ONE CAUSE
The disaster caused by the DANA on October 29th, 2024 has left immense pain in the province of Valencia: lives lost, families who have lost their homes, and regions left in ruins or devastated. Today, those who have lost everything need our help to rise again and dream once more.
Thus was born the initiative Desde Valencia para Valencia, spearheaded by Ricard Camarena, Begoña Rodrigo, and Quique Dacosta in collaboration with the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE). Renowned chefs from around the world have joined this effort in solidarity, with a simple yet vital goal: to raise funds to help recover the devastated areas, with a particular focus on supporting self-employed individuals, shops, and small businesses most in need, especially those led by parents or guardians responsible for children. This aims to prevent an increase in vulnerability among children in Valencia, revive the economic recovery of the affected area, and contribute to maintaining jobs.
Participating in this initiative is an act of love and solidarity that will reach those who need it the most. Through gastronomy, we can help these families feel they are not alone in this challenging time.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Desde Valencia Para Valencia
A solidarity initiative spearheaded by Ricard Camarena, Begoña Rodrigo, and Quique Dacosta, in collaboration with the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE) with the charitable support of renowned chefs from around the world, with a simple yet vital goal: to raise funds to rebuild businesses, restore hope, and revive the economic recovery of the affected area.
Ricard is a restless chef, a man who left one of his passions, music and his trumpet, to devote himself fully to cooking. He exchanged sheet music for recipes, musical compositions for gastronomic ones, and playing in a band for cooking in a team.
Born in Valencia on August 15th, 1975.
“This self-taught chef, with forearms marked by daily burns, knows very well that his craft is learned in the kitchen. His determination, which he has in greater measure than most, has rooted him firmly in front of the stove.”
Bego is drawn to everything that excites her: citrus fruits, the sea, vinegars, fresh herbs, a good stew… she loves to cook. She trained in intense environments and began working in kitchens and hotels (always outside of Spain), following a path far removed from traditional training. Today, 18 years after opening the doors of her restaurant, she remains a passionate advocate of free-form cooking. She runs her own restaurant where she is her own boss. Begoña is now a role model for many chefs embarking on commercial ventures in the hospitality world, where tenacity and nonconformity rarely fail to deliver results.
Quique Dacosta. Originally from Extremadura and Valencian by adoption, he has been working professionally as a chef since 1986. At 14 years old, he began working in the kitchen and exploring books, almost all by French chefs with culinary approaches very different from what he was working with at the time. This sparked an interest in food that went beyond mere sustenance. At 18, he started visiting the best gastronomic restaurants in Spain.
In 1988, he began working at what is now his restaurant, El Poblet (now Quique Dacosta Restaurante), which initially served Castilian cuisine and later shifted to local maritime gastronomy. During this time, an innovative Alicante, Valencian, and Spanish cuisine began to take shape and find its context. Styles were blended to create a new Valencian cuisine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, under Quique Dacosta’s leadership.
This cuisine was modernized with new techniques: the aim was to lighten cooking as a central concept and to refine the cooking points of ingredients and preparations. His focus was on creating with local products, as the leitmotif of his work, always with an open window to the world, embracing the cultures, cuisines, and products of other countries to enrich his proposals and expand his knowledge.
AVE strives to be an organisation for reflection and social engagement on the socio-economic issues affecting the citizens of the Valencian Community and Spain.
Through reflection, communication, and opinion-building, we aim to promote the socio-economic development and territorial integration of the Valencian Community and Spain, as well as contribute to the competitiveness of our economy. Our approach involves identifying and analyzing challenges and attempting to create the social and political conditions that turn them into strengths and opportunities.
In carrying out our work, we not only collaborate loyally with Valencian and national institutions but also seek to mobilise other political, social, and economic actors to ensure the greatest possible consensus around proposals and initiatives, contributing to the development of a culture of cooperation and constructive work.
We do this because we believe that in today’s complex, dynamic, changing, and globalized reality, strong and effective companies are those that achieve a high degree of social cohesion and engagement among significant actors, where dialogue and negotiation prevail over conflict and confrontation.
This website aims to be a communication tool with society and its stakeholders, providing a space for discussion or deeper understanding of AVE’s views or other aspects we work on, in line with our mission.
DESDE VALENCIA PARA VALENCIA MANIFESTO
Desde Valencia para Valencia is a solidarity initiative led by chefs and supported by the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE) to support those affected by the DANA in the province of Valencia. Through charity dinners and donations, it seeks to raise funds to help recover devastated areas, with a special focus on self-employed individuals, shops, and small businesses most in need, contributing to maintaining jobs. This is our manifesto:
Solidarity
The initiative Desde Valencia para Valencia was created as a solidarity response to the tragedy caused by the DANA in the province of Valencia, a catastrophe that has left many families without hope. Once again, gastronomy serves as a tool for economic and emotional recovery for Valencian society.
01
Hope
The primary goal is to raise funds to help recover devastated areas, with a special focus on restoring self-employed individuals, shops, and small businesses, contributing to job retention, rebuilding projects, and restoring hope and stability to those now facing devastation.
02
Donations
We want every donation to be seen as a genuine act of solidarity, directly reaching those who need it most, helping to rebuild their projects and their dreams.
03
Global
On December 13th, dozens of chefs from across Spain and several cities around the world will unite for simultaneous charity dinners to raise funds for those affected by the DANA.
04
Transparency
All proceeds will be channeled through a Valencian public utility association, Mamás en Acción, which has been operating for ten years with full quality certifications, guaranteeing fair and proportional distribution and ensuring that 100% of the proceeds reach those in need.
Bureau Veritas, a world-leading company in inspection and certification, will conduct an audit process to verify the transparency of the management processes for distributing the funds raised through the “From Valencia for Valencia” initiative organized by Ricard Camarena, Begoña Rodrigo, and Quique Dacosta, in collaboration with the Asociación Valenciana de Empresarios (AVE), to support the recovery of freelancers, businesses, and small enterprises in areas devastated by the DANA in Valencia.
05
Boundless
We are ambitious because we know this cause deserves all our energy and effort. We believe in the power of mobilization in the gastronomic, business, and broader society sectors. That’s why we aspire to raise hundreds of thousands of euros.
06
Table 0
Everyone can contribute and become part of this solidarity initiative, wherever they are. For those unable to attend the charity dinners, we have set up a symbolic “TABLE 0” as a way of making a donation.
07
Responsability
As chefs, we haven’t just shared flavors and experiences with the public; we’ve also become a powerful voice to reach society as a whole. Now we want to use it to create a positive impact and make things happen during critical moments.
08
Commitment
This initiative is spearheaded by the chefs Ricard Camarena, Quique Dacosta
and Begoña Rodrigo with the support of the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE). Motivated by our love for our profession and our commitment to the society that supports us, we have launched this initiative, in the conviction that December 13 will be a historic day of solidarity and support.
09
Future
We invite everyone to be part of this ray of hope through the power of gastronomy. With everyone’s efforts, we can help our neighbors rebuild their lives, restore the business community, and create a future rooted in support and solidarity. From Valencia, for Valencia, and with the world.
