Local Stars takes the best of national cuisine to TAP

The Local Stars Project aims at valuing the country for its gastronomy, as well as the regions through their emblematic products.

The Art of Tasting Portugal (TAOTP), a platform that aims to promote national gastronomy through the gastronomic mapping of Portugal and the organization of experiences with an emphasis on this sector, joins forces with TAP Air Portugal to create an unprecedented project: the Location Stars.

As a result of sharing values ​​related to the promotion of Portugal and the country, regions and their products through gastronomy, this initiative materializes the TAOTP concept with the mapping of the territory, through emblematic products of each region, with attention to their seasonality , and also highlights this territory and its characteristics.

This partnership, announced today at the Lisbon Tourism Exchange (BTL), and which had the creative support of the Bar Ogilvy agency, will take shape over the next two years in executive class meals on all long-haul flights.

Starting in March this year, the project promotes a region and its products, crafted by a Portuguese chef, resulting in a menu that includes starter, main course and dessert.

Every two months, during 2023 and 2024, the Local Stars menu, respective featured product and region are changed in order to cover the entire national territory and respect the seasonality of ingredients as much as possible.

“TAP is the biggest showcase of Portugal in the world and our planes are one of the most powerful vehicles for promoting Portugal. The Local Stars project allows TAP to work with some of the most renowned Portuguese chefs in the development of Executive class menus, raising the cuisine we serve on board our aircraft to new heights.”, says Silvia Mosquera, CCRO TAP.

“Promoting Portugal as a gastronomic destination, with its differentiation and quality, is an objective that The Art of Tasting Portugal platform shares with TAP Air Portugal. This partnership, of which we are so proud, strengthens this strategy to boost the national territory and the community that values ​​it.”, says Patrícia Dias, founder of The Art of Tasting Portugal, along with Adriana Fournier.

The initiative has recognized national chefs who, every two months, highlight a region and a product from that same place. Thus, in March and April this journey begins in Lisbon, with grouper as the star product, worked by chef Henrique Sá Pessoa.

In the following two months, in May and June, it is up to the Azorean chef Cláudio Pontes to make the São Jorge Cheese, produced exclusively in São Jorge, in the Azores archipelago, the region highlighted in this menu, shine.

July and August will have octopus as the star product on a menu by chef Noélia Jerónimo, who promotes the Algarve region. Chefs Júlio Pereira, Diogo Rocha, Óscar Geadas are the names that complete the list of participants in this first year of the project.

Chefs validation

The production of the Local Stars author menus is the responsibility of CateringPor, which will prepare the dishes based on the recipe, tasting and validation of the various chefs involved. The project also aims to integrate local raw materials and preferentially choose suppliers from the respective highlighted regions, supporting the aspect of sustainability and promotion of the local economy on which TAOTP is based.

In addition to meals on board, video content alluding to this partnership will be broadcast on the screens of these long-haul aircraft, in all classes (business and economy): arrival in the territory with characteristic images of the region, the choice of a seasonal product , the emphasis on its producer, and the recipe of a chef working with this same product in the preparation of the menu that will be served on board.

Passengers will also be able to acquire the experience created for this purpose with the chef who authored the menu on board in the TAOTP website and on TAP’s Miles&Go and Portugal Stopover digital channels.