Pep Salsetes: "People argue with farmers about food prices, which are essential for physical and mental health."

BarcelonaI interview Pep Salsetes, that is, Josep Lluís Sabatés Ibáñez (Barcelona, ​​1945), at the Documenta bookstore in Barcelona. We've arranged to meet a few hours before he presents his book to a loyal audience. Let's cook! Catalan cuisine for the whole family (Rosa dels Vents), where she explains recipes for young and old to cook together at home. Pep has driven from Ametlla del Vallès, where he livesHe's brought boxes of food because there will be refreshments after the presentation. He's even reproduced some pages of the book in color and attached the actual food he describes. Literally. He's a creative man who grows vegetables at home, then recycles them, as well as writes and cooks.

In the book you share recipes, but in recent years you have dedicated efforts to recovering ancient seeds.

— Especially from Vallès, and also from the rest of Catalonia. For example, I have seeds of many varieties of tomatoes, which is why we hold the tomato fair.

Tell me the names of the tomatoes you have seeds from.

— The pear tomato, the full Montserrat tomato, the oxheart, the full pink one, the hanging tomatoes, the late Riells tomato, the witch's nose, the three corners of Riells...

With all the varieties of tomatoes there are, why do we find so few at the market? I can find the Raf tomato, which you haven't mentioned.

— The name of Raf It's an acronym; it's a tomato that was invented to be resistant to a greenhouse fungus. It's not a genetically modified organism (GMO), either. Notice that tomatoes have popular names because they're based on what people say. In contrast, Raf What does it mean? Resistant to Fusarium.

Why is it so hard to find the other tomatoes you mentioned?

— Because they're not easy or productive crops to grow. Besides, people look for very cheap tomatoes and don't pay attention to quality. Good tomatoes should cost three euros, not thirty cents.

We should also accept that tomatoes have a short season.

— Yes, they do have it if we want them to get sun, as a good nightshade is; so the tomato is from June to October.

Should we also eat bread with tomato between June and October?

— We harvest hanging tomatoes between June and October, but they're picked before they're fully ripe. They're then hung up to ripen slowly, allowing them to last until June of the following year. So, we can enjoy bread with tomato all year round.

I've seen some crazy things with bread with tomato, and I thought it was because we were eating tomatoes out of season.

— That's not the reason; it's because the bread lacks quality. They should use either tomatoes harvested in the summer and ripened in the sun, or tomatoes that have been hung to dry for years. Did you know that if tomatoes are left to ripen on the vine, they start to develop white membranes? They germinate, making them similar to soil.

I'll leave the chapter on tomatoes, which we could discuss for hours. I'll ask you about legumes.

— We have ten varieties of beans in Vallès, such as the crochet bean; the Christ's knee bean, the tortoiseshell bean, the snow bean.

Has the hummus craze led to a preference for chickpeas over beans?

— You can also make hummus with beans. I know trends are leading us to eat more chickpeas, but if we eat them properly, I'm happy. Chickpeas are inexpensive, and you know how much work it takes to grow them, even though they shouldn't be grown on stalks. Right now, we're in the season for planting chickpeas, then blending them, and doing it with machinery. That's why I say chickpeas are very economical despite all the work involved.

Do we eat locally grown chickpeas?

— No way. We get a lot of chickpeas from abroad, especially from North America and Mexico, and that's probably because the farmers are exploited since they're sold here at a very low price. We should pay attention to where the chickpeas we eat were produced. In fact, we should pay attention to all our food, not just chickpeas. Our Figueres onions were grown in Patagonia so we could eat them in Catalonia all year round for three euros. Yes. We paid three euros for Figueres onions that had been grown in Patagonia. What did the farmers who grew them get paid, considering their work and the trip to get them there, only for us to pay that price? In Patagonia, they tried to extend their growing season because their climate is the opposite of ours. Now they've stopped doing that; it was outrageous. They also tried it in Morocco, but they haven't adapted to it.

And where are they trying to do it now? Because I understand that this leak from back then is unstoppable.

— Now many of our crops are moving to northern Europe.

What kind of work do you do with the seeds you recover?

— I'm in an exchange group, so we don't have access to sales. Other groups do, like Agricultores Encuentros, Refares, or Enjarcolante. Our storage facility is in Granollers, at the Natural Science Museum, and we have a freezer and a refrigerator there, which are available to individuals and professionals.

Exactly one year ago, when I interviewed you, You told me we had many seeds but few farmers.

— Now I think things have changed. Young farmers have emerged, eager to work, but of course, the land takes time. A lettuce needs three months to grow; the land's profitability is poor. Furthermore, if they can't sell directly from baskets or at markets, then their profits dwindle. It's also important that when farmers do sell directly, people buy their produce, because I'm told that people haggle over the prices. How can that be! People are willing to spend a lot of money on a mobile phone, yet they argue over the prices of basic foods essential for physical and mental health.

I'm asking you about the book you just published, We cook.

— This is the fourth book I've published, and in addition to the step-by-step recipe, I explain its origin. In the case of fricandó, I explain that the name is Occitan, but the technique is ours, because it first appeared in the manual of a Franciscan cook from Reus in the 18th century. He applied it to fish and veal tongue. In Mollet del Vallès, I know that fricandó is made with monkfish.

It's for the whole family.

— Of course, because cooking is a celebration when parents do it with their children. Cooking together is a festive activity because it's one of the few things everyone can participate in, preparing a dish together and then enjoying it. What's more, it all starts with a trip to the market.

Just minutes before the book presentation, the auditorium is almost full. An enthusiastic audience eager to hear you speak.

— I'm really excited to give presentations because I love hearing people explain how they make their own versions. It's enriching. And that's how our cuisine spreads, but we have low self-esteem. We like to look to foreign cuisine for inspiration, which isn't bad, but first we should look at what we know how to do with our own Catalan recipes.

Spring is a great time for cooking.

— We have the San José creams; for Good Friday, cod with raisins and hard-boiled egg; the Easter cakes, the calçotadas. Oh, the calçotadas! The farmers themselves are cooking the calçots to sell them cooked. It's a trend that gives the farmers even more work, on top of the work they already have growing them. In Galicia itself, the farmers have a barbecue after harvesting them, cook them, and sell them cooked. Of course, people in apartments don't have the space to do that. One day they'll be giving us pre-chewed calçots.

Pep, I'm finished. Which of the dishes you mentioned are your favorites?

— I like those who play in each season of the year. Now it's time for broad beans, peas, snow peas, artichokes, asparagus, and cabbages.

Colossi?

— Don't you know them? They're a type of herb, delicious, better cooked than raw. They're great in salads, omelets, with chickpeas, or sautéed with onion and spring garlic.