Valls celebrates largest calçotada with 30,000 people

The southern municipality of Valls, popularly known to be the home of calçots, Catalonia's iconic, long, green, tender, and sweet onions, has hosted its annual massive calçot festival.

Visitors were able to taste an authentic calçotada for just €15 per ticket.

Valls welcomed over 30,000 attendees to its Gran Calçotada throughout the weekend, with around 3,600 portions dished out, a similar number to last year.

The town hopes to maintain these figures in the future, rather than attract even more people, according to the Chamber of Commerce president, Josep M. Rovira.

"We would like to think that we do not have to get bigger, but do it better," he said.

The Gran Festa de la Calçotada de Valls is the first major activity of Catalonia's 2025 World Region of Gastronomy. The International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, and Tourism (IGCAT) awards this distinction to highlight and promote work to raise awareness about different foods and education for better nutrition and sustainable tourism.

This year, farmers expect to surpass 18 million calçots harvested.

Adrià Wegrzyn triumps once again

One of the highlights of the day was the calçot eating contest, with 19 men and one woman attempting to eat the most calçots in 45 minutes.

Once again, Barcelona's Adrià Wegrzyn was crowned the winner, after eating 195 calçots weighing 3.275 kilograms.

"The first twenty minutes were great, but then it got harder, it got tougher," he said. 

Accompanied by family and friends, he was pleased with his achievement, which he said he would celebrate with a grilled meat lunch.

Wegrzyn has won the competition on 13 previous occasions. He holds the record for successfully devouring 5.8 kg of onions in 45 minutes.

Current regulations prevent the winner from taking part the following year, so Wegrzyn will have to wait until at least 2027 to add to his titles.

The champion calçot-eater said he hopes his children will be the ones to dethrone him in the future.

How to eat calçots

Calçots can get messy. They are eaten in a specific way, by holding the green leaves in the center and peeling off the sooty outermost layer.

Dip them in the orange 'salvitxada' sauce, and lower them into your mouth from above. Bibs, called 'pitets', are usually provided in restaurants and sometimes gloves are too, but you should still expect to get dirty.

One of the most important aspects of calçots is the ritual of eating them. These barbecued onions served on terracotta tiles are not commonly eaten at home, but more so as the centerpiece of events known as calçotades, popular social gatherings with friends and family that usually take place from January to March.

Listen to this episode of our podcast Filling the Sink on Catalonia's onion craze to learn more about calçots.