Chefs Fina Puigdevall (Les Cols, Olot) and Paco Pérez (Miramar, Llançà) yesterday claimed the “mar i muntanya” concept as one of the most genuine culinary traditions of Catalan cuisine and at the same time launched an SOS in favor of farmers and fishermen, who have been at the epicenter of the news these days with their tractor units to defend, among many other things, fair prices. “It cannot be that a farmer is paid per liter of milk below the cost price,” vindicated Puigdevall, in whose restaurant the environment and the Garrotxa product are the main sources of inspiration.
Paco Pérez took a similar position, lamenting the progressive loss of small businesses such as fruit and vegetable stores in favor of large stores, which pay the producer less. In this sense, the chef highlighted the need to cook at home again and “detoxify from the easy and fast food” that has invaded our lives, to help the primary sector. “If not, we will be left without food,” Puigdevall warned.
They were the final messages of the talk they had in one of the first debates of the Fòrum Gastronòmic, aimed at professionals from the world of cooking and restoration that started yesterday in Girona. A conference in which the two chefs insisted on the need to work with seasonal products. “Nature tells you what to cook,” said Pérez, who has been working with seaweed for years, a fact that helps him transport the sea to the plate. For his part, Puigdevall placed fajol, a grass from which flour is extracted, as one of the fetish ingredients in his cuisine.
Precisely, the Fòrum, within the framework of a monograph on bread, announced yesterday the recovery of a new variety of wheat, Montjuïc, which had disappeared and which now the Gremi de Flequers Artesans de les Comarques de Girona wants to reintroduce. A task that is not new. In 2008, a variety that gave rise to Pa de Tramuntana began to be cultivated in the area of the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà. “A kilometer 0 product, respectful of the environment,” highlighted Àngel Segarra, manager of the union.
Betting on sustainability and the highest quality raw materials and supporting the primary sector by paying it a fair price were some of the commitments that forty young chefs adopted yesterday and which they expressed in a manifesto.
“We are aware that the cuisines that have preceded us are the result of agriculture, livestock and fishing in their surroundings,” notes the manifesto in which they demand a “cuisine that is respectful of the past” but remaining “open to innovations.”
The first session was closed by the three Roca brothers, who explained the most current menu at El Celler. These preparations feature the vegetables grown in Mas Marroch's own garden, which has obtained the Demeter certification for biodynamic cultivation. The waiter, Josep Roca, spoke about distillates, a project installed in La Fortalesa de Sant Julià de Ramis and the pastry chef Jordi Roca prepared some new desserts, such as a distillate reminiscent of plasticine.
The six-handed culinary demonstration allowed the brothers to defend the territoriality of local and seasonal products. Chef Joan Roca prepared a colorful dish based on tubers and another on artichoke, a food that is used in its entirety, including the trunk and outer leaves to make a vermouth. Today he will make an original wild boar xuixo. Precisely, the meat of this mammal, of which there is an excess of specimens and which causes so many problems in some sectors, will be the protagonist of today's day.
