Panamanian authorized to gain the Gourmet Excellence 2025 prize at FITUR Madrid with the book "Stories behind a recipe"
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Panama, February 2, 2026. The book "Stories behind a recipe," written by Panamanian authors Paola Meneses and Fifita Bichili, was awarded with the Gourmet Expresences 2025 Award during the official ceremony held at the International Tourism Fair - FITUR 2026.
The recognition distinguishes projects that promote gastronomy as a living cultural heritage and social development tool.
The prize, awarded by the Excelencias Group, highlights outstanding initiatives from Iberoamerica and the world that integrate gastronomy, identity, memory and culture. Since its creation in 2005, the Excelencias Awards have been established as an international reference point for visualizing proposals that elevate excellence in tourism, gastronomy, art and culture.
At the surrender ceremony, the award was received by Demetrio Maduro, president of PRONTUR, representing his authors, who emphasized the value of the book as a bridge between culinary tradition, identity and stories that connect generations and communities through the kitchen.
"Stories behind a recipe" was recognized for his creative and cultural contribution to the rescue of culinary accounts that show how each recipe contains memories, knowledge and meanings that are part of regional and global gastronomic heritage.
The authors are part of the National Cultures Meeting of the Ministry of Culture representing the gastronomy sector. That participatory body brings together state institutions, the private sector and civil society to build the National Cultures Plan, strengthening the cultural approach of gastronomy as an identity expression.
That international prize did not only recognize the quality of the book but put Panama and its creators at the gastronomic and cultural stage of Iberoamerica and emphasized the value of culinary narrative as a living heritage.
The prestigious magazine Forbes recently highlighted the country as one of the vital gastronomic destinations, highlighting the diversity and diversity of its cuisine, as a result of the fusion of indigenous, Afro-Antillean, Spanish, Asian, Middle Eastern and Caribbean influences.