentations, and musical performances.

The third edition of the Latte Art championship will also take place, an initiative linked to the world of coffee that has managed to insert itself into the national circuit of this specialty.

The festival will take place from Sunday, February 14th to Sunday, February 21st, 2027 and, according to its director, will maintain one of its fundamental principles: all activities will be free and open to the community.

During the week there will be talks at the headquarters of the Bahía Inglesa Neighborhood Association, as well as meetings, tastings and activities in restaurants and different spaces in the town.

The Pacific Bars section is scheduled for Thursday the 18th, where the world of beverages will be discussed, with special emphasis on the designation of origin of pisco and on traditional preparations from the territories represented by the international guests.

On Friday the 19th, the program will continue with new experiences at Playa Las Machas, while on Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st, the fair will concentrate a good part of the mass activities.

One of the main objectives set by the organization is to position food as a cultural and educational tool.

“We want to educate through cooking,” said Torres, who emphasized that knowledge, tools, creativity, nutrition, history, and identity all come together around food preparation.

For the director, incorporating cooking into pedagogical mediation processes can also become an opportunity to transmit knowledge in a close and everyday way.

Added to this is the objective of projecting Atacama as a destination that has an exceptional territorial diversity, from its coast and marine resources to the valleys, the pampa, the desert and the mountain area.

The proposal aims to ensure that visitors to the region not only learn about its tourist attractions, but also about the history and work of fishermen, farmers, producers, cooks, and communities that build the Atacama food identity.

“What better way to generate your own identity than from something as common, everyday and ordinary as food?” Torres said.

Beyond its international presence, the festival aims to make the Atacama region one of its main protagonists. The intention is for international guests to share their own traditions, but also to learn about and take home some of the region's culinary heritage.

Popular cuisine, family preparations, old recipes and products from the sea and valleys will thus have a central place within the programming.

The festival will also begin with pre-festival activities in the months leading up to February. Organizers plan openings and launches starting in December and January, and will extend some initiatives into March and April.

Torres also announced the development of “La Mesa de Atacama”, a project that seeks to delve deeper into the visual, theoretical and gastronomic imaginaries of the region, addressing in a more structured way its food production and the historical construction of its culinary identity.

In this way, the International Pacific Cuisine Festival is preparing a new edition that will once again seek to transform Bahía Inglesa into a large open meeting space, where food will be the starting point to talk about heritage, territory, education, art, music, cinema, tourism and identity.