FOOD AND DRINK THECULINARY GEOGRAPHY OF CATALONIA FROMA GEOGRAPHICAL POINT OF VIEW, THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT TYPES OF CUISINE IN CATALONIA:THAT OF THE SEA, THAT OF THE MOUNTAIN, AND THAT OF THE PLAIN. LLORENC TORRADO CULINARY EXPERT osep Pla, one of our modern versity and fluctuation are clearly reflec- portant stable population and by classics, was quite right when he ted both in the markets, shops and fisher- commercial activity. The Empordh, in said that cooking is "the land- men's organizations and in the prices in which Josep Mercader found the inspir- scape in a saucepan". Indeed, any dish is the restaurants (2). ation for this generally applicable idea, is a landscape, shaped by earth and climate, At the opposite end of the scale to the sea a perfect example. tamed by man and marked' by history. cuisine is that of the mountain. This is the Josqp Mercader, a cook of some percep- most restrained, the one with the most The culinary landscape, however, k far tion, who. held long conversations with limited range of basic ingredients, with more complex. Pla (l),identified three distinct types of , refinements that are austere and Because of the irregular nature of the cuisine, according to their geographical unpretentious: trout, boar, wild goat, land, the idea of the three cuisines is an origin; that of the sea, that of the moun- mushrooms, preserved meats, thick over-simplification that needs to be tain and that of the plain. soups, meaty rice dishes, etc. enlarged on and filled out. We are in The cuisine of the areas that lie between fact discussing a mountainous terrain, These three cuisines are to be found dktri- the mountain and the sea, that of the with a long coastline towards which the buted throughout the country. plain, and specially of the fertile plains inland valleys descend in a cascade. The The sea cuisine, based on fish, includes that are to be found closest to the sea, country has a wide range of micro-cli- the most subtle dishes, whose origins can such as the Camp de Tarragona, the mates, and although its settlers were es- frequently be found in the everyday fare Penedes, the Valles and the Empordh tablished in ancient times, the popu- of'the fisherfolk. Its humble origin is, to (3), is the richest, the most dependable, lation has been influenced by every be sure, paradoxical. It is the most varied the most oppulent and comfortable. culture that has ever moved on the face cuisine, thanks to the wide range of fish Here, to the region's basic resources are of the Mediterranean. Thus its human that is generally available, and also the added the result of exchanges with the geography has acquired its definitive most variable, thanks to the unpredicta- nearby sea and mountains, and this is structure through a long and complex ble nature of the sea's behaviour. Its di- encouraged by the presence of an im- historical process. FOOD AND DRINK South from the Pyrenees. a clear territorial and culinary division be- rich in almonds and made with oil, it con- Access is easy via one of four places: the tween north and south, as regards both trasts with the confectionery of Vic, Olot, Val1 dYAran,Andorra and La Seu, Puig- traditions and flavours. These two rivers, Girona and the Emporda, which is based cerda or El Portús. Here in the moun- which for a long time marked the border more on pastry and custard. tains one finds the oldest forms of popu- between Moslem and Christian, are the In cooking, the almond's special contri- lar cuisine.. The recovery of land occu- axis of New Catalonia. This differs from bution is even more noticeable. One ex- pied by the Moslems, started by the Old Catalonia both in the type of human ample is the romesco sauce, which can be mountain nobles with the help of their settlement (in the latter, self sufficient made in different ways but always with Frankish allies, and !he beginning of the farmhouses surrounded by small fields; in almonds as the basic ingredient, and formation of a separate identity, also the former, small towns and villages sur- which accompanies many meat or fish meant the birth of a particular cuisine, rounded by large fields) and in its culture, dishes, sausages or vegetables, from which was distinguishable from the neigh- marked by the difference in the duration south of Barcelona to the Ebro. More bouring cuisines. It can be clearly seen in and extent of the Moslem occupation. precisely, romesco is present in two festi- two basic elements of everyday fare, the vals held at the end of winter: the calco- escudella, or stew, and the preserved The use of the almond, one of the char- tades, in Valls, and the xatonada, in the meats, as well as in three more marginal acteristics. camivals of Vilanova and Sitges. factors, the mushrooms, almonds and gar- The almond is a characteristic of al1 the Further north, almonds give way to garlic lic. These ingredients are a clear illu- confectionery of the area around the as a flavouring, and to allioli as a sauce Stration of what Néstor Luján (4) describes Ebro and of the cuisine of Tarragona and for al1 kinds of dishes. It plays a part as a people's "gastronomic memory". the southern coast as far as the Ebro Del- in the fish stew of Llanqa, for exam- ta. The Delta itself is a case apart. ple - the great cork and pottery centre Gaklic, sausage, almonds and mush- This confectionery is the sister to that of of the Emporda -, as well as in the ro0.m: new and old Catalonia: the Levant. Scented with cinnamon and stewed cuttle-fish or octopus along the ~wo'rivers,the Ebro and the Segre, make spices, sweetened with honey and jam, length of the northern coast. FOOD AND DRINK Sausage mude with salt and pepper, If we visit the Pyrennees and look at the the loin of pork with pears, duck with pears a trade-mark (5). culinary characteristics of the north, we or duck with figs. This is a solid, tempting The use of salt and pepper in sausages is find, in the Vall d'Aran and the Cerda- looking cuisine, with, as its greatest flight the most convincing evidence that there nya, the only two places where the pro- of fantasy, the sweet sausage. exists a sense of taste that is shared and duction of patés is a tradition. Moving characteristic. Indeed, the different types south from the Vall dlAran, following the Mushrooms are another quite explicit of llonganissa (cured sausage) and boti- border with Aragon, we can see how the indication. farra (raw or boiled sausage), with or sausages become more and more highly If culinary traditions can be divided into without blood, are only seasoned with spiced, under the influence of the neigh- mushroom-eating and non mushroom-eat- salt and pepper. Their particular flavour bouring cuisines. In the region of the ing, then obviously Catalonia, taken as a depends purely on the mixture of meat or Ebro Delta, this characteristic is even whole, would have to be included amongst on the mixture and the curing. The use of more noticeable. On the other hand, the the former. But we can enlarge on this if we spices or seasoning is very limited: red central area situated to the south of the compare the incidence and the use of pepper, a basic ingredient of Hispanic Cerdanya, passing through La Seu or mushrooms in Old andNew Catalonia. For preserved meats, is unknown here, as are Puigcerdh, is the home of the cleanest sau- example, as a complement to the spring smoked products. sage, seasoned only with salt and pepper. festivals centred round the almond, New The best sausages and preserved meats This area, then, differs from the eastern Catalonia holds an important mushroom are to be found in the northernmost re- area, where the mountains come down to festival in autumn. This celebration takes gions (Noguera, Ripolles, Osona, Gar- the sea, and which is the domain of one of on a special significancethanks to the exhi- rotxa, Alt Empordh), but to this list the richest of the cuisines of the plain, that bitions, contests and other culinary should be added the isolated mountain of the Empordh. Here fish and meat exist competitions that are held in al1 the moun- areas of the Montseny and the Montsant, side by side in dishes like lobster with tain regions. The mushroom tradition is since these products are a speciality of chicken or cuttlefish with meatballs, and especially important in the cooking of the the mountains. pork and poultry combine with fruit, as in Empordh and the Montseny, and tends to FOOD AND DRINK diminish as we approach the Ebro, where nouvelle cuisine, which is so popular at NOTES the sausage meats also change their accent the moment. These sophisticated cuisines 1. El que hem menjat, by Josep Pla, is an entertaining 8nd oil takes precedence over lard. have spread to al1 the large towns and of- work, vital to the understanding and appreciation of the majority of Catalan cooking. Mushrooms play an important part in the fer an important creative element. 2. The medieval books of recipes, such as the anony- cuisine of Cátalonia and are used in a var- There is a marked eclecticism to be found mus LIibre de San! Sovf or Mestre Robert de Nola's iety of dishes, both old and new. The capi- in the restaurants, often mixing the popu- Llibre de Coc, have a wide range of fish recipes, which tal of this cuisine is to be found in Barcelo- lar and the sophisticated, although the distinguishesthem fromFrench andItalian booksof the na.