The City Council of A Coruña, through the Department of Culture and Tourism, considers it a priority to develop actions to promote tourism in the city, with measures that favour the revitalisation of the hotel and catering industry, generate a flow of people and lead to an increase in the clientele of local businesses. With this interest, there are activities related to the hotel and catering industry which, as part of the city's businesses and of great importance in its economic fabric, have a direct repercussion on tourism.

For this reason, the development of the 20th edition of the Picadillo 2025 Tapas Competition (to be held from 22 November to 1 December) aims to be a nexus of union and dynamisation of tourism and the hotel and catering industry. This year, the event also commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Manuel Parga y Puga, Picadillo, (1874-1918) gastronome, jurist, politician (he was mayor of A Coruña on two occasions), writer and, in short, undisputed precursor of the Galician gastronomic chronicle. Picadillo was the great vindicator of the ‘traditional’ dishes in the face of the refined French cuisine that was so fashionable among the members of the high society of his time.

Precisely the greatest of his literary successes was the recipe book ‘La cocina práctica’, published in 1905 with a prologue by Emilia Pardo Bazán which, even today, is still one of the best-selling books in its field. Inspired by this work, the Picadillo Tapas Competition, the oldest in Galicia, rewards the creations of A Coruña's restaurateurs in two categories: the best creative tapa and the best tapa inspired by the recipe book ‘La cocina práctica’.

In addition to the annual tribute to this great defender of local cuisine, this event serves to boost the hotel and catering industry in A Coruña as a key player in the local economic fabric and a tourist resource par excellence. Undoubtedly, the promotion of tourism in the city requires this type of event as part of the so-called gastronomic tourism, which is attracting an increasing number of visitors. This type of initiative also contributes to the promotion of the city as a destination for gastronomic experiences of traditional cuisine, with local and seasonal products and at the forefront of culinary innovation.