Barcelona is set to host the 2026 Meat & Fire Festival, an international food event that brings together 30 grill masters and gastronomic projects from 10 countries. The festival will focus on fire cooking, with dishes and techniques that range from Basque and Mexican traditions to Japanese and Argentine influences.
Among the methods on show are burduntzi, a Basque way of slowly roasting whole animals on an iron rod over embers, and Yucatán-style cochinita pibil, where marinated pork is cooked slowly in an underground oven called a pib. The programme also includes slow-smoked beef rib, smoked pork belly with seven-salt ceviche and dehydrated lemon, onion and coriander sugar, wagyu sirloin temaki, and grilled lamb leg with rhubarb glaze, skyr and wasabi.
Buenos Aires is the guest city for the 2026 edition, with three grill masters representing the Argentine capital. They are German Sitz from La Carnicería, Magalí Núñez, known as La Maga, and Javier Brichetto from Madrid's Piantao, who has cooked in seven countries.
Alongside the food, the festival will include talks, culinary demonstrations and debates. The Gastrosàvies group will give a showcooking and talk on gastronomic memory and traditional cuisine. There will also be an artisan market, tasting areas and live music. For readers following local food coverage, see our Community and Sport pages for more Barcelona updates.
Meanwhile, The Champions Burger is back in the Barcelona metropolitan area, now at RCDE Stadium in Cornellà-El Prat after a previous stop in Barcelona drew more than 180,000 people. This edition adds The Champions Cheesecake, a section where ten pastry chefs are serving their own takes on cheesecake, with Jon Cake from Barcelona and Golossa Cakery from Tarragona among the Catalan names involved.
The burger event uses a California-themed setup with neon lights, pastel food trucks and 19 restaurants serving smash burgers. Entry is free, and it runs from midday until midnight. Visitors vote by scanning a QR code on their ticket and rating each burger on bread, meat, ingredients, presentation and originality. The three most voted burgers will reach the Barcelona podium, and the local favourite will get a special mention.
