Where chocolate is the main ingredient!

The International Chocolate Festival of Óbidos 2023 is running from the 10th to the 26th of March from 11am until 8pm, with an excellent program where you guessed it… Chocolate is the main ingredient!

This year’s theme is Comic Books, through which the history of chocolate will be told, and the most emblematic characters from comic books will be brought to life as they turn into fantastic chocolate sculptures.

The festival maintains its most popular attractions, so there will be an exhibition of chocolate sculptures, live sculptures and a show cooking program as well as the presence of major brands. The event is curated by Chef Francisco Siopa, one of the most recognised professionals in the gastronomy sector nationally and internationally

Activities

The training spaces will be prominent with the presence of the Tourism Schools of Portugal, allowing contact with training chefs and students from the areas of kitchen, pastry and confectionery, as well as the presence of the renowned École Ducasse, a French school of international reference in the art of pastry and confectionery. Focusing on the experiences, the event also offers spaces to decorate donuts, taste hot chocolate and wine and of course plenty of chocolate. There will also be activities dedicated to youngsters throughout the village. This will be another edition full of originality in an experience that invites everyone to enjoy stories and Chocolate.

"We always try to innovate while maintaining the public and professionals’ favourite aspects, so we have made sure to bring back chocolate sculptures, the presence of big brands and the showcooking with recognised figures, but we also bet on novelties, such as live graffiti artists, spaces to get our hands in the dough, in this case, in chocolate, or moments of fun and leisure, in which we add, for example, chocolate and wine", reveals Filipe Daniel, the mayor of Óbidos.

Chocolate sculptures

The chocolate sculptures will be on display at Óbidos Chocolate House, among which you can find straight from the tallest buildings in New York to Óbidos Castle, Spider-Man as well as Tintin, or Monica's Gang, Asterix and Obelix, Tom and Jerry and even Goofy, who will be in the hands of chefs Abner Ivan and Natalia Marinho, winners of several international pastry awards, and Jorge Cardoso, world champion of the Culinary World Cup, who will be making a live chocolate sculpture.

Additionally, Showcooking will take place at Auditorium of Casa da Música where recognised chefs and national public figures make up recipes and share with viewers techniques and skills, always with chocolate as its central ingredient.

Every year the Showcooking menu ensures surprises in the face of versatility of this ingredient in sweet or savoury dishes. Unusual recipes, unforeseen presentations will appear on stage, guided by mastery of the guest chefs, ready to share their knowledge.

This family-friendly event has not forgotten the youngest members of the family, there will be several spaces where they can have fun with Asterix and Obelix Kids Play with various activities and games as well as a counter of stories full of adventures.

Tickets cost 10 euros and can be purchased at https://obidos.bol.pt and for more information and a detailed programme please visit www.obidos.pt or search ‘Festival Internacional de Chocolate de Óbidos’ on Facebook.