Eguneroko Ogia | Staple foods, place and identity
November 4, 2026 – November 25, 2026
Tabakalera, Donostia / San Sebastián
What do a loaf of bread, a maize tortilla, a bowl of rice and a cooked root vegetable have in common? Beyond their nutritional value, staple foods have shaped the everyday lives of entire communities for centuries. Around them, landscapes, techniques, calendars, forms of labour, rituals and ways of belonging to a place or community have developed.
This series of workshops, organised by Food Hack Lab as part of the European project SOBREMESA, invites participants to explore staple foods as a way of understanding the relationships between food, territory, identity and migration. Wheat, maize, rice and other ingredients we now take for granted carry histories of movement, exchange, appropriation and transformation that cross borders and challenge the idea of fixed or pure national cuisines.
Throughout November, creators of all kind will draw on their own practices to explore these ingredients and the knowledge associated with them. Through hands-on workshops, food preparation and collective conversation, we will investigate how the foods that sustain us can also serve as archives of memory, belonging and change.
Rather than a series about carbohydrates, this is an exploration of the foods through which we build and sustain our cultures, day after day.
Every Thursday, 5pm through 8pm.
Programme 5 November | Manioka / Yuca / Cassava
Cooking workshop and tasting with Estefanía Simón-Sasyk
Originally from South America, cassava has become a staple food for millions of people across the world. Its introduction to Africa and Asia from the sixteenth century onwards profoundly transformed local food cultures, giving rise to an extraordinary diversity of recipes, techniques and traditions.
Together with Venezuelan chef Estefanía Simón-Sasyk, participants will prepare and taste different cassava-based dishes while exploring the ingredient's journey from the Americas to Africa and Asia, and how different communities have incorporated it into their culinary identities.
Estefanía is a chef and food systems strategist based in Donostia. She founded Mycelium Gastronomy Network and co-leads Plural Futures, working at the intersection of gastronomy, food systems and futures thinking.
12 November | Artoa
Cooking workshop and tasting with Juanjo Garin
Maize originated in the Americas and became one of the foundations of agriculture and everyday life in the Basque countryside after its arrival in Europe.
Long before talo became associated with fairs and celebrations, artoa, a traditional maize bread, was a staple food in Basque farmhouses.
In this practical workshop, baker Juanjo Garin will introduce participants to the traditional preparation of artoa or arto-opila. Together, we will make and bake maize bread and use it to prepare artozopak, a traditional way of eating it.
Juanjo is a fourth-generation baker at Garin Okindegia, a family bakery established in Ordizia in 1904, where he continues to preserve traditional bread-making practices.
19 November | Variations on Rice Pudding
Tasting and conversation with Marie Kerkeling
Rice is one of the world's most widespread staple foods. But what happens when an everyday necessity becomes something sweet, celebratory or even luxurious?
Pastry chef and researcher Marie Kerkeling will guide participants through different cultural interpretations of rice-based desserts, from French riz au lait and Portuguese arroz doce to Turkish sütlaç, South Asian kheerand Vietnamese chè.
Through comparative tasting, personal memories and conversation, we will explore how a seemingly simple preparation can acquire different flavours, techniques and meanings across cultures.
26 November | Bread, Territory and Ritual
Participatory workshop with Marco Falcone
In Sicily, during the feast of Saint Joseph, communities prepare elaborate ritual breads representing people, animals, plants and everyday objects. These symbolic forms express relationships with land, labour, nature and collective identity.
Drawing on this tradition, Sicilian architect and cook Marco Falcone, currently participating in the SOBREMESA residency programme, invites participants to explore the relationship between food, territory and identity in the Basque context.
Through collective reflection and bread-making, participants will create forms inspired by local landscapes, agriculture, fishing, forests and other elements of their cultural environment.
November 4, 2026 – November 25, 2026
Tabakalera, Donostia / San Sebastián
What do a loaf of bread, a maize tortilla, a bowl of rice and a cooked root vegetable have in common? Beyond their nutritional value, staple foods have shaped the everyday lives of entire communities for centuries. Around them, landscapes, techniques, calendars, forms of labour, rituals and ways of belonging to a place or community have developed.
This series of workshops, organised by Food Hack Lab as part of the European project SOBREMESA, invites participants to explore staple foods as a way of understanding the relationships between food, territory, identity and migration. Wheat, maize, rice and other ingredients we now take for granted carry histories of movement, exchange, appropriation and transformation that cross borders and challenge the idea of fixed or pure national cuisines.
Throughout November, creators of all kind will draw on their own practices to explore these ingredients and the knowledge associated with them. Through hands-on workshops, food preparation and collective conversation, we will investigate how the foods that sustain us can also serve as archives of memory, belonging and change.
Rather than a series about carbohydrates, this is an exploration of the foods through which we build and sustain our cultures, day after day.
Every Thursday, 5pm through 8pm.
Programme 5 November | Manioka / Yuca / Cassava
Cooking workshop and tasting with Estefanía Simón-Sasyk
Originally from South America, cassava has become a staple food for millions of people across the world. Its introduction to Africa and Asia from the sixteenth century onwards profoundly transformed local food cultures, giving rise to an extraordinary diversity of recipes, techniques and traditions.
Together with Venezuelan chef Estefanía Simón-Sasyk, participants will prepare and taste different cassava-based dishes while exploring the ingredient's journey from the Americas to Africa and Asia, and how different communities have incorporated it into their culinary identities.
Estefanía is a chef and food systems strategist based in Donostia. She founded Mycelium Gastronomy Network and co-leads Plural Futures, working at the intersection of gastronomy, food systems and futures thinking.
12 November | Artoa
Cooking workshop and tasting with Juanjo Garin
Maize originated in the Americas and became one of the foundations of agriculture and everyday life in the Basque countryside after its arrival in Europe.
Long before talo became associated with fairs and celebrations, artoa, a traditional maize bread, was a staple food in Basque farmhouses.
In this practical workshop, baker Juanjo Garin will introduce participants to the traditional preparation of artoa or arto-opila. Together, we will make and bake maize bread and use it to prepare artozopak, a traditional way of eating it.
Juanjo is a fourth-generation baker at Garin Okindegia, a family bakery established in Ordizia in 1904, where he continues to preserve traditional bread-making practices.
19 November | Variations on Rice Pudding
Tasting and conversation with Marie Kerkeling
Rice is one of the world's most widespread staple foods. But what happens when an everyday necessity becomes something sweet, celebratory or even luxurious?
Pastry chef and researcher Marie Kerkeling will guide participants through different cultural interpretations of rice-based desserts, from French riz au lait and Portuguese arroz doce to Turkish sütlaç, South Asian kheerand Vietnamese chè.
Through comparative tasting, personal memories and conversation, we will explore how a seemingly simple preparation can acquire different flavours, techniques and meanings across cultures.
26 November | Bread, Territory and Ritual
Participatory workshop with Marco Falcone
In Sicily, during the feast of Saint Joseph, communities prepare elaborate ritual breads representing people, animals, plants and everyday objects. These symbolic forms express relationships with land, labour, nature and collective identity.
Drawing on this tradition, Sicilian architect and cook Marco Falcone, currently participating in the SOBREMESA residency programme, invites participants to explore the relationship between food, territory and identity in the Basque context.
Through collective reflection and bread-making, participants will create forms inspired by local landscapes, agriculture, fishing, forests and other elements of their cultural environment.