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Diego Schattenhofer at the V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B: the scent of movement

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Diego Schattenhofer, wearing a "1973 TASTE" cap and a white chef's shirt, holds two edible-fragrance bottles labelled "El Pinar" and "Medianías de las islas" with both hands over a white table, against a black background

Gastronomy, science and wellbeing: two days of CLAVE F&B in Adeje

V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B. Centro de Desarrollo Turístico de Costa Adeje (CDTCA), Adeje, 26 and 27 May 2025.

There are congresses you attend to show a dish, and congresses you attend to discuss how the work gets done. The V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B, held in Adeje on 26 and 27 May 2025, was one of the latter, and that is exactly why we were so keen to be there. Diego took to the CDTCA stage alongside two people who don’t come from the kitchen — a scientist and aeronautical engineer, and the coordinator of a university movement and health lab — to talk about something the restaurant trade takes for granted: the nose and the body of the person eating and of the person cooking.

We reported it that same Monday on our Instagram: “Today we’re taking part in the V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B in Tenerife. A gathering that brings together gastronomy, science and wellbeing around the future of the sector.” And we added the format: “Over two days, F&B professionals, researchers and health experts share experiences and new ways of understanding wellbeing in the restaurant trade.”

Poster for the V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B on a blue background, with portraits of the three speakers for the talk, the presentation’s title and the dates “26-27 mayo” and the venue “CDTCA Adeje”

The poster for the presentation, with Diego Schattenhofer, Alfonso Álvarez-Prieto and Juan Elicio Hernández Xumet. Foto: Instagram @diegoschatten

“The scent of movement”

The talk was titled “El aroma del movimiento: olfato, postura y bienestar en el mundo de la gastronomía” (The scent of movement: smell, posture and wellbeing in the world of gastronomy) and carried three names. Alongside Diego spoke Alfonso Álvarez-Prieto, whom El Digital Sur presents as a scientist and aeronautical engineer, and Juan Elicio Hernández Xumet, coordinator of the Move&Health Lab at the Universidad de La Laguna. Three different trades for a single question, which we summed up in the post like this: “A look at how the body, smell and emotions transform the experience, both for the guest and for those who make each service possible.”

The olfactory half of the title didn’t catch us off guard. At Taste 1973 we have spent years working with scent as another ingredient, not as decoration: that is where the edible fragrances came from, and all the work we have told about what Tenerife smells like. Bringing that to a Food & Beverage congress is uncomfortable in a healthy way, because it forces you to explain with data something the dining room usually settles with intuition.

The other half — posture — is the one that rarely makes it onto a stage. A service means hours on your feet, bending over the pass, arms under tension, the same movements over and over. Discussing that at an industry congress, with the coordinator of the Move&Health Lab right there, is no mere agenda filler: it’s talking about how a team holds up over a whole season.

Several cooks wearing “1973 TASTE” caps bent over the steel pass under the heat lamps; one plates with a spoon while Diego Schattenhofer watches with his hand on his chin and, in the foreground, a golden ceramic plate waits

The pass at Taste 1973: hours standing and bending over the steel, the posture discussed in Adeje. Foto: archivo de Taste 1973.

An industry congress, not a showcase

It’s worth placing the event, because it is not a run-of-the-mill food festival. CLAVE F&B is organised by Club CLAVE, chaired by Juanjo Martínez, co-organised with the CEST — the Círculo de Empresarios y Profesionales del Sur de Tenerife, chaired by Javier Cabrera — and the Ayuntamiento de Adeje. According to the El Digital Sur report, more than 300 Food & Beverage professionals passed through the CDTCA over those two days.

The line-up of speakers gave the measure of who the event was aimed at: besides the panel on scent and movement, the same outlet names Toni Mascaró, Edurne Uranga, vice-president of Food Service Europe, and Laura Vega, vice-president of F&B at Meliá Hoteles. Coca-Cola Europacific, JDE and Heineken featured as lead collaborators, and the congress presented special recognitions to Binter, to the municipality of Adeje itself, to Profesional Horeca and to the Cabildo de Tenerife, among others. It is, in short, the map of the industry that keeps the hotels of the south of the island running.

El Digital Sur introduced Diego as “Michelin-starred chef of Taste 1973 at the Villa Cortés hotel”. That’s the house: the restaurant at Hotel Villa Cortés, Michelin star since 2024 and Repsol Sun since 2023, and a way of working that consists of putting science where once there was only habit. That this approach ends up talking about smell and backs at a congress on buffets and hotel food service strikes us as the logical consequence, not an eccentricity.

The series has carried on: in March 2026 Diego went back to the congress, this time in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, to reinvent the hot buffet at the Mesa de Talento of the VI edition. Two years running, talking about what doesn’t show up on the menu.

Read the report on the congress in El Digital Sur: Adeje, epicentro de la hostelería y restauración con la celebración del V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B. Our post from that day is still on Instagram.

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Frequently asked questions

When and where was the V Congreso Nacional CLAVE F&B held?
On 26 and 27 May 2025, at the Centro de Desarrollo Turístico de Costa Adeje (CDTCA), in Adeje, Tenerife. According to the El Digital Sur report, the event brought together more than 300 professionals from the Food & Beverage sector.
What presentation did Diego Schattenhofer give?
"El aroma del movimiento: olfato, postura y bienestar en el mundo de la gastronomía" (The scent of movement: smell, posture and wellbeing in the world of gastronomy), presented alongside Alfonso Álvarez-Prieto and Juan Elicio Hernández Xumet. El Digital Sur identifies Alfonso Álvarez as a scientist and aeronautical engineer and Juan Elicio Hernández as coordinator of Move&Health Lab, at the Universidad de La Laguna.
Who organises the CLAVE F&B congress?
Club CLAVE, chaired by Juanjo Martínez, co-organised with the CEST (Círculo de Empresarios y Profesionales del Sur de Tenerife, chaired by Javier Cabrera) and the Ayuntamiento de Adeje, according to El Digital Sur.
Who were the other speakers at the V edition?
El Digital Sur names among the speakers Toni Mascaró, Edurne Uranga, vice-president of Food Service Europe, and Laura Vega, vice-president of F&B at Meliá Hoteles, alongside Diego Schattenhofer, Alfonso Álvarez and Juan Elicio Hernández.

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