Honey with crickets, snail caviar, fish whip, and the war that will leave us without saffron

L'Hospitalet de LlobregatA guy was handing out energy drinks at the entrance. If it weren't 9:30 in the morning, I'd definitely grab one, because at Alimentaria you know when you go in but not when you'll come out. The food fair's pavilions fill up quickly with people eager to discover this year's new products, which, I can tell you now, are all about protein. In fact, protein galore.

At the last edition of this biannual fair the added protein in desserts like yogurt They've already made an appearance, but in this edition it's undeniable: Cacaolat with protein, chocolate and protein cookies, snacks Chicken protein powders with a cheese flavor, or products where the protein comes from insects.

One of the most noteworthy new products is presented by Mels Alemany of Os de Balaguer. Together with Grillco, they have created honey enriched with cricket powder. In this case, they emphasize not so much the protein itself, but rather the fact that it contains vitamin B12. While I'm here, Ferran Alemany is presenting it to some buyers from a major supermarket. They look at it curiously. Who could it be aimed at? People with swallowing difficulties or anyone who needs a nutritional supplement, he explains. In another pavilion is the stand of Bernat Monter, co-founder of Grillco. He says that they have their farm in Sant Miquel de Balenyà and that they have 20 million crickets. That's a lot of them, and they need to be calm. That it's a good alternative protein and that eating it is no longer the future, but the present. He sells it in powder form, which can be added as a supplement wherever you like. Throughout the morning, only two people declined to sample the cookies they were carrying. The powder tastes like nothing, and the cricket, if eaten whole, would resemble shrimp. Therefore, anyone allergic to shellfish should abstain.

Another protein, this time from the sea, being presented at the fair is fish sausage: sobrasada, chorizo, egg butifarra, and látigo. All made from fish. Of course, this product is destined to be a success in countries where pork is not eaten. Developing these sausages required a collaboration between chef Riccardo Radice, of the Michelin-starred restaurant Fishology, and Àlex Castany Sanmartí. Castany is known for importing premium meats, such as Japanese Wagyu, from his century-old butcher shop in Sabadell. Now he's focusing on fish, which has required them to adapt their machinery. "How is it possible that we've gone from eating a bar made with beetles to eating a whip made from fish caught off our coast?" he asks me. He says the sea isn't being worked enough, and that we don't know many of the good species. "Did you know that 55% of fish is thrown away?" he blurts out. I try the tuna whip, and it reminds me of wild boar.

And now we go back the way we came. We return to land to find a product usually associated with the sea. It's snail caviar presented by the producers Caracoles de Gredos, from Ávila. They let us try it with a generous drizzle of oil. So far, it's been well received in fine dining restaurants. The eggs are round, white, and have a much less salty taste.

Gold-covered sausage

I visited the stand of Font-Sans, a company that has been making sausages since 1917 in Sant Feliu de Pallerols. I was greeted by the general manager, David Pérez. They've created a sausage that looks completely covered in gold. The golden coating contains a small percentage of gold, but it's not 100% gold, of course. It costs 30 euros and was originally created for the cover of a catalog. People started asking for it, and they realized they had to market it. The company also makes sausages with foie gras, truffles, and Parmesan cheese. And some that are 1.2 meters long, which sell like hotcakes at French gas stations for 20 euros. In fact, they're most popular in La Jonquera. And their customers are from France. That's why they use French labels.

There's also a strong international presence at the fair, like a group of people sampling the calçot sauce from Ferrer. Nearby, Galetes Trias is displaying its special boxes. One features a design by Miró and another by Pilarín Bayés. These are universal symbols of Catalan culture. Nougat is also generating a lot of interest, such as the black truffle nougat from Nandu Jubany and Turrones Vicens. The chef claims to have enough frozen truffles to produce it year-round, making it the souvenir that foreigners buy at El Prat airport. There's also the nougat presented by Albert Adrià, which he calls "air nougat." It took him a year to adapt the technique for large-scale production.

Finally, the issue of war is present at the fair. I visit Carmencita, the spice company from Alicante. They're struggling because many spices pass through the Strait of Hormuz. But they also sell saffron-infused salt that comes with a grinder. They say that quality saffron comes almost entirely from Iran. All of Spain produces 350 kilos of saffron per year. Carmencita alone imports 3 tons from the Persian country. Keep in mind that it takes 200,000 flowers to produce one kilo of saffron. We hope they aren't a military target, although right now anything seems possible.