AUTÉNTICA SEVILLA

Where Spain’s Finest Ingredients Meet Their Makers

14–15 September 2026 · FIBES Sevilla

There are food fairs where one collects brochures.

And then there is Auténtica, where one collects olive oil, cheese, business cards, restaurant ideas and, if the day goes particularly well, an invitation to dinner from someone who owns a very beautiful vineyard.

On 14 and 15 September 2026, FIBES Sevilla becomes the meeting point for Spain’s premium food industry.

More than 400 exhibiting companies, around 12,000 professionals and over 350 chefs, producers, executives, buyers and industry experts are expected to gather beneath one very large roof.

The subjects are serious: sustainability, origin, retail, hospitality, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, consumer behaviour and the future of food.

Fortunately, there will also be cheese.

Because no conversation about the future should take place without cheese.

Auténtica Is Not Just About Eating

Let us begin with an important clarification.

Auténtica is not an enormous buffet.

One does not simply arrive with a large handbag and enough Tupperware to survive until Christmas.

It is a major professional meeting for the food, beverage, retail, hospitality and gastronomy sectors. It brings together producers who care deeply about their ingredients, chefs who know what to do with them and business leaders trying to understand what guests will want next.

The festival is built around a deceptively simple idea:

Good food begins with authenticity.

Not with an algorithm.

Not with a fashionable plate.

Not with a waiter arriving to explain a tomato for seventeen minutes.

It begins with origin, quality, craftsmanship and respect for the people who produce what eventually appears on the table.

This makes Seville the perfect host.

Andalusia has never considered food a minor detail.

Here, olive oil is cultural heritage, lunch is a social institution and refusing a second plate is sometimes interpreted as a personal crisis.

The Great Chefs Come South

The 2026 programme brings together some of Spain’s most influential culinary personalities.

Names announced across the programme include Ángel León, Carme Ruscalleda, Ricard Camarena, Paco Roncero, Dani García, Begoña Rodrigo and other chefs whose work has transformed the way Spain cooks, eats and presents itself to the world.

They represent very different culinary philosophies.

Ángel León has made the sea his laboratory, exploring ingredients and possibilities hidden beneath the surface. Carme Ruscalleda built an international career around precision, imagination and a deeply personal understanding of Mediterranean cuisine. Ricard Camarena has turned vegetables, broths and seasonality into a language of their own.

Then there is Dani García, who understands that haute cuisine and happiness do not need to live in separate dining rooms.

These are not merely celebrity appearances.

Auténtica gives chefs a space to discuss how gastronomy actually works: sourcing, teams, restaurant expansion, sustainability, margins, creativity and the challenge of remaining original while building a successful business.

In other words, everything that happens before a diner takes a photograph of the plate.

The Beautiful Business of Good Food

Restaurants are places of pleasure.

They are also complicated businesses with suppliers, staff, rents, energy costs, reservations, marketing, technology and guests who would like the best table on Saturday evening despite calling at 21:47.

Auténtica does not ignore this reality.

Its professional forums examine how hospitality companies can grow without losing identity, how technology is reshaping service and how restaurants can remain profitable while guests continue expecting magic.

There are discussions about customer experience, restaurant brands, purchasing, retail transformation and the food products tomorrow’s consumers will demand.

Artificial intelligence is also on the menu.

Not literally, we hope.

Nobody wants a chatbot inside the croquetas.

But AI is already influencing restaurant reservations, stock management, marketing, consumer data and personalised recommendations. Auténtica explores how businesses can use new technology without making hospitality feel less human.

Because efficiency may organise a dining room.

Only people can make it warm.

Olive Oil Finally Receives the Attention It Deserves

One of the major additions to Auténtica 2026 is Oleum Expo and its dedicated Oleum Forum.

This international platform places extra virgin olive oil at the centre of the conversation – exactly where Andalusians have always believed it belongs.

AOVE is not merely something poured over toast.

It is agriculture, craftsmanship, economy, landscape and identity in liquid form.

It can be peppery, delicate, grassy, fruity, powerful or almost floral. It carries the character of the olive variety, the soil, the harvest and the producer.

Germans may approach olive oil sensibly.

Andalusians approach it emotionally.

At Oleum Expo, producers, chefs, retailers and experts examine quality, sustainability, regulation, export opportunities and the enormous potential of one of Spain’s most important products.

There will presumably be serious professional tasting.

I am willing to make this sacrifice for journalism.

Galicia Arrives with an Appetite

Galicia takes a special role as the invited region at Auténtica 2026.

This is excellent news for anyone who considers seafood, cheese, excellent beef and potatoes legitimate forms of emotional therapy.

Galician gastronomy is built around exceptional raw materials and a refreshing lack of unnecessary decoration.

If the percebes are good, they do not require flowers.

If the meat is excellent, it does not need to be hidden beneath architectural foam.

Galicia’s presence brings another strong regional identity into conversation with Andalusia: Atlantic and Mediterranean influences, northern green landscapes and southern olive groves, sea and dehesa.

Spain does not have one cuisine.

It has many culinary countries living inside the same passport.

Auténtica puts them at neighbouring tables.

Culinary Fest: The Stage Where Ingredients Speak

The Culinary Fest by Gusto del Sur is where product and performance meet.

Chefs demonstrate techniques, compare ingredients and explore the stories behind what they cook. Sessions range from seafood and meat to cheese, vegetables and innovative interpretations of traditional products.

One scheduled confrontation asks a question of considerable national importance:

Tuna tartare or beef tartare?

Spain awaits the verdict.

Other sessions explore the future of seafood, regional flavours and the connection between product quality and culinary creativity.

These demonstrations are valuable because they make the invisible work of cooking visible.

A guest may see only the finished plate.

A chef sees temperature, timing, season, texture, supplier and the fifteen decisions that could still ruin everything.

At Culinary Fest, the plate is not simply served.

It is explained, questioned and occasionally challenged to a duel.

Cheese: The Most Peaceful Form of Diplomacy

Among the tastings and presentations is a celebration of cheeses and flavours from Cádiz.

This deserves recognition because cheese is one of the few products capable of ending almost any disagreement.

Hard cheese.

Soft cheese.

Blue cheese.

Goat cheese.

The correct response is rarely “no.”

Premium food events often use expressions such as “connecting territories” and “creating synergies.”

Cheese has been doing this for centuries without requiring a conference badge.

Auténtica allows small and specialist producers to meet buyers, restaurateurs and distributors who can take their products beyond their region.

Behind every successful tasting is a potential commercial relationship.

And behind many commercial relationships is someone saying:

“You really have to try this.”

Women Who Are Changing the Industry

The programme also examines the strategic value of female leadership in food, hospitality and business.

This is not a decorative panel placed into the agenda to satisfy modern expectations.

Women have always been central to Spanish food culture – preserving recipes, running kitchens, managing family businesses and carrying culinary knowledge between generations.

What has changed is their visibility at the highest professional level.

Today, female chefs, producers, executives and entrepreneurs are shaping restaurant groups, premium brands and the future of sustainable food.

Auténtica creates space for those voices to discuss leadership, growth and the realities of building businesses in industries that have not always offered equal recognition.

The future of gastronomy is not simply more technological.

It is more diverse.

And considerably less willing to remain quietly behind the kitchen door.

Sustainability Without the Green Decoration

“Sustainable” has become one of the most frequently used words in gastronomy.

Sometimes it represents genuine change.

Sometimes it appears on a menu beside a small green leaf and hopes nobody asks further questions.

Auténtica addresses the subject more seriously.

Where do ingredients come from?

How are producers paid?

How can packaging improve?

How much food is wasted?

How can restaurants grow without abandoning the values that made them distinctive?

Sustainability is not only about protecting the environment. It is also about preserving local production, supporting communities and creating businesses capable of surviving beyond the next trend.

Authenticity without economic stability becomes nostalgia.

Business without authenticity becomes very boring food.

The challenge is to protect both.

The People One Meets Between Sessions

The official programme is only half the event.

The other half happens in queues, coffee areas, tasting zones and those conversations that begin with:

“What do you do?”

And end with:

“We should definitely work together.”

Auténtica is a valuable networking environment for restaurateurs, hotels, retailers, distributors, producers, media and hospitality groups.

For the Expat Press Club, it is precisely the kind of event where editorial stories, interviews, partnerships and advertising relationships can begin naturally.

A producer may have a remarkable family history.

A chef may be preparing a new restaurant.

A hotel group may be looking for international guests.

A small Andalusian brand may be creating the best olive oil, cheese or conservas nobody outside the region has yet discovered.

These are not simply exhibitors.

They are future stories.

A German at a Spanish Food Congress

As a German living in Spain, I approach an event like Auténtica with two cultural personalities.

The German part of me wants a floor plan, a schedule, sensible shoes and a clearly organised list of priorities.

The Spanish part sees a tray of croquetas and immediately abandons the spreadsheet.

This is the challenge.

Auténtica contains multiple stages, forums, demonstrations and tasting opportunities. Attempting to see everything would require three clones and a very disciplined coffee strategy.

The best approach is to choose a theme.

Follow the chefs.

Explore olive oil.

Meet regional producers.

Attend a business forum.

Then leave enough time for the unexpected discovery – the product or conversation that was never part of the plan.

In Spain, the best moment of the day frequently begins when the plan stops working.

What Not to Wear

This is a professional food event, not a beach club and not the Feria de Abril.

Wear something polished but comfortable.

FIBES is large. Very large.

Shoes that look magnificent for eleven minutes may become instruments of torture before the olive-oil tasting.

A tailored suit, elegant trousers, a strong blouse or a chic dress all work well. Add one memorable detail and bring business cards.

Most importantly, leave enough room for lunch.

This is not the day for clothing that requires controlled breathing.

The Expat Press Verdict

Auténtica Premium Food Fest is where pleasure meets infrastructure.

It celebrates the products we love while examining the systems required to produce, distribute, market and serve them.

It brings Michelin-starred creativity into conversation with agriculture, retail, hospitality and technology.

It asks where food comes from.

Where it is going.

And whether the future can still taste like somewhere real.

For two days, Seville becomes the boardroom, kitchen and tasting table of premium Spanish gastronomy.

Come for the chefs.

Stay for the producers.

Listen to the business conversations.

Taste the olive oil.

Respect the cheese.

And if someone offers you one more croqueta in the name of professional research, accept it.

Journalism requires commitment.

Auténtica Premium Food Fest
14 September: 10:00–19:00
15 September: 10:00–18:00
FIBES Sevilla