Appeasing the Catalan Conflict

For this final civic issue blog post regarding the Catalan conflict, I would like to go over how I’ve lived the political and social struggle personally as a citizen of the region during the past 18 years and also review certain steps that have been made towards finding the peace between separatists and unionists. From my own experience, one of the greatest errors made by many Catalans in the past decade of turbulent politics and confrontation has been the refusal to dialogue and acknowledge the other side’s arguments. Nationalists have always stood firm on their beliefs of becoming an independent nation, regardless of some of the drawbacks their “success” might incur, and the Spanish government has refused on countless occasions to sit down with the Generalitat (Catalan government) in order to draft possible solutions to the conflict without having to regret the loss of one of its most precious autonomous communities. Crispation, hatred, and the lack of acknowledging other people’s viewpoints have pervaded the politics of the Catalan conflict and have stained the images of both sides, unable to come to a consensus on certain aspects such as economic management or social malpractices. Above all of this, digging into society more so than just politics, I’ve also seen first hand how many friendship, professional or even family relationships have been torn apart due to disagreements on such a sensitive topic like Catalan independence has been. I’ve also been witness of shameful episodes of people verbally and sometimes physically abusing themselves on public streets because one or the other have felt offended for the Catalan independence symbol or the Spanish flag. This is the sad reality of my community, people cannot hang a Spanish or a Catalan flag from their balcony without being victims of sabotage attacks or insults.

So, what can the Spanish and Catalan governments potentially do in order to bring the social conflict to a halt and restore the long-lost harmony we’re all looking for at the end of the day? One of the most popular and welcomed proposals in recent years has been a series of open dialogue sessions between the Spanish and Catalan governments where the latter would essentially be granted, in contrast to all other communities, the privilege of discussing or debating certain policies or reforms that the former might want to implement that would directly affect the northeastern region. Catalan separatist leaders, whom have held the throne of the region’s government for the entirety of the 2010s decade, were the ones to demand this innovative practice, and fearful of sparking even more tensions, the Spanish government accepted. This solution has allowed dialogue to prevail after the unfortunate events occuring at the end of 2017, and has made Catalans feel slightly more appreciated and recognized, which is in essence one of their greatest desires. However, this does violate the theoretical equity that should exist among all 17 autonomous communities in terms of power and say. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if now any other region feels that lack of recognition given the preferential treatment Catalonia has earned by basically being the naughty and rebellious child. To compensate this, the president along with his/her cabinet could think about establishing this “table of dialogue” (this is the literal translation from Spanish) with all other autonomous communities too.

Following the escalation of tensions during the end of 2017 and start of 2018, the Catalan conflict suffered another major turn of events when the Catalan president and primary ministers during the illegal referendum and declaration of independence were sentenced to prison stays ranging from 8 to 13 years. Naturally, this enfuriated many Catalans and created another spike in the number of natives that would favor the rupture with the western European nation. In order to restore some of the faded peace, the current government of President Pedro Sanchez decided to reprieve the sentence of these separatist leaders. Although controversial, the decision has been acknowledged to be a step forward in the search of restoring order with Catalonia. It’s absolutely true that according to the penal code, there were certain actions made by the condemnded Catalan leaders that were deserving of long jail sentences, but the tag of “political imprisonments” would’ve always hung over the cases and the current Spanish government wasn’t willing to accept it. Ultimately, a political conflict of this nature should ideally be tackled away from the courts. Politics are all about emotions and what people are able to transmit, and the straightforward nature of the judicial branch lacks the flexibility to properly adjust to a civic issue like the one being discussed.

With the dialogue sessions in place and the separatist leaders out of jail, the Catalan conflict has settled in the minds of many in the past couple of years. Tensions have deflated and this has been proven to have even helped Spain in its quest of preserving Catalonia. In recent surveys performed by La Vanguardia, Catalonia’s most important and refuted media organization, 53% of the about 7 and a half million Catalans prefer to continue being a part of Spain, with less than 45% actually positioning themselves in favor of independence. Dialogue with the now free separatist leaders have also allowed Spain to dodge any possible self-declaration attempt such as the one in October of 2017. Taking the Catalan conflict as an example, it can be deducted that for many, if not all civic issues, acknoweledgement, understanding, and dialogue between people must prevail in order to resolve these complex conflicts. At the end of the day, we all have our personal selfish desires and if we’re not able to control them as a society, issues such as the Catalan independence movement will not only cease to appear, but also strengthen with time.

Sources:

https://sciencenordic.com/denmark-forskerzonen-politics/is-there-a-solution-in-sight-for-catalonia/1458224

https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20211220/7937624/conflicto-catalan-solucion.html

Understanding the Civic Issue

In the previous post, I went over the history of one of Spain’s most famous political events of recent years. Remembering past events of suppression and suffering from the Catalans at the hands of the Spanish nation is important in order to understand one of the keys to the whole independence movement situation. However, there is much more to the story that should be looked at in order to craft a better overall picture of the civic issue and in order to be able to comprehend what solution suits this scenario the best. In this post, I’ll briefly go over the economical reasoning many Catalan independence supporters use in their attempts to justify their desire of emancipating from the power of the Spanish nation. I will also go over a series of key events that have completely dynamited the political fragility of the issue and that have been able to nearly give birth to a new nation in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula.

In a similar fashion to the United States, Spain is composed of 17 autonomous communities that have some individual sovereignty. Some of these regions, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country (surprisingly the two nations that have historically always fought to become independent) have more power than others and it’s mainly due to their separatist-prone history but also with their great economic input in the overarching national economy. Spain has given these two regions a greater leeway in terms of sovereignty just to satisfy them politically knowing that it’s crucial for them to keep being a part of Spain due to their enormous economic value. Catalonia, in particular, is just the second most productive autonomous community after Madrid, but it can easily be alleged that it holds a greater value than even the nation’s capital territory. Catalonia is a gold mine for culture-related events, business, and especially tourism, the second sector in terms of contribution to the GDP. Losing Catalonia would mean losing Barcelona, a price Spain isn’t willing to pay considering the prestige of the coastal city.

Having all of this in mind, you might be asking yourself what economic struggles Catalans see in continuing to be part of Spain. Well, the answer is pretty straightforward; taxes. As the second most productive community, Catalonia also receives the silver medal when it comes to providing money to the central government. Catalans are, on average, the second group of people that more federal taxes pay just after the Madrileños. The problem… that they’re the ones that then receive the least back from the Spanish government. The Catalan independence movement has always used this to argue that Spain doesn’t care about Catalonia or that Catalans aren’t as valued as they should be. However, what these nationalists never mention is that, on the other hand, their region is the one with the greatest number and highest local taxes. In fact, when put into perspective, more money is lost to the Catalan government than to the Spanish, but skewing this reality is one of the most effective strategies from the separatists and one of the greatest priorities for the defenders of Spanish-Catalan unity. In recent years, there have been proposals to grant Catalonia even greater sovereignty with respect to other autonomous communities, and give them the possibility of paying less federal taxes. On one hand, Catalans would benefit from having to give up less of their net worth and “share” it with less-privileged compatriots, as they always say, but on the other hand, it’s hard to believe Spain could come out unscathed from this situation. Spain needs money from its northeastern community just as it does from its poorest regions because the economic harmony of the country is dependent on the income all of the regions input proportionally. Having said this, Catalonia would perhaps benefit from a more American-style system of state and federal taxes.

Stemming from these major issues that have already been discussed are some of the most recent chapters of this complex political tale. After decades of fighting for independence, Catalan separatist leaders in charge of the region’s government called for a referendum of auto-determination on October 1st, 2017. Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan president at the time, and his ministers called for the over 7 million inhabitants of the autonomous community to vote either yes, no, or no preference for Catalonia to become its own independent state. The referendum was deemed illegal by the Spanish government, following what the nation’s Constitution says, and therefore ordered both the Catalan police and the Spanish police forces to prevent people from voting. The former never obeyed and allowed people to enter electoral colleges, while the latter decided to ruthlessly open their way through barricades and human barriers to literally destroy the voting urns. As many Catalan nationalists attempted to prevent Spanish police forces from ruining their illegitimate referendum, there were many events throughout the entirety of the region’s geography where the police aggressively charged against civilians. Images from this dark day in Spanish modern history circled around the world viciously and resulted in the auto declaration of independence from the Catalan government just 10 days after. For a couple of hours, the region was its own independent state before the Spanish government applied the 155th article of the Constitution that grants them the power of overthrowing the community’s government and restoring Spanish control.

During these highly-emotional days of massive political instability, the crescendoing hatred from Catalan nationalists towards Spain skyrocketed dramatically. Many people questioned whether it was a smart move from Spain to send its police forces to Catalonia in order to prevent a referendum that was already deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The results would have had zero value regardless of the outcome, so why take the risk of dynamiting the conflict by aggressively powering your way towards the epicenter of electoral colleges. In my opinion, the battle was more symbolic than any other thing. The central government wanted to consolidate and demonstrate its power over that of its most rebellious community. Nonetheless, the debate relies on the idea of voting. After the October 1st incidents, balconies all across Catalonia were dressed with signs that said “Yes for Democracy” or “Let Us Vote.” Nationalists were complaining about the fact Spain was not allowing them to vote for their independence democratically and were again being suppressed politically by the central government. Should independence-related referendums be considered legal? The Spanish Constitution says they shouldn’t, obviously with certain nuances, but it would be interesting to discuss how a country could modify these “ancient” laws in order to favor democracy. At the end of the day, if a whole group of people is in agreement with something (this is not the case though as it has been proven that more than 50% of Catalans are now against the split) then they should be able to express their will.

Sources:

https://www.france24.com/es/20171220-momentos-clave-movimiento-independentista-catalan

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-41541093

https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2019/08/29/companias/1567086634_731386.html

Rise of the Catalan Independence Fervor

For my civic issue blog I’ve decided to take you with me on a ride through Catalan history, specifically the one regarding their now (in)famous independence movement. Although it has become one of the most effervescent and therefore controversial events in recent years all across Spain, Europe, and perhaps the world, there is a vast and complex history behind the Catalan push for independence that when analyzed allows us to comprehend the nature of the civic issue. History is one of the major components of the recent Catalan fervor in search of their emancipation from the Spanish nation. Many Catalan nationalists always reminisce on the suffering of the Catalan people at the hand of some of the most ruthless Spanish leaders and during times of major political instability in the Iberian Peninsula. Looking back at some of these historical episodes, we might be able to dive deeper into the minds of nationalism and perhaps comprehend what alternatives might arise to satisfy Catalan independence.

The origins of the movement date back to the period of the Reconquista, when the Spanish government took control of the territory that we know as Spain today. Upon this victory from the Spanish crown, industrial en economical growth ignited in Spain, specifically in Catalonia and that’s when the first independence desire sparked. The first ones to promote the movement fed off from certain political crises affecting the central government, and later on from specific periods of repressions such as the first dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the most famous one commanded by Francisco Franco. During both of these tyrannical rules, Catalonia was the victim of cultural and economical suppression that eliminated the freedom of the people to express and feel as Catalans. The language was one of the things that was completely wiped out by both Primo de Rivera and Franco. People who spoke or wrote in Catalan faced consequences that ranged from war to even death. The dictators’ willingness of taking over the “sovereignty” of the Catalan region by Spanishizing it, only catapulted the independence movement among the people.

In the early 1930s, the General of Catalunya was established, which basically is the governing body in the autonomous region. Catalonia was granted partial sovereignty, similar to that of a US state, and was free of taking many of the decisions that affected the region solely in terms of economics, culture, or any other scope. Once Franco takes control of the Spanish federal government, he seizes control of Catalan autonomy and essentially destroys the governmental system that had been created for the autonomous region. Thousands of Catalan activists fighting for their lost sovereignty had to go into exile or were executed as they fought against their region’s cultural suppression. Change didn’t arrive until the late 1970s after the death of the dictator in 1975. Catalonia had already been benefiting economically from an exponential increase in tourism economy in the coastal regions of Barcelona, Tarragona, and Girona, and combined with the restoring of the Generalitat, the Catalans were determined to never let go of their political and economical power once again, hence the escalating movement since the late 20th Century and the start of the 21st. A new police force emerged in Catalonia, the Catalan language was deemed an official language, and many other changes occurred during the start of the 21st Century, but the people still wanted more. In a way, people never forgot the nearly 40 years of suffering during Franco’s dictatorship, and politicians such as Jordi Pujol, Artur Mas, and in more recent years Carles Puigdemont were able to capitalize on that Catalan victimism to create in millions of people a sense of hatred towards the Spanish nation, even if the Spanish Constitution was now accommodated to provide its richest region with many things they asked for and was approved by over 90% of the region’s population.

However, the renaissance this movement has gone through in the past decade, where it has gained fame in the international panorama, is partly due to two key events. One of them, the effects of the 2007-2009 great recession, and the other, the decision from the Spanish Constitutional Court in 2010 to eliminate certain parts of the Autonomous Statute of Catalonia, bringing back past ghosts from the repression periods of the 19th and 20th centuries. The former served as the perfect excuse for Catalan nationalists to claim that the Spanish government was exploiting the region economically. Catalonia was and still is the richest and most productive of all 17 autonomous communities, and during the crisis, it was forced to give more money to the central government in order to provide for the less productive regions of the country. This, along with the controversial decision from the Spanish Constitutional Court, was considered a humiliation to Catalonia by the independence movement leaders and political parties, and therefore they claimed a referendum of auto-determination was the only escape route for the thriving region. In 2014, right after Artur Mas, the Catalan president at the time, was prevented from exercising power for two years, over 80% of Catalans voted to push for the independence of the region.

Since then, there has always been the ongoing debate of whether the Spanish government should judicially persecute the Catalan leaders who spark the desire to emancipate from the state. According to the laws, pushing the people to vote in favor of independence is illegal, but by punishing many of the leaders, Spain has accomplished the opposite of what they really want. History has played a massive role in this conflict, as Catalans have always felt humiliated in a way by the Spanish central government. Now that they’re seeking for independence, perhaps punishing the leaders and reminding people of the periods of greatest suppression is not the best idea.

Sources:

https://www.clarin.com/mundo/antecedentes-argumentos-independentismo-catalan_0_HySUx8XGM.html

CLUB DE PERIODISMO: ORIGEN DEL MOVIMIENTO INDEPENDENTISTA CATALÁN

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20345073

 

A Spanish Gem

Rice is one of those products that can be found in nearly every house and every restaurant worldwide. This simple and cheap product, extremely ingrained in the roots of nearly every cuisine worldwide, offers infinite gastronomical possibilities. In Spain, given the traditional and lower-class cuisine’s great influence on the nation’s gastronomy, rice is an extremely used product. It’s even the protagonist of what is perhaps Spain’s most globally-afamed dish: Paella. Either way, generation after generation in Spain, people have found a way to maximize the potential of this grain product to accomplish wonderful yet simplistic dishes.

Talking about rice-based dishes without mentioning what Paella is and means to us Spaniards would be a pretty offensive neglection to any of my compatriots. However, I’m not just going to focus on this famous Spanish dish, rather also emphasize the fact there are many seafood rice-based dishes, which can be considered variations of Paella, that are equally as good and as important. There are very few things that beat a GOOD Paella (Yes, it’s extremely hard to find good Paellas, especially if you’re a tourist, so it’s important that you’re able to find a restaurant where locals go) in front of the sea on a sunny Summer day. If you ever find yourself visiting Spain in the Summertime, walking through a coastal town or city, you’ll get tired of seeing Paellas on every table, especially in the regions of Valencia and Catalonia, where the roots of this dish are found. In Spain, these kinds of meals are almost like a cultural tradition. Eating Paella with the WHOLE family (it has to be the whole family in Spain) has become a fundamental part of our lives during the estival season. However, I personally have to admit I’ve slightly lost interest in this dish, and it primarily has to do with how increasingly mistreated it has been over the years. As tourism has increased, the quality of Paella has dramatically plummeted, thereby I wanted to publish this post to detail what constitutes the best version of this afamed Spanish dish.

Whenever I think of Paella the first thing that comes to mind is the sea. However, this is a faulty perception the vast majority of people have. Some of the greatest Paellas I’ve ever had have been obviously seafood ones, but also meat Paellas with mushrooms and sausage, for instance. Or with both seafood and meat, a really typical Catalan version of dishes called mar i montanya which literally means sea and mountain. A nice example of this could be the Paella with Palamós shrimp and Boletus Edulis (a really prestigious mushroom) from a restaurant in Girona. The only certainty with Paellas is that, regardless of what the chef decides to put on it, it has to be fresh and of the highest quality to get the best taste of this great Spanish dish. Even the rice! It has to be good rice, which is sometimes hard to find, and, above all, well cooked. The rice in the Paella should be slightly hard and not clustered together, rather kind of loose. And although all of these things are fundamental aspects of a good Paella, the secret to this dish, what will turn it from good to excellent, is the sofrito as it’s known in Spain, which is basically the sauteed vegetables that constitute the “base” of the dish. Letting the onions, the peppers, the tomato, and the garlic sizzle on a thin layer of quality olive oil may seem a basic step in the preparation process, yet it’s the most important and the one people focus less on. In the basics there’s excellence and without an excellent sofrito, you’ll never have an excellent Paella. In part, this is why smaller local restaurants are the ones you should look for, as they know and appreciate the traditional roots of such an emblematic dish in Spain like Paella is.

The Real Italian Heritage

After taking the time last week to talk about my home country’s cuisine, I want to dedicate this week’s post to Italy, the other country where I have family roots. After countless visits to Spain’s beautiful brother country (yes, Italians are like brothers to the Spanish and vice-versa), I’ve had the privilege of cherishing marvelous gastronomic experiences from one of the most appreciated cuisines in the world. Italy, for many, is synonymous not only with beauty, but also with great food, and I’m here today to discuss with all of you what, in my opinion, makes Italian gastronomy so special.

The first thing that comes to the mind of a vast majority of people when thinking about Italian cuisine is pizza and pasta. And although these two dishes are a cornerstone of the transalpine nation, its gastronomy offers an infinitely greater amount of options. If you ask me, the key to the excellence of Italian food lies in something I’ve emphasized on many occasions throughout these past weeks: a product of the highest quality. Yes, Italy does have the best pasta, the best pizza, and the best gelato in the world, but it also has some of the best vegetables, grain products, fish, meat, dairy products… among many other things too. For instance, one of my favorite northern Italy dishes from the Veneto region (where Venice is) is small squid with polenta (as you can see on the right), which is boiled cornmeal porridge. Polenta is one of those dishes that epitomizes how important tradition is in Italian gastronomy. There are many dishes like this one that comes from humble peasant origins, that used this cornmeal porridge as a means of warming up during the cold northern Italy winters. I also mentioned the high quality of dairy products, and if you’ve ever been to Italy or are extremely familiar with the nation’s authentic cuisine, you probably know what I’m talking about. Mozarella, probably the most well-known Italian cheese, is just the tip of the iceberg. My personal favorite has to be gorgonzola. This “blue cheese” of creamy texture is typical from the northern part of the country and definitely one of Italy’s many delicacies. Another popular and excellent Italian cheese is burrata, typically served with tomatoes and arugula and seasoned with salt, pepper, virgin extra olive oil, and balsamic vinegar (see photo below). Oh, and now that I’m mentioning seasoning, you have to know that if you ever season your salad with anything other than salt, oil, or vinegar (typically wine and balsamic), you’re going to face some unpleasant looks from locals. The Italian dressing found here in the United States is definitely not a thing in Italy.

 

 

Now that I’ve mentioned the hidden gems of Italian cuisine, I’m going to dive into the stereotypical pasta and pizza. Among the two, the former is undeniable my favorite. This is because it offers a much wider umbrella of possibilities. Every specific region of the transalpine nation has multiple pasta dishes that define its culture, traditions and origins, and product. There are so many different types of pasta, ranging from the famous spaghetti and penne rigate to lesser-known variations such as paccheri, bigoli, rigatone… Whenever I talk about pasta I also like to mention the most common error people commit when cooking it. Pasta is supposed to be slightly hard, not a soft dough all clustered up as I’ve seen on countless occasions. It also has to be accompanied by a great sauce, as this is the cornerstone of any pasta dish. If you use tomatoes, try picking the best ones. If you’re cooking spaghetti alle vongole which includes clams, make sure they’re the freshest clams you can be in possession of. The quality makes an unimaginable difference to the end result of the dish. To this day, I still remember how my grandfather, Italian from Genova, used to make the tomato sauce for his daily serving of pasta. As a retired man, he had a garden with tomatoes that he would collect at the pertinent time of the year and would then “crush” them in large bags to obtain the precious “juice.” He would finally hang these bags in the garage, where the temperature and humidity levels were optimum for the “fermentation” of the sauce. Pure dedication is what a good pasta dish requires. As I’ve run out of time to talk about pizza and other hidden treasures of Italian gastronomy, that’ll be the theme of next weeks post.

Spanish Cuisine: The Perfect Balance

Now that I’ve been back in the United States for well over a month, I believe it’s the perfect time to remember my country’s exquisite cuisine. It might perhaps not be the most famous and global gastronomy, but Spain is definitely a country rich in excellent products and exceptional culinary talents. Fruits, vegetables, meat, and especially fish and seafood, are all of unmatched quality back home. They’re all part of the celebration which is our gastronomy. Because this is what we do in Spain when we have something to celebrate. Eat. Not light the sky with millions of fireworks. Or through weekend-long parties. Instead, we eat until we tumble on our backs. Coinciding with my birthday on Friday, a day I usually celebrate with some of the finest Spanish gastronomical products, I’m going to dedicate this blog post to detail what makes my country’s gastronomy so special compared to others worldwide.

As many of you may know, Spain occupies the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, thereby it stretches from the Mediterranean region to the Atlantic. From the once Arab-conquered South to the mountainous North, passing through the deserted plateau on which the center of the nation elevates. In Spain, we have a little bit of everything, and that perfectly reflects in our gastronomy. The secret behind Spanish cuisine is balance. Between the different foreign influences. Between the modernity of nouvelle cuisine and the simplicity of traditional one. Being a food passionate myself, I’m letting you know in case you missed it, it’s having this wide variety of options that makes me confidently say I believe my country’s cuisine is one of, if not the best in the world. And believe me, I’m not being subjective.

Coming my family from such humble origins, with my paternal family having roots in a mining town in the heart of the Catalan Pyrenees and my maternal coming from a small rural town in the province of Leon (three hours Northwest from Madrid), traditional cuisine has always been extremely ingrained in my life. I’ve grown to value humble products. Fruits and vegetables my paternal grandparents meticulously grew in their garden. Small game meat my great grandfather brought home after hours of hunting in the early morning. Fish and the little seafood my maternal grandfather and I used to catch with nets and rods made with our own hands. Now that I’m talking about humble and traditional cuisine, I wanted to dedicate some time to introduce you to El Cocido Maragato (you’ll see an image of it below this paragraph) or Castilian Stew. This dish, typical from Madrid and Leon, where the cold winters demand the warmth and “heaviness” of a good stew or soup, is composed of three parts: First the meat, with pork as the predominant product, then chickpeas with some of the meat and always high-quality vegetables, and finally a warm meat-based soup in which the chickpeas are usually included. An absolutely marvelous culinary experience that will help you appreciate the quality of Spain’s most humble products. Nothing fancy, just pork, vegetables, chickpeas, bread… My personal favorite is offered in Casa Maruja in Castrillo de Los Polvazares, where Maruja, the owner, hosts big families on special days like October 12th in her own house and cooks the meal herself at nearly 90 years of age.

On the other side of the coin, we find the outlandish inventions of the nouvelle cuisine chefs and restaurants. Ferran Adrià, with a group of 30 other chefs, including his brother Albert Adrià, were the ones in charge of the restaurant El Bulli, lost in the Costa Brava cliffs (close from the maritime Catalan-French border) that meet the Mediterranean, that is considered to be the where modern gastronomy was born. As nouvelle cuisine has its roots in Spain, it’s no surprise it has become such a cornerstone of Spanish gastronomy in recent years. Restaurants such as El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, ranked as number one in the world for many years, epitomize this new style of cooking that capitalizes on involving all human senses during a meal. Restaurants such as El Celler de Can Roca, offer dishes such as the ones below; the one on the left being a “tomato salad” and the one on the right being a flamboyant whiskey cake. The gastronomic revolution that has transformed many kitchens into literal chemistry labs, first initiated in a remote cove in northern Cataluña by a group of “crazy” scienti… chefs.

Spanish cuisine encompasses all of these things. Humble products, extravagant inventions, extremely reputed restaurants, and traditional hole-in-the-wall places. It’s the balance of this all that makes my country’s gastronomy so special. At least in my eyes.

Intensities of Game Meat

Yesterday was the first day of the Fall season, my personal favorite of the four (at least my favorite in Barcelona where the cold is never an issue). The chillier temperature, the colored leaves, the semi-naked trees, mushrooms, rain…  this moment of the year stimulates my emotions and my senses more than any other. As time passes, the list not only does not cease to grow, but it does so exponentially. At this point, you’ll probably be wondering why in this world am I so passionately talking about the Fall season and not about fish, meat, fruits, or whatever culinary story it is that I have for you. The answer: Be patient.

Among the infinite number of reasons that make the third season special for me, there is one that is perennial in the list: game meat. In my humble opinion, a top-notch stew with deer or partridge or wild pig or any other gamey meat, quality vegetables, and, most importantly, a quality sauce that is able to harmonize the flavors in the dish, is as good as it gets in one of those chilly and orange Fall days. The smells, the flavors, the feels, everything about quarry meat is synonymous with intensity. Even the characteristic dark colors of the stews and the flesh itself. There is no better remedy for a chilly day than a potent dish with game meat that after enjoying the complexity of its flavors it gits your body with an extremely comforting warmth sensation.

Of everything the game meat world has to offer, the wild pig is the most seen in my native Catalonia. The hunting of this animal has become routine for many locals, ergo why it’s the quarry meat most likely to be found at any restaurant. Wild pig is typically cooked in heavy stews with potatoes, onions, often mushrooms, and carrots, the star vegetable to accompany these intense meats due to its contrasting sweetness. The dark-colored wild pig casseroles with their intense aromas and flavors are always an extremely fulfilling culinary experience to have in any Spanish Pyrenees restaurant.

One of my personal favorites is partridge meat. The delicacy of the bones and the silkiness of the meat wrongly camouflage the exuberance of its flavors. Partridge meat is strong yet harmonious at the same time and a well-cooked casserole with it is certainly at the very top of my culinary desires. Similar to wild pig casseroles, carrots nearly always play the deuteragonist role to smoothen out the tastes, and quality freshly-picked mushrooms often appear from within the dense sauces. Game meat and mushrooms are one of the best culinary marriages possible, helping explain why these types of stews crescendo in popularity during the Fall, mushroom season. Other quarry meats of great gastronomic prestige are deer, roe deer, mouflon, and the elusive Eurasian woodcock and Western capercaillie, this last one being so rare I’ve never even had the opportunity of seeing it on any menu. In all of these fabulous culinary products, there is a bolded underlying theme. Intensity. In flavors. In aromas. In colors. The emotions game meat stews and casseroles transmit make them one of the most unique gastronomic experiences possible.

Mediterranean Treasures

They say we’ve only discovered a mere 5% of the world’s seas and oceans. In that 5% of explored waters, humanity has the good fortune of coming across some of the best treasures of the culinary world. Being from Barcelona and spending my summers (and some winters too) in the Costa Brava (Girona Province’s Coast 1 hour and a half north of Barcelona), I’ve always had a great tie to our beloved Mediterranean Sea and all the secrets it has to offer. Seafood, in my eyes, is the best and most intimate of those secrets. The one that makes the sea that bathes the coast of Catalonia so special. Among the culinary experiences that remain glued to my memory, many of them involve seafood, a view of the sea, and … rain. Many would say the best days to enjoy one of these meals is on a warm, sunny summer day, but my fondest memories with seafood as the main protagonist are on cold, rainy winter (or fall) days. It’s in that weather that I feel a greater connection to the sea and to everything it has to offer.

Talking about seafood as I am right now, it’s an obligation for me to start with the trademark of the Costa Brava region, one of the most culinary-appreciated of the Mediterranean. This is none other than the famous Gamba Roja de Palamos which translates to the Palamos Red Shrimp. This wonderful food product is a boom of complex flavor and textures if cooked appropriately. With the kilogram (2.2 pounds) oscillating from 90 to 120 euros (105 to 140 dollars), this Mediterranean treasure of intense red color is most valued when simply cooked a la plancha, which is putting a dribble of olive oil on a pan, some chopped garlic and then letting the Gamba sizzle for just a minute or two (the meat should be slightly raw). Then, add salt, and parsley, or pepper and enjoy one of the greatest seafood treasures the Mediterranean has to offer. The perfect Christmas present for me.

Cooking seafood is all about respecting the product. Respecting its flavors. Its feels. Its colors. Eating fresh Gamba de Palamos, Mediterranean Lobster, Crawfish Oysters, Anchovies… should be a lush experience in every sense. That’s why it’s always better to cook all of these goodies as least as possible (see the images below for Oysters, Crawfish, and Anchovies). They already shine on their own! Nonetheless, for a talented cook, these culinary treasures also offer an infinite number of possibilities to juggle with. One of my favorite dishes, for instance, involves cooking the Mediterranean Lobster with poached eggs, potatoes, tomato, onions, and a good fish-based sauce in a seafood stew that, when served warm and bubbling, there’s nothing better on a cold, rainy day (see the image of this dish at the end of the post). Peas, chickpeas, mushrooms, rice… are all great food products that marry with seafood well. There are many different combinations to investigate with these maritime treasures that by unleashing one’s imagination, we can not only reach a new world of pleasure but a whole universe.

The only things you have to remember are to try to work with fresh culinary products and, most importantly, always respect these treasures the sea gifts us with.

El Capricho: An Overwhelming Experience

Following last week’s post on what is always the greatest gastronomical experienced of the year, I wanted to dedicate this week’s post to what has been, to the date, one of the greatest culinary experiences of my life. As I’ve mentioned on countless occasions before, gastronomy is not just about appearances and tastes, but also about emotions. The best restaurants and the best chefs, are the ones able to transmit something more than just culinary excellence to the customer. The great meals we all have glued to our memories are those where we felt a concoction of emotions after every bite and every dish. Those meals where taste and aesthetics even shared the spotlight with deeper feelings such as pleasure, euphoria, the sense of luxury… In my case, that perfect meal arrived in the Winter of 2017 when my family and I visited one of the world’s most famous meat restaurants in the world. Lost in the empty plains in the heart of Spain, El Capricho has now become some sort of temple for gastronomy-lovers such as me. Today, I’ll attempt to take you back with me to relive one of the most overwhelming culinary experiences of my life.

As it’s typical in Spain, my family and I decided to share four separate first dishes and then order a larger second dish for the entirety of the table too. El Capricho’s philosophy revolves around their famous cows from which they obtain one of the most high-quality beef meat in the world. In honor of their more than a century-old tradition, we ordered an aged-beef carpaccio, a typical Spanish dish from the Castilla region of Spain called morcilla, steak tartare, and finally another typical Spanish product from the region called cecina. The aged-beef carpaccio (see left) was something from another world. The taste of the meat had the perfect leverage between intensity and delicacy. It was an extremely simple dish, five cuts of completely raw meat and a touch of the best Spanish olive oil. Just that. The morcilla, which is basically a black sausage made with cow blood and onions, was also unbelievably good. Served with freshly-made warm bread, the touch of the onions in that morcilla was spectacular. With the steak tartare (see below), the feelings were reminiscent of the carpaccio. An extremely intense flavor of some of the best aged-meat out there, with just a touch of condiments to strengthen its taste. As a final note, the best cecina (cecina is simply ham made out of beef) I’ve ever tasted in my life (see right below). Perfect cut. Perfect taste.

All the starters were sublime, yet the reason why we had made the trip to El Capricho was for their globally-acclaimed steaks. As the main course of our magical lunch, we were served a nearly 4.5 pound monster of a steak that tasted absolutely glorious. The meat was not only cooked to perfection but it also bonded tenderness and an explosive taste to transmit a feeling of luxury and excellence like no other steak had ever done for me. Elation. Pleasure. These are the things I felt when eating the best piece of meat yet in my life. Above all, the tradition and the history of a restaurant that takes care of their cows as if they were the Spanish monarchs. The secret to their excellence is most certainly dedication and tradition.

 

December: The Gastronomic Festivity Month

Christmas is important for many things. First of all, for millions of families across the globe, including mine, it’s considered to be the primary annual celebration. That special time of the year when, above all, we celebrate our family as well as Jesus’ birth. The time of the year when the younger ones wake you up just as the Sun is peeking its head over the horizon to unravel the gifts Santa Claus has placed under the Christmas tree. Of course, all of this before leading you to the snowball fight and snowman race Christmas edition. For me, Christmas is indeed all of those things (and many more things), yet one of the reasons why I consider it to be my favorite time of the year is due to the gastronomic festivity it becomes. Yes, Christmas, or La Navidad as we call it in Spain, is a celebration of food where I sometimes have eaten until I could barely get up from the chair.

Having spent the four months prior to the holidays thousands of miles away from my home in Spain, I had already anticipated that for my return, my mother would have planned both special and abundant meals to welcome me home. I wasn’t mistaken. On the day of my arrival, my family took me to a secret gem of a restaurant near our home where the high quality of the product is what characterizes the dishes. As you can imagine, I was coming from the mediocre food served on airplanes so the nearly four and a half pounds of high-quality meat we ate, the excellently-cooked Rodaballo (it’s a highly appreciated Mediterranean fish species) we devoured, and the great appetizers we were served at the start felt like glory. This was simply the initial treat.

 

Another of the days I spent in my beloved Barcelona the family and I made the monthly visit to what is the city’s most prestigious restaurant. That perfect place for an elegant, unforgettable affair. That restaurant where US Presidents such as Clinton and Bush have enjoyed a meal when in Barcelona. Or other great characters from the world of sports, politics, Hollywood… have also been. Even the great Quentin Tarantino (yes, he’s my undisputed favorite director). As always, Botafumeiro (the restaurant’s name) delivered. Seafood, seafood, and, let me think, more seafood. Just take a look at the photo on the right.

All of these culinary experiences were great, and just a couple among the great gastronomic festival which was my trip back home during Winter break. However, the main course was none other than Christmas lunch. That meal where my mother swings her magic wand and year after year delivers an overwhelmingly stunning culinary experience. This year we were gifted with the best of the best in terms of gastronomic product. Foie Micuit, the absolute king of foie, not the one you find in every store, cheeses such as the Italian Gorgonzola and the Swiss Gruyere (my father and younger brother are great cheese lovers), Mediterranean lobster, and a Spanish-style goat kid, or Cabrito as we call it that my mother cooks to absolute perfection. Crusty exterior, tender inside, juicy, tasty… everything you could ask for in this extremely typical Spanish dish. And, of course, I almost forgot, the best Spanish ham. All of this topped with delicatessens from French soil such as the champagne Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and a delicious red wine from the southern French city of Avignon.