The heartfelt tribute to Santi Santamaria reconciles the great family of Catalan cuisine

Calldetenes“For me it is very important to be here,” said Ferran Adrià. “Today we have become a family again,” stated the chef. We are at Can Jubany, at an event of homage to Santi Santamaria, organized by his son Pau, fifteen years after his death. Today everyone has come. “How nice that we are all here,” said Roser Torres, the woman who has organized the biggest gastronomic events of recent decades. She is known as Mama to many chefs. And like a good mother, today she looked happy that, finally, a hard and bloody battle for those who lived it was being – posthumously, of course – brought to an end, and that time has ended up reconciling.

On February 16, 2011, Santi Santamaria died in Singapore. He was 53 years old. He left abruptly, leaving Pau and Regina, Can Fabes, and also those who defended his precepts in the conflict that divided the great talents of Catalan (and world) cuisine into two camps orphaned: on one side, the chefs of El Bulli and their revolutionary, techno-emotional, molecular cuisine, whatever you want to call it; and, on the other, the defenders of product and tradition. These postulates were confronted in vehement presentations, very harsh press articles, and books. Especially one by Santamaria published in 2008, The kitchen unveiled.

. It's very nice that Pau goes everywhere and feels at home.”

heavys. It is very nice that Pau goes around and feels at home.”

Time, which puts things in their place, also relocates them, and has made this unvarnished tribute possible. For Joan Roca, chef at El Celler de Can Roca, Santi's philosophical and conceptual postulates are still “relevant and important” today. “When we lived through the controversy, what he said is what everyone is talking about today. Seasonal product and valuing Catalan cuisine,” stated the chef from Girona, one of those who can have enough perspective. “Today's tribute is necessary, heartfelt, and respectful. It puts the legacy and history of gastronomy in its place because Santi made us reflect, even though at the time we experienced it with contradictions. Because the world was looking this way and the conflict was uncomfortable. But with the passage of time, it must be recognized that his reflection was interesting”.

The first three-star restaurant that loved fuet

Santamaria was the first three-Michelin-star restaurant in the country. And he accumulated quite a few more in many other projects. There was a time when he was everything. And, as the Basque chef Martín Berasategui wished to recall in a very emotively read writing by sommelier Joan Carles Ibáñez, for him, Santamaria was a person who valued a good sausage or a good fuet from Can Bossoms or Can Pere Serra more than a lobster or a tin of caviar. The relevance of his dishes was reproduced in the meal, where some of his signature recipes were made: shrimp ravioli with porcini oil made by Paolo Casagrande of Lasarte; turnips and marrow with lentils and caviar, by Albert Adrià, or an extraordinary cod tripe with black pudding and sausages by his disciple Xavier Pellicer.

For Carles Gaig, a chef who is also a bastion of traditional Catalan cuisine and of a conciliatory disposition, Santamaria was “one of the promoters of refined modern restoration. A scholar, a Catalanist of pure stock. He worked so that the national identity of cuisine would not be lost”. For Gaig, “there was no need to go this far. Tradition and innovation can go perfectly hand in hand. Both things were absolutely compatible”. Finally, Gaig wanted to thank Adrià. "My gratitude to Ferran, who has given us a lesson". Berasategui, in his writing, also remembered other names, whom he considers to be with Santamaria on "the dark side of the Moon": Juli Soler, Xavier Sagristà, Ivan Soler and Fermí Puig. Fortunately for all, Berasategui claims to have kept the key to the cellar for himself.

As Santamaria was a man who favored excess if there was quality, the event began in the morning at Can Jubany and ended in Tona, at Santamaria Gastronòmic. There is the kitchen of Can Fabes and some characteristic objects of the restaurant. On the premises, the company director, Pere Font, and Pau Santamaria summoned a great many people. And even more showed up. A power of attraction worthy of Santi himself, who also always ended up with more guests. Everyone wanted to be there. And everyone wanted to remember that Santi is no longer here, but his cuisine lives on. That is why a book will be reissued, the ethics of taste,, and a tribute book dedicated to him will be made. Ferran Adrià will write the prologue.