Benjamín Lana

With a degree in Information Sciences and a master's degree in Journalism, Benjamín Lana has been devoted to the practice of journalism for 30 years and to the development of new journalistic and gastronomic projects. From 2010 to 2018 he was the editorial director of the Vocento communications group for its 11 regional newspapers, the Colpisa news agency, the magazines XL Semanal and Mujer Hoy, and the economic newspaper Inversión.

In July 2017 he became Vice President of the Madrid Fusión gastronomy congress and in September 2018 he became President of the new Gastronomy division of the Vocento group, which encompasses all of the group's gastronomy projects, including San Sebastián Gastronomika, Madrid Fusión  and Bogotá Madrid Fusión, as well as many other regional events and editorial activities.

Lana, who is passionate about cooking, has been working as a gastronomic journalist for several decades in various media. He currently writes for XL Semanal, the magazine with the largest circulation in the Spanish language, where he has been presenting the gastronomic sociology column "Reinos de Humo" since 2014. Every week, the gastronomic supplements of Vocento's regional newspapers publish the section "Un comino", a very personal view of current gastronomic affairs, halfway between an essay and a diary, always with an alternative and ironic viewpoint. Among others, he is the author of the book "Casa Marcial, the Cuisine of Nacho Manzano", published by the publishing house Planeta Gastro, about one of the most unique signature restaurants in the world, a finalist for the National Gastronomy Award in 2016. 

Before joining Vocento, the group in which he has spent the most important part of his career, he worked at the Basque Country's public radio station, was the founder and editor of local press projects and directed the communications of the University of the Basque Country. His experience in newspapers began very early at the newspaper El Mundo and continued at El Diario Vasco, El Correo and El Comercio in Asturias, where he was assistant director and deputy director and led the relaunch of one of the first gastronomy supplements in the Spanish press, “Yantar".

Later, in 2007, he was appointed director of Editorial Innovation and Development of Vocento, a position from which he would take up his position as editorial director, member of the company's management committee, and co-director of the international project to disseminate Spanish language and culture within the Latin American framework "Futuro en Español".