Carme Ruscalleda i Serra (Sant Pol de Mar, 1952) defines herself as a self-taught chef, a perfectionist, a worker in innovative and creative cuisine, who constantly reinterprets traditional recipes and is committed to sustainability. “A self-taught person is accompanied by a curious spirit, great security regarding her goals, and enormous suffering because she does not know how to achieve them. For this reason, a self-taught person works tirelessly and never stops investigating, studying, asking and correcting until they reach them.” Because of that spirit of hers, and because she is one of the undisputed leaders of Catalan gastronomy, the University of Barcelona (UB) has awarded her an honorary doctorate today.
“Not even in the most surreal dreams that I have had and continue to have, would I have imagined receiving this honor,” Ruscalleda began, already with the purple cap on her head and excitedly addressing a packed auditorium, which included friends and family, colleagues from profession such as Joan and Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca), the Puigvert-Puigdevall family (Les Cols) and Josep Monge (Via Veneto), and other recognized faces such as the former president of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol.
The university has distinguished the chef for her innovative approach and for her dedication to preserving the essence of Catalan cuisine, in addition to “for the values of effort, work, tenacity, generosity and the will to share knowledge.” , which he has cultivated throughout his career and which we share,” expressed the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia. She thus obtains a title that is already held by her professional colleagues Ferran Adrià and Joan Roca.
He grew up in a peasant and merchant family that owned a small grocery store where he worked from a young age. “A girl like me, in a family like mine, didn't have to continue studying when she turned 14. At home they never asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, but I always expressed my desire to train in an artistic career.” Her perseverance, and the complicity of her husband, Toni Balam, who replaced her on her work shifts, made her wish possible. Together with him she turned the family business into a successful prepared food business, and later they decided to transform the hostel that she had in front of her store into the Sant Pau restaurant, in operation until 2018.
Throughout his career he has earned a total of seven Michelin stars: three in the restaurant in Sant Pol, two in the Sant Pau in Tokyo (which closed this year) and two in Moments, the gastronomic space of the Barcelona hotel. Mandarin Oriental. The latter, where his son Raúl Balam officiates, will celebrate his 15th birthday in 2024.
The godmother was the professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences Cristina Andrés Lacueva. During her laudatio, she highlighted that the Catalan chef more than meets the criteria for which the honorary award is granted: "She has unified tradition with innovation, she has stood out for her capacity for leadership and mastery, she has established scientific relationships with the university, and is committed to creating sustainable cuisine.
Ruscalleda has been and continues to be a firm defender of seasonal products, the local pantry and an activist for producers, artisans and sustainability. “We are heirs of a cuisine that comes from ancient times, a wise, healthy cuisine, that treats nature in an elegant and seductive way, with humble recipes, full of judgment and knowledge.” She has been in charge of spreading this gastronomic culture for years, and today she has called on the Generalitat to do so in schools: “I hope that a cooking and nutrition subject will be promoted soon. "We're already late."
