Hallmark and Communication Resource in the Haute Cuisine in Spain”

RLCS, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74 – Pages 873 a 896 [Research] | DOI:10.4185/RLCS-2019-1362en |ISSN 1138-5820 | Year 2019 How to cite this article in bibliographies / References M D Fernández-Poyatos, A Aguirregoitia-Martínez, N L Bringas Rábago (2019): “‘The cuisine of product: hallmark and communication resource in the haute cuisine in Spain”. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74, pp. 873 to 896. http://www.revistalatinacs.org/074paper/1362/45en.html DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-2019-1362en The cuisine of product: hallmark and communication resource in the haute cuisine in Spain Mª Dolores Fernández-Poyatos [CV] [ ORCID] [GS]. Full Professor of the Department of Audiovisual Communication. Universidad de Alicante (Spain) [email protected] Ainhoa Aguirregoitia-Martínez [CV] [ ORCID] [GS]. PhD. Researcher. Universidad de Alicante (Spain) [email protected] Nora Leticia Bringas Rábago [CV] [ ORCID] [GS]. Professor-researcher of the Department of Urban Studies and Environment, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana (Mexico) [email protected] Abstracts [ES] Introducción: Esta investigación analiza los mensajes transmitidos por la alta restauración española al objeto de valorar cómo la cocina de producto es utilizada como seña de identidad gastronómica y recurso comunicativo. Metodología: La muestra la componen los restaurantes más relevantes del país en la modalidad culinaria de cocina de producto y aquellos con dos y tres estrellas otorgadas por La Guía Michelin en el año 2018; en total, han sido cuarenta y nueve. Resultados y conclusiones: La mayoría de los restaurantes de producto consideran en su comunicación los elementos materia prima, especialización y tradición; los de vanguardia eligen innovación, materia prima y tradición, de manera que hay coincidencias en los dos últimos, lo que podría significar que la identidad gastronómica es un concepto que, transmitido en sus mensajes, puede asimilarse al de identidad territorial. [EN] Introduction: This research analyses the messages transmitted by the Spanish haute cuisine in order to assess how the product-based cuisine is used as a symbol of gastronomic identity and communication resource. Methodology: The sample is composed of the most important restaurants in the country in the culinary modality of product-based cuisine and those with two and three stars awarded by the Michelin Guide in 2018; a total of forty-nine. Results and conclusions: Most of the product-based restaurants consider the elements raw material, specialization and tradition in their communication; those in the avant-garde choose innovation, raw materials and tradition instead, so that there are coincidences in the last two, which could mean that the gastronomic identity is a concept that, conveyed through its messages, can be assimilated to that of territorial identity. http://www.revistalatinacs.org/074paper/1362/45en.html Pages 873 RLCS, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74 – Pages 873 a 896 [Research] | DOI:10.4185/RLCS-2019-1362en |ISSN 1138-5820 | Year 2019 Keywords [ES] gastronomía; comunicación; cocina de producto; identidad; tradición; restaurante. [EN] gastronomy; communication; product-based cuisine; identity; tradition; restaurant. Contents [ES] 1. Introducción. 1.1. Comunicación y gastronomía. 1.2. La identidad gastronómica. 1.3. La cocina de producto. 1.3.1. Simplicidad: concepto clave de la cocina de producto. 2. Metodología. 3. Resultados. 4. Conclusiones. 5. Referencias bibliográficas. [EN] 1. Introduction. 1.1. Communication and gastronomy. 1.2. The gastronomy identity. 1.3. Product-based cuisine. 1.3.1. Simplicity: key concept of the product-based cuisine 2. Methodology. 3. Results. 4. Conclusions. 5. List of references. Translation of abstract by Elena Martínez-González. (Technician in Business and Tourism Activities, Escuela Oficial de Turismo de Madrid) Translation of article by Yuhanny Henares (Academic translator, Universitat de Barcelona) 1. Introduction The messages restaurants use to interact with their consumers do not (or at least should not) emerge arbitrarily, nor seem surprising or fanciful witticisms; rather they result from a task product of years of work, of a professional activity based on training and effort, but also a choice that, in the particular case that concerns us, is the product-based cuisine, and that goes beyond the fact of working with excellent raw materials. Already in the first decade of the 21st century this modality in the haute cuisine started to gain relevance; however, and also since then, the concepts and the different culinary modalities blend and contaminate. Outside these issues, the recognition of this cuisine represents an added value for restaurants and, as such, it started to be required and demanded more and more by consumers, in such a way that chefs have been integrating it as hallmark in their communication. Precisely, this research aims to analyse how the product-based cuisine is shown as hallmark and communication argument in the Spanish haute cuisine. It is about transferring identity to the gastronomic experiences that compose it through this culinary typology; in order to do so, a study corpus has been selected, constituted by restaurants awarded two or three stars by the Michelin Guide and by the restaurants defined as Product Temples (Beneyto & Mateos, 2018). The object of this research has been the messages contained on the websites of these restaurants following these parameters: raw material, specialisation, innovation, research, tradition and simplicity, since it has been considered that their presence is a conscious and explicit choice of these chefs to convey their gastronomic identity to their publics which, in most cases, is a reflection of the gastronomic identity of the region where the restaurant is located. 1.1. Communication and gastronomy The gastronomical voice appeared on lexicographic repertoires of the Royal Spanish Academy and by eminent philologists and scholars by the end of the 19th century. Núñez de Taboada was the one who, as neologism, included it for the first time in its dictionary with the meaning “Science or treaty about http://www.revistalatinacs.org/074paper/1362/45en.html Pages 874 RLCS, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74 – Pages 873 a 896 [Research] | DOI:10.4185/RLCS-2019-1362en |ISSN 1138-5820 | Year 2019 the way of eating in luxury” (1825: 744-745). Since then, it shifted and enriched together with other notions: “The art of preparing the delights of the table” (Salvá, 1846: 548); the “Science of the healthy and intelligent appreciation of the good delicacies” (Domínguez, 1853: 849). Meanings that have maintained alongside the current “group of dishes and culinary uses typical from a specific region” (RAE, 2016). The latter, connected to the patrimonial meaning, was advocated by Dr. Thebussem and a Chef of S.M (Pardo de Figueroa and Castro and Serrano, respectively) in the letters written to each other and published between 1876 and 1877 and La Ilustración Española y Americana, where they warned about the disastrous consequences for our own cuisine of emulating the French cuisine in excess, at the same time there were discussions about the convenience of striving for the national gastronomic unity (Aguirregoitia & Fernández, 2015: 22). Years later, this approach was followed by Dionisio Pérez in his enormous journalistic labour; renowned newspapers of the time -Nuevo Mundo, La Voz, Alrededor del Mundo…- published columns and articles where its culinary ideology was captured, where there outstands the advocacy of the Spanish cuisine, but also interesting and advanced proposals so to improve the Spanish gastronomical culture like, for instance, promoting regional fairs and international expositions like the ones held in Barcelona and Seville, for which he suggested to build a pavilion where the Spanish cuisine would be praised and presented, which will also serve to attract tourists who would remain longer in the country thanks to the promise of tastings. The Guía del buen comer español, the summit production of his work; besides summarising the most outstanding dishes of our cuisine, he recognised its relevance to increase the national richness: “When we say cuisine, we mean production. Its boom, its fame, its advertising, will depict a greater appreciation and a higher consumption of Spanish products” (Pérez, 1929: 12). No wonder, this publication was edited by the Patronato Nacional de Turismo as part of its promotional strategy to encourage tourism in Spain. Since then, testimonies on press that defended the interest of gastronomy as tourism attraction factor became usual. Thus, leaving culinary treaties, advertising claims or costumbristic articles aside, the first communicational activity in the gastronomic scope is confirmed in the newspapers of the end of the 19th century. These testimonials left a mark under the form of texts, which content can be grouped into different categories: history (and stories about gastronomy), gastronomic theory, advertising, recipes and curiosities, innovation and technology, education (Aguirregoitia & Fernández, 2015). The first category generally consisted of stories ranging from the antiquity until the current times. In the theoretical disquisitions there were discussed issues about cuisine-related art, its functions, products and elaborations or matters of moral character. From advertising, the ads about inns and shops, as well of chefs, were usual. Regarding recipes, they were disseminated mostly in magazines targeted

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