‘Buying from farmers’ guidebook released in El Prat

El Prat del Llobregat (Gastroteca.cat).- A new guide was presented this morning by the famous chef Ferran Adrià and the Catalan Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, Josep Huguet. The innovative guidebook aims to promote the commercialisation of local products by mapping out where consumers may purchase products directly from producers. Over one hundred people attended the event held at the Agrarian Park of the Baix Llobregat county, just next to Barcelona municipality, in the middle of the metropolitan area.

Famous chef Ferran Adrià attended the event, highlighting the “social commitment for the country’s cooks, because we are always there when we are needed, unlike any other place in the world”. Adrià also proclaimed the importance of “logical cuisine”, or cuisine that is made with local products. He stressed the necessity of “promoting the importance of consuming proximity products with kids; if we achieve this, we will move forward”. The Catalan Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, Josep Huguet, said that the guide “contributes to creating an integral tourism proposal in our home and offers tourists something beyond cooking, buying directly from producers”.

Two of the producers in the guide, Enric Camprubí, an ecological veal stockbreeder, and Mercè Pasqual, an organic farmer, also spoke at the event. It took place at the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, “a place that has already spent 11 years promoting proximity products, a theme that completely coincides with the guide”, said Rosa Boladeras, president of the park’s governing consortium.

Around 18,000 copies of the guide have been published so far. The guide includes a list of over 500 producers that sell directly to consumers, both individually and in groups. The list can also be found on Gastroteca.cat. “It is a project that was born out of producer demands to sell directly to consumers: firstly for self-promotion and secondly to be able to find and buy these products”, said Ramon Sentmartí, head of the Agri-Food Commercialisation Unit from the Catalan Trade Department. “The initiative is also a response to the increased sensibility that society has for proximity products”. He also stressed the importance of “giving support to the primary sector in Catalonia…because we only eat 37% of the food that we produce”.