The last day of the Fòrum Gastronòmic de Girona yesterday had as its main course the presentations of chefs such as Mateu Casañas, one of the co-owners of Disfrutar (Barcelona), Xavier Pellicer or the Torres brothers. The message present in most of the speeches revolved around the philosophy of making the most of the product, to avoid waste, and the coexistence between traditional and avant-garde cuisine, placing special emphasis on local products.
Precisely on Monday, the Roca brothers cooked live some of the current dishes and those yet to arrive at the tables of El Celler de Can Roca. The intervention captured the essence of this zero waste concept, with dishes such as the broad beans prepared by Joan Roca, in which even the pod was used. Javier and Sergio Torres, from Cocina Hermanos Torres, transferred this philosophy to tuna. The twins told some tricks or new cooking techniques for this fish (how to prepare it wrapped in pork fat) and made some dishes live, such as tuna accompanied with fennel, blood orange and aubergine.
The Forum has always been a space focused on the debate on sustainability. For this reason, it was the place chosen to host a conference on the prevention of food waste in restaurants and central kitchens, in which a guide prepared by the Generalitat was presented, which aims to become a tool for chefs. Taking into account that one third of the food produced in the world is wasted, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), "we must change our mentality and be active agents in the fight against waste".
Víctor Quintanilla, in charge of Lluerna (Barcelona), with a Michelin star and another green star, revealed some of the practices followed in his restaurant by way of advice. Among them, for some time now they have been weighing the dishes so that the proportions that are served are optimal and they see the remains "as a product in itself with wide possibilities." Other solutions that were proposed include consuming products that are seasonal and local; awareness and training in this field; or that establishments offer the possibility of taking the food, or even the bottle of wine, if they are not finished.
The closing act stood out, a show cooking by Mateu Casañas and his Compartir team, in which they prepared a sequence of ten dishes based on the combination of local products with foreign techniques, with their classic tuna cannelloni with olive oil, almond and capers, a garlic honey, an almond milk mató combined with toast with anchovies, and their version of the suquet. Casañas took advantage of the space to bring out the work in the dining room, with a prominent role in its establishments, where a large number of dishes are finished being prepared at the table. "They are our better half, without them we would be absolutely nothing," said the chef.
The other axis around which some of the debates revolved was that of the coexistence between tradition and the avant-garde. "We can live without restaurant kitchens, because they are accessory: a historical anomaly that is only good for entertainment," said Maria Nicolau, the cook who will leave the kitchen at El Ferrer de Tall in a few days. “Apprentices in gastronomy schools are signing up for a fashion that is useless,” she added. Jaume Subirós, who participated with her in a reflection on snobbery in gastronomy, admitted the lack of cooking culture today, although he was somewhat more positive and maintained his faith in future and current chefs: "Not everything is lost".
“Catalan cuisine is in danger of extinction”. It was the statement in which Toni Massanés, director of the Fundació Alícia, the sommelier and nutritionist Clara Antúnez and the cook Iolanda Bustos agreed. "Just as we identify Italy with pizza and pasta, we should put the accent on some of our traditional dishes," said the chef. However, "the problem is not so much in eating ramen, but in stopping consuming escudella," said Massanés, referring to the Catalan tendency to open up to foreign cuisine, as in the fact that "we have not been able to communicate our recipe book to the world." Antunez concluded.
A workshop was also given by Xavier Pellicer, who continues to evolve in his work on vegetables and in the search for the most natural products in the Barcelona restaurant that bears his name. Rodrigo de la Calle accompanied him in a session led by local producers who offer natural and exclusive products, such as green vanilla, from Holland, and which is the first European vanilla in history. The projects of new voices in gastronomy were known, such as the young chef Juan Sahuquillo, one of the promoters of the OBA restaurant (Albacete), as well as other areas such as coffee or wine reaffirmed their importance.
