The first event brought together specialists in food and the use of resources, and it closed with live music and a “shepherd’s tasting.”
Torrecaballeros (Segovia), November 13, 2026. How to turn parts of asparagus, cabbage, or cacao that remain outside the commercial circuit into ingredients for new foods? That was one of the issues that sparked the most interest at the opening of the I National Cycle EatCology 2026–2027, held on Thursday, November 12, at the El Rancho de la Aldegüela estate in Torrecaballeros. Under the motto “Dialogues to feed the future,” the initiative of AUNATUR proposes eight monthly gatherings on gastronomy, the environment, and global health through June 2027.
At the opening, Gloria Molina, president of AUNATUR, took part; Magdalena Rodríguez Gómez, second vice president of the Provincial Council of Segovia and deputy for Provincial Promotion and Sustainable Rural Development; and Rubén García, mayor of Torrecaballeros. The cycle has institutional backing from the Provincial Council of Segovia, Foods of Segovia, and the Torrecaballeros Town Hall. The Caja Rural Foundation of Segovia, Segovia Sur, and El Rancho de la Aldegüela collaborate, the host venue for the cycle. The IMIDRA and Unión Profesional provide scientific and technical advice.
Magdalena Rodríguez Gómez highlighted that EatCology positions Segovia as a meeting point to reflect on the future of food. “From the Provincial Council of Segovia, we believe in the importance of supporting projects that generate knowledge, drive new opportunities, and help strengthen our rural environment,” the second vice president said.
Rubén García reaffirmed the support of the Town Hall and agreed with Rodríguez on the importance of promoting responsible food and consumption, with local products and ecological production practices. Both valued that AUNATUR has chosen Torrecaballeros, at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains, to hold a forum on science and innovation in a rural setting, where a large part of the food is produced and where the inhabitants of the region often end up on the sidelines of debates about the future of food, since these are usually discussed in cities.
From by-products to new foods
Daniel Martínez Maqueda, PhD in Food Science and Technology and researcher at IMIDRA, gave the conference «Circular Gastronomy: adding value to by-products for a more sustainable diet». He reviewed five years of work by the IMIDRA Gastronomic Innovation Center and showed how by-products that are today discarded can be transformed into ingredients to develop healthy foods. It was a highly interesting talk for the food community and for the general attendees, because of the hope these investigations and achievements represent for a future more sustainable and healthy diet.
After the talk, Gloria Molina moderated a dialogue between Martínez Maqueda, Iñaki Espinosa, founder and president of Sqrups, and Gonzalo Múzquiz, technical secretary of Unión Profesional. The three shared their professional and personal perspectives on the future of food and consumption. Sqrups contributed the experience of an outlet supermarket chain that sells, at accessible prices, surpluses and other products that have fallen outside the usual distribution channels. Múzquiz highlighted that these challenges necessarily require a multidisciplinary and collaborative professional vision, in which professional colleges can play a key role.
Live music and a «shepherd’s tasting»
Guitarist and composer José Luis Montón offered a delightful micro-concert and, in one of the songs, was accompanied by Coni Lechner at the flamenco cajón. The day was closed with a «shepherd’s tasting» that brought together three foods of all time: cheese, bread, and wine.
The wine was provided by Magna Vides, a winery from La Aguilera (Burgos) that recovers traditional grape varieties in its dry-farmed vineyards. The cooperative CRICA offered artisan cheeses made with milk from cows managed through rational Voisin grazing (PRV), a system that alternates the use of plots to give the pasture time to recover. El Obrador de Palazuelos provided the artisan bread. Around the table, the public, the speakers, and the producers continued talking about the origin of the foods, how to make better use of what is produced, and how to avoid waste.
Next event, 3 December
EatCology will return to El Rancho de la Aldegüela on Thursday, December 3, at 6:30 p.m., with «Food waste: a challenge for everyone», presented by Manuel Gómez Pallarés, retired professor of Food Technology at the University of Valladolid. Free entry until full capacity is reached. The program can be consulted on the official website www.eatcology.es
About AUNATUR
AUNATUR is an Association for Environmental Outreach, Nature Projects and Ecotourism based in Segovia but with nationwide reach. In addition to EatCology, it develops the ongoing programming of the Science and Nature Classrooms of Revenga and the itinerant Naturaulas cycle, which runs through municipalities in the province with the support of the Caja Rural Foundation of Segovia. It also often collaborates with other municipalities and institutions throughout Spain.
Its projects on sustainable production, such as EatCology, seek to bring together those who research from science, those who produce from the countryside, and local communities, with the aim of reaching agreement on good practices that care for the environment and are viable for the economies of each territory. AUNATUR argues that strengthening those rural economies creates room for initiatives that have difficulty gaining traction in a globalized market and that can contribute to healthier food, the conservation of the environment and global health.
