Raül Balam Ruscalleda, Jaume Subirós and Carles Vilarrubí, National Gastronomy Awards

BarcelonaThe Pedralbes Palace was dressed up to award the distinctions with which the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN) each year rewards the talent of our land. More than 550 people gathered and enjoyed a dinner together offered by chefs Romain Fornell and Òscar Manresa.

This year, the recipients of the National Prize for Traditional Gastronomy and the Prize for Author's Gastronomy are two much-loved chefs. Firstly, Jaume Subirós, the soul of Motel Empordà, has been recognized in the traditional cuisine category. The restaurant in Figueres is an institution in the country, and a guarantor of good food and good service. Subirós began working there at the age of 12 under the orders of what would be his father-in-law, Josep Mercader, whose centenary of birth is being commemorated this year. Subirós is pleased to receive the award "and to be able to work every day knowing that there is a succession behind it." He refers to his children, who guarantee continuity. "There is only one type of cuisine: good cuisine. Based on product and from the land," he affirms. And to finish, he makes a wish, that the cooking school created by Mercader continues to function for much longer.

Raül Balam Ruscalleda has been recognized with the National Gastronomy Award for Chef. He says he is "happy, delighted, and scared," as impostor syndrome often makes an appearance. He does believe, however, that this is a recognition that comes after thirty years of being a chef. "I started on 9/6/1996," he explains. The chef, who will also turn 50 this year, knows that the restaurant he runs, Moments, located within the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, is at a very good moment since they dedicate their menus to seasonality and let the course of nature decide what to serve. He is happy to also see that Catalan cuisine is increasingly being made: "I see hope in the youth who open restaurants and seek tradition." He is clear that "the customer must understand that we have to take care of the sea, but also those who work at sea." The same goes for the vegetable garden and livestock. "They are the ones who make our country great. We already lost the textile industry," he explains. And he reinforces it with a "Catalans haven't known how to sell themselves, but now we are starting to believe it."

A different trajectory

Vilarrubí was replaced by Joan Font TorrentPatricia Sierra is the third generation at the helm of La Granja Elena, the Zona Franca restaurant that receives nothing but praise. She is the head of service and the sommelier, and she has been a key figure in raising the restaurant's standards. For this reason, the academy has recognized her with the Head of Service award. “It took me by surprise. In this type of award, you don't expect them to notice a modest place like ours,” says Sierra. La Granja Elena is a popular place “with an eclectic clientele, where someone is eating a sandwich and another is having a great wine.” The restaurant founded by her grandmother in the kitchen and her father in the dining room is now run by her and her two brothers. “Seventeen years ago, I decided to come home; they needed someone who knew wines. It was the missing piece, my father told me,” she recalls. Abel Sierra now proudly sees how the succession, which at first might have seemed difficult, has been a success.

This year's special award has gone to Carles Vilarrubí, president of ACGN since 2016, who passed away at the end of the year. Vilarrubí was the architect of a significant transformation of the institution and its consolidation as a national benchmark for Catalan gastronomy. “There are people who understand institutions as an expression of representation, and there are those who understand them as a form of service to the country. Carles Vilarrubí undoubtedly belonged to this second way of exercising public and institutional responsibility,” say ACGN. Vilarrubí was succeeded by Joan Font Torrent, who was already serving as vice-president.