Diego Schattenhofer in Milan with Turismo de Tenerife: "Tenerife Experience"
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Tenerife’s cuisine and wines dazzle in Milan, courtesy of Turismo de Tenerife and the OET of Milan
By Arun Chulani, on Turismo de Tenerife’s corporate blog, 21 September 2026.
The Cabildo de Tenerife, through Turismo de Tenerife, and the Spanish Tourist Office (OET) of Milan brought the island’s cuisine and wines to Italy, and Turismo de Tenerife’s corporate blog has reported on how the day went. We’re especially pleased with the reason why: the culinary proposal for the gathering came out of the kitchen at Taste 1973, and with it travelled the aromas, the produce and the stories we’ve spent years researching back home.
The report places the date precisely: the promotional event took place on 18 September in Milan, in front of some thirty Italian media representatives, from general-interest outlets and gastronomy, travel and lifestyle specialists alike. The setting was no accident. The gathering was held at the Magna Pars, a Milanese boutique hotel linked to the world of fragrance, occupying the space of a former perfume factory — a hard-to-beat backdrop for a meal in which the sense of smell takes charge. Forbes España, which covered the same event on 23 September from a Europa Press wire report, gave the menu its name: the sensory lunch “Tenerife Experience”, designed by Diego Schattenhofer in collaboration with chef Cristian Capraro.
According to Turismo de Tenerife’s blog, the chef “together with his team, designed a lunch for the occasion conceived as a sensory journey through the flavours and aromas of Tenerife”. The report recalls that the world of perfumes entered Taste 1973 through Alfonso Álvarez, director of Essential Compositions and an expert perfumer, and notes that in Milan guests discovered aromas created from edible ingredients and produce: grapefruit, cinnamon, saffron, cumin, salt, pepper, butter, potato and mojo. It’s a path that at Taste 1973 we’ve been following since the edible perfumes of “El Pinar” and “Medianías de las Islas” and since we first started asking what Tenerife smells like.
On the plate, the island was told through bluefin tuna, white fish, baby squid and papa bonita potato, paired with a selection of Tenerife wines. Each course arrived accompanied by a card illustrated by a Canarian illustrator and historian, with images inspired by the island’s history, landscapes and culture and painted with edible dyes. The executive chef of the Magna Pars, Cristian Capraro, also took part in the gathering and shared some of his own creations, in an exchange that worked both ways.
The institutions provided the framework. The Cabildo’s vice-president and tourism councillor, Lope Afonso, argued that “Tenerife has in its cuisine and its wines two extraordinary ambassadors of the island’s identity”; Turismo de Tenerife’s managing director, Dimple Melwani, stressed that the collaboration with the OET of Milan makes it possible to present the destination “from an experiential perspective, connecting our cuisine with other creative worlds such as perfumery, art and design”. What’s left to us is the same work as always: to keep searching in the produce and in the memory of Canarian cuisine for reasons to make a lunch memorable.
Read the full piece on Turismo de Tenerife’s corporate blog: Tenerife’s cuisine and wines dazzle in Milan, courtesy of Turismo de Tenerife and the OET of Milan.
Diego Schattenhofer, culinary ambassador for Tenerife at Gastronomika 2024