Ada Parellada recommends "an inspiring book that can awaken vocations"
The cook recommends 'A Life in the Mountains' by Abraham Orriols, which tells the story of a centenarian shepherdess.
BarcelonaAda Parellada (Granollers, 1967) comes from a family that has been serving food for seven generations and over 250 years and is a great advocate of recycled cooking. As a summer read, she recommends A life in the mountains (Now Books), by Abraham Orriols. The journalist and writer born in Berga in 1996 collects in this book the life of the Marina Vilalta, the oldest shepherdess in Catalonia. "Marina is almost 100 years old, and she goes out to graze the sheep every day," Parellada recalls.
The cook liked it for many reasons: "Through a firsthand account, it captures a philosophy of life, a style, and a set of skills that should be maintained. Perhaps in a different way, but we need them because in a context of climate urgency, we must maintain the flocks."
A life in the mountains It's not an exercise in nostalgia, nor does Orriols merely describe what could be the end of a period. "It can be inspiring for someone who wants to dedicate themselves or awaken vocations, because Marina lovingly explains the profession to which she has dedicated her entire life," she says. Furthermore, Parellada adds, the book captures the country's own traditions. "They are identifying traits of a culture that is ours," she asserts. However, it's not a cautionary tale: "It's very well written, with great sensitivity and tenderness, it has funny moments and is endearing, and it describes a world that may seem distant to those of us who live in the city, but which is still ours."
Vilalta has dedicated her life to grazing: more than ninety years tending the flock, most of them in Can Sibí, in Bruguera, a small village of 57 inhabitants at the foot of the Taga (Ripollès), where she went to live when she married, with three sheep as a dowry. After a life of obscurity, in recent years he has received tribute after tribute: the Generalitat (Catalan government) awarded him the Cross of Sant Jordi as an "example of the importance of work in the rural world, and the resilience of those dedicated to it." And Bruguera has inaugurated a square in his name and a permanent photography exhibition.
