Classic Recipe with a Twist
Despite his diminutive stature, Jaime Ugarte is a very important man in the Basque Country. His presence is announced firmly by his meticulously pressed shirt and perfectly combed white hair. He has become, knowingly or not, a visual and spiritual link between the past and future of the Basque Country. While tradition and history have framed the Basque way of life for centuries, Mr. Ugarte is confidently ushering Basque culture into the future, and he has accumulated a massive following. If there is a celebrity occupation in this region, it begins with culinary expertise and extends rapidly into sports- two sports specifically- cycling and football. Mr. Ugarte is neither a chef nor a sportsman, but what he does do he does with the finesse and cunning of the finest chef, the skill and art of the most talented footballer and cyclist, and he does it without pretension or self grandeur. As the organizer of Spain’s largest single day classic, the Clásica San Sebastián, he is leading the sport of cycling in Spain- and the businesses that sponsor it- head first into a new modality of thinking, following the lead of some of Europe’s most successful young chefs, whose foundations are cast in tradition, but set apart by the creative reinterpretation that speaks to the interests and modern lifestyle of the new European generation. Go to Article
