food

Top Catalan chef Carme Ruscalleda and her husband Toni Balam run the Sant Pau restaurant in Sant Pol de Mar –near Barcelona- awarded with three Michelin stars. They also own the Sant Pau in Tokyo and the Moments in Barcelona each awarded with one Michelin star. Ruscalleda was raised in a family of farmers and began cooking as a girl. Although she has succeeded in the world of gastronomy, cooking was not her dream as a teenager. In this exclusive interview with CNA Ruscalleda’s eyes shine when she explains how cooking has become her philosophy of life.

For the second year in a row, ‘Restaurant Magazine’ has awarded ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ the second position in the world’s top restaurant ranking. The Catalan chef Joan Roca runs this restaurant in Girona together with his brothers Josep and Jordi, who take care of wines and desserts respectively. The Roca brothers with their 3 Michelin star restaurant represent Catalan cuisine, after Ferran Adrià decided to close El Bulli last summer and reopen it again in 2014 but turn it into the ‘El Bulli Foundation’. Copenhagen’s ‘Noma’ continues being at the top of the best world restaurant list. The Basque restaurants ‘Mugaritz’ and ‘Arzak’ hold third and eighth positions respectively.

Caviar made in the Catalan Pyrenees, in the Val d’Aran County, is now reaching 11 countries. From this year, the Catalan caviar brand Nacarii is sold in Russia. The business started in 1999, in the Pyrenees mountains, near the French border.

Three deputy chefs of what was recognised for consecutive years as the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli, run by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià, are now set to open their own restaurant on the Costa Brava. It will be called ‘Compartir’, the Catalan verb for ‘to share’. They aim to offer “simple cuisine”, with dishes to share. El Bulli closed its doors last summer, however it will transform itself into elBulli Foundation, a centre to experiment with food, design and senses. It is expected to open in 2014. The three sous-chefs will also collaborate with Adrià’s new project.

The desserts of El Celler de Can Roca, recognised last year as the second best restaurant in the world and run by the Roca brothers, have been moved into ice-cream business. The Roca brothers have opened ‘Rocambolesc’, an ice-cream shop run by Jordi Roca, the chef patissier of El Celler de Can Roca. The ice-cream shop is in the Catalan city of Girona, where the restaurant is located. William Drew, editor of ‘Restaurant Magazine’, told ACN that good news was coming up for the Roca brothers in the gala recognising the 50 best restaurants in the world, held on April 30th.

The 2012 Alimentaria Exhibition welcomed 40,000 international visitors, which represents 29% of the 142,000 attendees. It represents an 11% increase compared to the last such event in Barcelona in 2010.

'Ferran Adrià i elBulli. Risc, llibertat i creativitat' ('Ferran Adrià and elBulli. Risk, freedom and creativity') is on show in Barcelona to coincide with the Catalan chef’s 50th's anniversary and is the basis for a future museum in the Costa Brava town of Roses. The exhibition shows a huge number of texts, graphic documents and objects related to the history of the world’s most famous restaurant.

Over 140,000 people in Catalonia depend on the distribution of food by the Red Cross. The number of beneficiaries who have been strongly hit by the economic crisis increased by more than 2,000 people compared to the last trimester of 2011.

The harvest of the millenarian olive oil dropped to one fifth compared to the previous season due to drought. This olive oil coming from 1,000 years old trees is a delicatessen from the Ebre Delta, in Southern Catalonia. Locals are pushing for UNESCO to declare the 4,500 trees a World Heritage.

Meat and fish are basically the most important components of Catalan cuisine. This makes it challenging for vegetarians to cook properly or go out for dinner. Even though there are fruits, vegetables and nuts in abundance you might also want to eat a vegetarian burger or tofu sometimes.

Alimentaria 2012 is one of the most important trade fairs in the world focusing on food and drinks. It is organised in the Catalan capital every two years. The next edition will be held between March 26th and March 29th, reducing its length from 5 to 4 days. However, the trade fair maintains the exhibition space and the number of exhibitors and participants.

As Christmas approaches, so does the presence of the traditional nougat sweet, found in almost every Catalan home during the festive season. Torró, first introduced in the Iberian Peninsula through Catalonia, has been part of the Christmas tradition since the Middle Ages. Nowadays, artisans of nougat in Catalonia still respect the original recipe. Nougat from the town of Agramunt, in western Catalonia, is an example of a product, which expects an increase in sales this year.

‘Tots Sants’ or All Saints Day is celebrated in Catalonia with the traditional panellets, a small sweet made of marzipan pastry and coated with different ingredients available at every bakery in every Catalan town. Together with grilled chestnuts and sweet potatoes, the elaboration of the panallets points out the definitive arrival of autumn.

The former mayor of Llívia, Josep Pous, has left politics and dedicated himself to artisan beer with his microbrewery. Lybica is the first artisan beer produced in the Cerdanya county, in the Pyrenees. It joins the boom of artisan beers in Catalonia.

The project ‘Cultures Trobades’ has already avoided the extinction of 300 varieties of seeds, 50 ancient vineyards and the last living specimens of the Catalan goats. The initiative aims to preserve traditional Catalan agriculture, "the country's cultural heritage."