National Gastronomy Awards gala in Toledo calls for a food law
Seven winners collected their prizes on 9 November, and the Real Academia de Gastronomía used the stage to ask Spain's next government for a law protecting the sector.
The 52nd National Gastronomy Awards were handed out in Toledo on the evening of Monday 9 November, the first time the ceremony has come to Castilla-La Mancha. From the stage of the Palacio de Congresos El Greco, the Real Academia de Gastronomía said it will ask Spain's next government for a law to protect and promote the country's gastronomy.
The academy's president, Luis Suárez de Lezo, described gastronomy as an ecosystem and a "matter of state", elDiario.es reported. He called for "a national strategy for a single gastronomy made of many cuisines and with a common narrative", and said the academy's board will put the proposal for a protection law to the government that emerges from the general election on 29 November, according to EFE. "When a town loses its last bakery or its last bar, it does not lose only a business, it loses a meeting point," he said.
The gala opened with a performance by the singer Rozalén and a minute of silence for the victims of the 28 October rail accident at Urda, in the province of Toledo. The Toledo-born chef Pepe Rodríguez presented the evening before around 400 guests, according to elDiario.es. Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, closed the ceremony and used his speech to call for consensus and less polarisation ahead of the election. The mayor of Toledo, Carlos Velázquez, also spoke.
The prizes went to the kitchen; the request for a law went to the next government.
The National Gastronomy Awards 2026 winners
The winners in the seven categories had been announced between July and October; Toledo was where they collected them. Pedro Sánchez of Bagá in Jaén was named best head chef by a jury chaired by Quique Dacosta, and received the award from García-Page. Casto Copete of Nou Manolín in Alicante won for dining-room management and said he felt "like a Quixote" on a stage in La Mancha. Mohamed Benabdallah, sommelier and head of service at Asador Etxebarri, named the world's best restaurant this year, was best sommelier.
Pilar Salas of the EFE news agency took the communication prize and urged the audience to start cooking at home again. Josep Bernabeu Mestre, professor of the history of science at the University of Alicante, won research and innovation. Jaume Subirós of Motel Empordà in Figueres received the lifetime award, and the horticulturist Emilio Medina, this year's young talent winner, was recognised for La Mielga, his seed-recovery project in Palencia.
Two extra prizes for Castilla-La Mancha
The jury added a special prize for singular merit to García Baquero, the cheesemaker from Alcázar de San Juan; the family accepting it dedicated it to shepherds and cheesemakers. According to elDiario.es, the company will open a cheese museum in Toledo within months. A special recognition went to Adolfo Muñoz, chef of Restaurante Adolfo in Toledo.
The academy has granted the awards since 1974, and for most of that time the ceremony stayed in Madrid. The 2025 edition moved to Granada, and Toledo continues the tour. Whether the request for a law survives the election will be clearer by the 53rd edition.
