What parliamentarians eat every day for €13.20 (with limited wine choices)

Parliament of CataloniaYou can eat at the Parliament's restaurant only with prior authorization and after passing through strict security controls, which require you to leave your ID at the checkpoint until you leave. This applies to those of us who are homeless; members of parliament and civil servants enter through other, prearranged channels.

Years ago, the restaurant was on the first floor; now it's on the ground floor, and you see it at the end of a wide, bright hallway dotted with sculptures. A law, as we're reminded of as we walk down the hallway with photographer Francesc Melcion (look at the wonderful photos he took), prohibits taking any portraits of anyone. It's the rest area, where people recover their strength after the arduous battle in the chamber, so a law was passed that cameras should be kept out of the space where their stomachs are comforted. "It's also not right to take photos of someone while they're eating," says Josep Escudé, chief journalist of the Press Office, who accompanies us to verify that we're complying with the law.

Since it's a Friday, and the House of Representatives has already finished its activity, there are few parliamentarians having lunch. You can count them on the fingers of one hand. Hanging on the restaurant door is the weekly menu, those colorful grids reminiscent of a school menu. It's on the entrance door, but we've walked right past it without looking, and it immediately makes me think of the school menu that used to hang on the refrigerator at home, and which I never looked at, not even to check if what I cooked that night had been prepared at school for lunch. Small, cramped print, a lot of information, but certainly well explained: each day there's a salad, then first courses, meat, another meat but grilled, fish, another fish but grilled, and a grilled vegan option, which they claim is made to order. Each day of the week has a sauce assigned to it, which is different. Since today is Friday, the sauce is ximixurri, written that way, despite the fact that Termcat, the Terminology Center, says it should be written like the original word: chimichurri.

A sauce for every day

I return to the sauces, each day a different one, and for me the one from Tuesday is the best, because it is the tartar, and I relate it to the classes of the Chef Josep Rondissoni at the Women's Library, where he taught so many women how to make it at the beginning of the 20th centuryA century later, salsa is the choice of the day in Parliament.

We grab the tray to set down the plates, and walk past the cafeteria bar, where there are no Conguitos today. But it's not because there haven't been any, Lluís, the restaurant manager and an employee of the contracted company Eurest Catalunya, tells me. "We ran out today, that's why there aren't any," he comments. Yesterday there were. And, look, poor Conguitos; perhaps they've become the most sought-after entertainment at the Parliament bar after some media outlets reported last November that Eurest had decided to remove them because of their racist connotations. I ask; I insist if that was the reason they wanted to remove them, and no one answers me. But let's get to the point; if last November it was said that Conguitos would never be sold again, that's not true; it's just that the day we went they had run out. "We also have snacks of the Frit Ravich brand, who are from Maçanet de la Selva, like me," says Lluís. The Catalan brand labels in Catalan as well as in English and Spanish.

Tray in hand, we head to the salad bar, where each of us can choose to compose as we like, or choose the Murcian salad with black olives and basil. Among all the options, I spotted another, a single dish consisting of roast lamb with potatoes, carrots, and white rice. I'm told it costs the same as the menu, which is substantial. It's good, very good, but there are three small cuts of lamb, and everything else is just a side dish. Francisco, who sits down with me to eat, chooses two slices of pizza for the first course and a slice of the fish of the day with potatoes for the second course. It's also good, he tells me.

And now we get to the prices, which include the menu and drinks. Both my main course and the menu cost €13.20. It includes a glass of wine, water, or a beer with or without alcohol. And I linger over the wines for a while. I asked for a glass, and they showed me some open bottles, sealed with the same cork, belonging to the DO Catalunya and DO Penedès. "I once went to the Parliament's restaurant, years ago, to interview Lluís Llach, and I saw that they don't have all the Catalan designations of origin, and I think they should because the Parliament is also a representation of the country," explains sommelier and journalist Ruth Troyano. She adds that she then asked more parliamentarians why there were so few wine references, and they responded that it was a concession to a company. They just gave me the clauses of the concession contract to read, and I looked for what it says about the wine, and I can't find it. The contract is several pages long, written front and back, and I don't see any clause explaining what the wines should be like. I do find one about fish, for example: "They must be seafood and aquaculture products caught or produced with responsible consumption criteria. They must preferably be fresh and comply with health regulations." Another clause is about the nutritional balance of the menus: "Apart from the regular menu, there must be the option of eating with a low-calorie dietary composition; low-fat cooking techniques should preferably be used, with extra virgin olive oil." And another one that I underline: "Preferably, products that include Catalan on the label must be used." In other words, no reference to wines, no phrase stating that the restaurant must have a representation of the twelve Catalan designations of origin.

It's also true that wine isn't going to be drunk in the Parliament's restaurant. Some journalists who cover politics tell me this. I agree, although I think a glass of wine from Montsant, Empordà, Alella, the Barberà Basin, the Costers del Segre, Priorat, Pla de Bages, Tarragona, or Terra Alta goes very well with a meal. What's more, a glass of good wine is like a meal, because it nourishes, and it must be said because our wines are culture, economy, and landscape. And the vineyard acts as a firebreak in the forests. In short, it would be good if we stopped thinking of wines as alcoholic beverages, which they are, because we as a country have a lot to offer in each glass.

I ask about the sparkling wines, and they tell me that the bubbles are only served to those in the reserved areas, and that they have a separate price (€20.45). In other words, they are a different story for the two brands, and I think there is more variety than with the wines.

Now we just need to have coffee. Francesc Melcion, who has taken photos of everything with the full force of the law, orders one. It costs €1.10. It's cheap. "But it used to be much more expensive years ago," he tells me. Everything has gone up in price in Barcelona, ​​and so has the restaurant in the Parliament, although it's still probably the cheapest in the country.