Choke on that US flight bid

ARTICHOKES grown in the Vega Baja region were shown off to their culinary maximum this week at Madrid Fusionthe International Congress of Gastronomy.

Almoradi chef Moises Martinez from the town’s El Buey restaurant demonstrated a range of dishes featuring the vegetable at the Costa Blanca Tourist Board stand.

Creations include an artichoke salad and a new dish called alcamole - a variation on guacamole.

Expensive ham

A SPANISH tourist in Australia barely had one leg in the country before he was sent back under beefed-up biosecurity laws over failing to declare ham and cheese in his luggage. The 20-year-old man had his visa cancelled and was fined $3,300 for carrying more than one kilogram of undeclared pork and cheese.

He was stopped at Perth Airport when 275 grams of pancetta, 665g of cured ham and about 300g of goat cheese in his luggage.

The Australian government had recently announced a beefing up of penalties for people caught with banned items to stop diseases and pests from entering Australia.

WORK has started on trying to establish the first direct air link between the United States and Alicante-Elche airport. Speaking at the Fitur tourist fair in Madrid, Alicante Provincial Council president Carlos Mazon said getting the new route would be the big tourism aim for 2023. He added that the council was talking to tour operators, travel agencies and tourist associations plus airport operator Aena to establish a trans-Atlantic service. “We have decided to go directly to the North American market, because there is still no direct link between the United States and the Costa Blanca and we are going to work to achieve it,” said Mazon.