José Ribagorda, organizer of the Botillo Festival at its international debut
The 53rd International Festival Celebrating the Botillo of Bembibre will feature José Ribagorda as its honorary guest at its 2026 edition. The renowned journalist and host will deliver the official speech at the main ceremony, which will take place on February 7—one of the highlights of the event’s program—and will become the first “ambassador” of the International Botillo Festival.
With a career spanning decades in news reporting and current affairs analysis, Ribagorda also has a background closely tied to culinary journalism—an aspect that connects naturally with the spirit of Botillo: tradition, culture, and region.
Biographical Sketch of José Ribagorda
José Ribagorda López (Madrid, 1961) is a journalist with a bachelor’s degree in Information Sciences from the Complutense University and has studied Political Science at the UNED. He began his career in the business press at the newspaper *Cinco Días*, where he wrote his first articles, before making the leap to radio in 1986 at Cadena COPE, first as a contributor and later as a news editor.
His career in radio continued at Cadena Ibérica, where he worked as a producer and editor, in addition to directing and anchoring news programs. During those years, he reported on events of enormous international significance, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989), an experience that would shape his career as a news reporter.
In television, he worked at NHK (Japan’s public broadcaster) at its Madrid bureau in 1990, and in 1991 he joined Telecinco when the network was first launched. There, he specialized in political reporting, served as head of the National Politics Desk, and covered elections and the major milestones in Spanish public life during the 1990s. Starting in 1995, he took on editing and anchoring duties for news programs in various time slots.
In 1997, he joined RTVE, where he anchored *Telediario-3* and, beginning in 2000, the *Telediario Fin de Semana* broadcasts. On the public broadcaster, he provided live coverage of major events such as the Kosovo War, the 9/11 and 3/11 attacks, and the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, he served as deputy director of *Los Desayunos*, a program featuring interviews and political analysis.
In 2006, he returned to Telecinco to direct and anchor *Informativos Fin de Semana*, a role he held until September 2024. She currently creates content related to gastronomy for the “Sabores y Rincones” section, which is published on mitele.es and in the “Gastro” section of the Telecinco website.
His passion for cooking and ingredients has also been reflected in educational projects: the documentary series “Cocineros sin estrella” (2012–2013), the launch of the website “De las Cosas del Comer” (2013), and the publication of two books: “Cocineros sin Estrella” and “De las Cosas del Comer” (2017). At the same time, he collaborates with universities, moderates panel discussions, gives lectures on communication, and advises agencies on media training.
With this appointment, the Botillo Festival adds to its roster of supporters a figure who is well-known and recognizable to the public, with a background that combines journalistic rigor, institutional experience, and a particularly intimate perspective on gastronomy and the culture of eating.
