A basic element of life, fundamental to culinary processes (boiling, steaming, poaching, bain-marie...), it is one of the transcendental arguments in defence of the environment and puts the idea of sustainability in the catering sector to the test. Water is scarce and we need to conserve it and be rigorous in its use and management. Haute cuisine should not be insensitive to the functions of this element, which can have a decisive influence on the result of a dish. In the next edition of Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España, four chefs will look at water from different angles. Some time ago, chef Miguel Gónzalez (Miguel González*. O Pereiro de Aguiar, Ourense) discovered that the bakers in his area, Ourense, a thermal city par excellence since Roman times, used to go to the thermal baths to get water for certain dishes. For his part, he began to use water from the thermal baths for some dishes, mainly vegetables, and was delighted with the results: better colours, textures and flavours. Probably because of the amount of sulphur and mineral salts they contain. In collaboration with the University of Vigo, he has developed a study that he will present at Fusión Alimentos de España in Madrid on 'Cooking with thermal waters'.

The presentation by Ángel León (Aponiente***, Puerto de Santa María) will focus on seawater. Its management, nutritional properties and influence on his dishes. Another Andalusian chef, Pedrito Sánchez (Baga*, Jaén), has long rejected in his cuisine those foods that require a lot of water in their production, such as beef, nuts, avocado, bananas and corn. An attitude of resistance and a kind of activism in the face of scarcity. Instead, he saves water by using water from the vegetables themselves.

The fourth chef to use water as an argument in his presentation is Jeferson García (Afluente, Colombia), a globetrotter of the kitchen - Thailand, Denmark, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina... - who will approach the subject as a specialist in cooking with spring water.

Fortunately, a little over a year and a half ago he returned to Bogotá, where he ended up at Oda, a restaurant off the beaten track of hip cuisine that quickly attracted attention. It was good news, one of those that could serve as a revulsive to stimulate a change of pace in Bogotá's restaurant industry. He is currently working on the opening of his own restaurant, Afluente.