Are grilled calçots the new paella? The calçot and the art of preparing and enjoying it, that is, the calçotada, is becoming popular outside its borders as once it happened to the Valencian paella. The ritual that surrounds them and the conviviality of getting together to eat them is taking them further and further away from the borders of Valls that protected it with the PGI Calçot de Valls, be it in restaurants, popular or private calçotades.
"We put a sardana on them while we cook them because that way they get a better flavor." This is the secret and humorous touch that José Ramón Fernández, from Madrid, uses when he prepares calçots with his family in Horcajo de Santiago, Cuenca. He says that there they are known as chives or porreta chives, which are eaten with bacon and salt and that they are very common, since Consuegra produces them and calls them 'calsot manchego' in their days to spread their consumption. "Here there is not so much tradition of roasting them and that is why they are not selected as much, but the producers here say that they sell to Catalonia and then they do select the bunches by size."
What came before: the calçot or the spring onion from Consuegra? This controversy was uncovered by the journalist Cristian Campos on his Twitter while he was preparing to enjoy a calçotada with the family, which in the end is what is important. "What difference does it make? –replied @J_CarlosNavarro– We always celebrate Andalusia Day with friends in Estepona with a "Calçotada with romesco sauce". Because after the Christmas celebrations, few other parties are left on the calendar during the winter. And when the weather allows it, everyone enjoys a day in front of the grill and the table around their loved ones.
Elena Ortiz, a Catalan living in London, nostalgic for this tradition, decided to put together a calçotada to taste these roasted onions again and, incidentally, show off her gastronomic culture. "She was such a success that this year they have not forgiven and they have wanted us to do it again," she says. “It makes things much easier that it is a feast suitable for everyone and, also, that it is so informal. The specific liturgy that it has gives it a lot of vibes and, for the English, it is a good show to see us eat them and drink the wine with the porrón”.
Ortiz buys a bunch of calçots for £18 at a gourmet food supplier and also buys ñoras at a Spanish grocery store in his neighborhood to prepare the salvitxada, the typical (and regulatory) sauce to taste them. “Sometimes you see calçots in a hipster supermarket, but they don't have enough to make a calçotada”.
Alberto Meluda from Zaragoza remembers that it was around 2010 when he and his friends began to assemble calçotades. “Since we were 18 we get together to eat, usually in our towns, and we have become more sophisticated. From a hamburger we went on to make shredded meat wrapped in banana leaves and roasted for 5 hours to eat in tacos”. And from there, to the calçotades. "Since we investigated the matter, we have set up an annual 'calsotada'. Precisely, next week we have rented a rural house and we will roast calçots. As soon as we see that they start to sell them, we try to balance schedules, we take out our large grill (we have not yet taken the step of lighting a fire on the ground) and there is always someone in charge of getting bibs and all the paraphernalia”.
Meluda explains that they buy the calçots in greengrocers and in BonÁrea (a Catalan supermarket focused on food that also has offices in Zaragoza) and that they complement the menu with botifarra and a little more meat, such as lamb. “And to drink, red wine in a jug or beer. Perhaps it is not very canonical, but it is what the body requests. Asked about the part he enjoys the most, the man from Zaragoza argues that it is “the moment of socialization and a change of routine, since a calçotada is not the same barbecue, paella or food as always. Plus, it's fun to have a seasonal custom in winter that's inconceivable at any other time of the year."
Andrea Aznar, also from Zaragoza, says that when this time of year arrives it has always been customary to go with her family to a plot of land they have on the outskirts of the city or to go to a restaurant in the direction of Lérida to celebrate a calçotada -she points out that they also they call them that. "When we have made them, since we had the grill, we have accompanied them with lamb ribs." The woman from Zaragoza reasons that the calçotada has never been foreign to her and that, the fact of being close to Catalonia, she may have a lot to do with it. She also points out that it is a very fun celebration and that they have even gone to calçotades when they have visited Barcelona.
“The concept is very entertaining and what I enjoy the most is being with friends, eating something easy and entertaining to cook and peel, the fact of getting your hands dirty, of being all together, of not having to put dishes, of sharing. It is the key and what I like the most”. In his experience, it has not been difficult for him to get calçots in Zaragoza. As Meluda recounted, he stocks up at Bonárea with packs of 30 calçots and the sauce to accompany them. "Then we collected a thousand old newspapers from the Heraldo de Aragón to wrap them up."
But if anyone has brought calçots, it has been Julià Delos, originally from Mataró, who in 2019 started La Calçotada, a calçotade business in the Netherlands: "I bring the calçotada to your house, to your restaurant or to the event you want", Explain. This electronic engineer landed in Eindhoven to carry out his doctorate in microelectronics for LED lamps for Philipps and, in his stay, in 2014, his friends asked him for a calçotada. Of the 5 people who were invited, there ended up being 50: after chatting with the restaurant where they wanted to celebrate it, he urged them to open it to the public and it was quite a triumph. A year later, there would be 250. And the third year, 500 people eating calçots in a square in Eindhoven.
Until 2019, Delos – who lived in Valls for two years – grew the business through a catering concept and today organizes calçotades events and distributes calçotada packs to individuals, restaurateurs and small organizations in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium , Ireland, France, Denmark and Austria. "Today 2,500 calçots will come out to be roasted over the weekend." His clients are Catalan immigrants, Dutch people who have lived in Barcelona and know the tradition, and also people from other countries who have been to a calçotada or have heard about it and want to experience it.
“At the events there are many people who are excited about the calçotada, who are visiting Amsterdam and find it amusing to do it away from home, and also a large local audience. It becomes a magnificent meeting point, where there are people open and willing to socialize. In fact, lately they have asked me to generate group dynamics within the same events, before, during or after the calçots, which we accompany with Iberian secret or Asturian veal (beans with mushrooms for vegetarians), and we finish off with a Catalan cream of dessert". Delos has worked with calçot from Valls, but now he buys them from Elm Pou Lluc, a farmer from El Bròquil, in his native Mataró, who grows them according to organic regulations and on reclaimed land from Les Cinc Sènies.
In search of active investors, the entrepreneur affirms that one of the main motivations he had for starting a business was realizing that calçot is a unique product and that it can become a much bigger business engine than one could imagine. "The calçotada product is a unique experience that can generate a very large income for the state through export, and my company has the banner of opening and creating that market."
Before the calçot crossed the borders of the country, it first had to cross those of Valls. Rafael Castells i París, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Valls, has just published How I lived it. Valls, being there, living there and living there (Cossetania) where, among other experiences, he tells what his story has been around the calçot. "This year marks 125 years since the Xat de Benaiges, in 1898, discovered calçot and cooked it as we do today. And 25 years ago we got the IGP Calçot de Valls, promoted by Cristian Ramírez Martinell, (grandson of the architect César Martinell, disciple of Gaudí) who wanted to do something to combat the ridiculous price of calçots. First he obtained a Quality Designation which, later, the European Union approved as PGI". What is it for? It guarantees that there is good calçot cultivation according to regulations and delimits where they can be planted: Alt and Baix Camp, Tarragonès and Baix Penedés. In total, 50 calçot producers who expect to collect about 20 million onions this year. "We know from the Societat Agrícola de Valls, which runs the secretariat of the IGP, that every weekend hundreds of calçots are sent to many places in Spain and abroad," says Castells.
Castells was one of the organizers of the first Gran Festa de la Calçotada de Valls (which usually hosts around 35,000 people) in 1982, as part of an itinerant day of the First Catalan Cooking Congress. “Instead of roasting them in the field, as always, we roast them in a square in Valls on the last Sunday of January. Since then, we have celebrated it every year.” However, remember that the oldest document that mentions the calçot is from 1921. The newspaper La Crònica de Valls includes the calçotada that took place in honor of some Madrid industrialists who were doing some inspections for the zone. Later, between the 40s and 50s, a group of enlightened people from Valls took up the tradition of making a calçotada every year.
“They called themselves La Colla de l’Olla and invited other enlightened people, poets, painters and writers from Barcelona. They even did some Flores del Calçot Games and were the authentic promoters of the calçotada. So much so that in the 1960s there were already inns and restaurants in farmhouses in Valls that offered calçotades”. The fame of the calçot helped to create a new tourist season in the area, from November to April, which is complemented by the season of sun and sand, and which energizes other products that accompany it, such as lamb, sausage and wines and digs of the territory
The calçots caused a sensation and the press (which comes from Korea, China, the US, among others) helped spread the aroma of this roasted onion throughout Catalonia. Thus, in 1987 the first calçotada in the city was held in Barcelona, organized by the Casal Independentista de Sants. Its popularity has continued to grow, especially during the last 15 years, agrees Castells, who argues the following: "a taula calçotaire is festive, it has a good atmosphere and good vibes, it is an informal meal, with its bibs and porrons, with the sauce and the slice of bread to collect the juices from the calçot, and are eaten standing up. Bring together a group, be it friends, workers or family, and it can be made more intimate or massive. It's a winter party, when there's no beach and not much to do outdoors.”
