Marc Ribas: "I'm starting to feel like Pep Guardiola. I feel like I'm emptying out."

BarcelonaHe runs the restaurant El Ciri in Terrassa and also three programs on 3Cat: Kitchens, Card game and Cook as you canMarc Ribas is the man in the kitchen at the Corporation, and in this interview, he deconstructs himself and analyzes what he needs in life and what burdens he carries.

Two years after your on-screen debut, you said you were a chef and that you were just passing through television. In 2026, it'll be a decade since you've been here... are you here to stay?

— I still think and feel the same way. I'm a chef on the move, and I'm at a point where I feel emptier when I'm hosting and much more full when I'm cooking. It's always been that way, but now I'm starting to feel a bit like Pep Guardiola: I feel like I'm emptying out.

Do you think you'll leave television before television leaves you?

— I don't know, because maybe tomorrow I won't be funny, and when it happens, it happens very quickly. There are things I would feel really bad about leaving, like Kitchens, which is a program where I do what I love: cooking and promoting Catalan cuisine. As a public television channel, we should talk about products, the primary sector, crafts, and the region. And I feel a responsibility to do so myself, if I have the opportunity. What I find a little more difficult is entertainment.

But in the Kitchens You must have nearly 2,000 recipes. Do you never run out of dishes?

— No! The magic of cooking is that it's alive. Right now, a project is starting: a cheese factory in Cerdanya. If we can tell the story, it will be fabulous.

I understand from what you say that it weighs more on you Card game, but maybe that's because you finished filming the summer edition and next year's edition this week.

— It's very likely that he's coming off the four-month beating and that he's much more exhausted than he would be if we were talking in February or March. But whenever I close out the year, I always ask myself if I still have things to say, and I always think I do. Now, however, I don't know if I have more to say with him. Card game. And it loses a bit of meaning.

It's easy to believe that doing the Card game It's a bargain, because you travel around the country with a table always waiting.

— He Card game It's physically and emotionally tough, because there are people competing against each other and they feel the shock of a TV crew arriving. They often tell me, "Wow, I didn't imagine there would be so many people." From home, some might imagine I'm filming this with a cell phone, but there are 25 of us traveling, and there are still 15 to write and edit. Of course, we move everything around for the contestants, looking for the best lighting and camera position, we rearrange the kitchen... all of this, added to the exposure, makes them very nervous.

But why do you suffer?

— I suffer when I see them suffer, out of empathy. It's an emotional burden. You see how the pressure to get the project off their chest is distressing, and that in itself is tiring. And then, physically, it's four days at a time, 12 hours a day, during which you're away, sleeping out, eating out... your body and stomach aren't prepared for so much. I sleep little and I'm away from my wife and daughters while things are happening at home, and on top of that, I'm away from the restaurant, where there are 11 other people who, directly or indirectly, depend on me or want to know about me. So, I feel like I'm neglecting people here, that I'm neglecting people at home... I end up taking all of this with me.

I fail the contestants a little, in fact.

— Because I think what they're doing is very difficult. I understand their pressure, and I always vote higher than I would if I didn't take into account the fact that there's a TV show there. I'm sure they do things better in their normal day-to-day lives.

As a viewer, I'm surprised that, knowing that TV is coming, you have a dirty kitchen or food stored away without filming it. Doesn't that surprise you?

— I was surprised at first, but now I understand what's going on: often the owners never enter the kitchen or have any contact with their kitchen equipment. They're just sloppy kitchen teams, who one day have this one and tomorrow they'll have another, and they burn through equipment and equipment and equipment. They think they're starting a business that will make them a lot of money, and it's a sector where profit margins are very small. If you do it right, you get ahead and end up subsidizing a job.

Everyone dares, apparently.

— Many people end up capitalizing on unemployment benefits because they're told they cook very well at home and set up a restaurant without ever having worked in one. And then these are people who tell their team what to do and what not to do, when in reality they don't know. You should trust the professionals. Surely you wouldn't let someone drive a school bus around Collada de Toses if they've watched a lot of driving shows but don't have a license or experience? So how do they let someone feed 80 people without any specific knowledge?

Who taught you to cook?

— Mainly my mother, because she cooked a lot at home. I started working in a kitchen at the bottom and worked my way up, because I studied something else: I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a painter and make a living painting and making fantastic pictures.

Do you consider yourself an artist, but in the kitchen?

— I don't know if I'm an artist, but I am certainly a craftsman. I see art as something necessary for living, but it's useless. It doesn't fill your stomach, but it does fill your spirit. It's beauty for beauty's sake.

But if it were just a matter of filling our stomachs, a little bread with tomato and sausage would be enough.

— Ah, but if the bread is good, if the tomato is good, if that sausage we made is good, and I've put in good oil... it's already a delight.

What does the term "signature cuisine" suggest to you then?

— The problem with terms isn't the terms themselves, but rather who assigns them, and who often messes up their names out of a need to sell a little something because there's no consistency. I mean, there are those who make signature cuisine, and this signature cuisine is incredibly powerful; it has a message, a discourse, and a meaning.

...And it's art then?

— (Laughs) To me, it's craftsmanship. It's not art yet, no.

You lived in Brazil for a while. And there you had another unexpected cooking teacher.

— Yes, Maria! She was the woman who came to help me with the housework. I lived in Rio de Janeiro back then, and I lived very well!

What are we talking about?

— I had a fascinating attic. I'll never experience that again.

Man... you have three TV shows and a restaurant!

— Don't believe it: TV doesn't pay too well, at least not for me. It's not like you say, "Wow, you can do a lot of things." No. But I did make a very good living there. I must have earned a salary of about 6,000 euros a month, which, given the standard of living there, is as if we were covering 18,000 here. And this was in 2005: a lot of money, and with a house provided by the company. So, when I moved to a new apartment, I started packing boxes and writing down the names of what was inside. I asked María to pass me a box to unpack, and I realized I couldn't read or write. She was a very good cook, and we made a trade: I told her to come over in the afternoons, that I would teach her how to read and write, and in return, she would teach me recipes, especially the sweet stuff, which she made very well.

It's a beautiful, but shocking story.

— It was very hard to see that an adult, a mother of a child, couldn't read and write in the 21st century. Social differences are so vast that you can see a wealth you don't have here, and next door you see a poverty that wasn't there here, but that I've only just begun to see now, with junkies living in tents, depending on the area. We're seeing the wolf in the act. If we realize this, we can fix it; if not, it will be complicated.

You've been working nights for a while. What has that taught you?

— It has taught me everything I didn't want to. bad luck and that they bring out the worst in everyone. And that there aren't many options for young people to have fun other than these. As a society, we're getting a little sick. I've seen dark things I wouldn't want to encounter again.

Being a goalkeeper in Zona Hermética you must have seen everything.

— I actually did very little goalkeeping. I quickly moved into public relations.

You certainly had the body.

— Yes, but I tried to diffuse conflicts! Sometimes you'd see colleagues and you'd have to say to them: "Look, this kid really just broke some bathroom windows with a glass because his girlfriend dumped him. But there's no need to kill him, we have insurance, man." It seemed to me that things had been disproportionate at times. What surprised me was how normal it was to live with it. And you knew the police were aware of it, too.

I imagined you handing out slaps...

— No! I always ended up playing the nurse because it's always a given who cuts herself, who gets into a fight, and ends up with a bent finger... The worst thing is when they tell you there's a girl in the bathroom, for example, and they've given her something to drink they shouldn't have, and everything happens to her. Those are the things I dealt with, whether as a PR person or as a doorman, and they left me feeling really screwed.

Have you never been attacked either?

— It was the time of the skinheads, who would come and do things like this, but I'd never been touched before. I guess my mere presence, voice, and attitude stopped things in their tracks. I've never provoked a situation. I wasn't just trying to see who was the coolest, but rather trying to be smarter and aware that, right in front of me, I had someone who was high.

When you were young, you became interested in boxing. What does it give you?

— We were talking about arts earlier, right? Well, for me, martial arts or boxing are an art because they're like a dance. I really like the whole body coordination and the whole athletic aspect, not so much the fighting. I like watching certain boxers, but not too much bloodshed. I don't like all this UFC stuff with mixed martial arts because if someone's on the ground... they're already on the ground, that's it. There's no need to finish it off with excessive punishment.

It's an approach that ties in with your facet as a bodybuilder. Or ex-bodybuilder. Do you still consider yourself one?

— Yes, yes, if you have it since you were little, you won't let it go. I don't compete anymore, but I still eat and train the same.

How long are we talking about?

— An hour and a half a day, six days a week. And I'm still moving every kilo in the world I can.

How many kilos of bench press, for example?

— Now I don't move much of that... About 130 kilos.

Fearing this, I came prepared from home with some statistical tables that say that only 0.075% of the world's population can lift 100 kilos.

— Yes, but I've done maximum reps with 174 kilos. That's my record.

You competed at the European level and finished fifth out of thirty-two. No joke.

— It was a great experience. Bodybuilding is my life here and now. Everyone has their own. Some people achieve it through yoga, others through writing, others through observing the sea... I achieve it through this. It's my absolute connection with myself, with my body and my mind. It's about trying not to leave my mind empty, but rather my mind full of myself. Disconnecting from everything else and listening to myself.

And when you listen to yourself, what do you call yourself?

— When I listen to myself, there is silence.

Is there a desire for silence in your life?

— Yes, there is a need for silence. For stillness and blindness: for seeing and feeling nothing.

It's funny how what you say contrasts with your hectic pace of life.

— In order to do everything, I need to do this emptying.

Are you thinking long-term? You'll turn 50 next year.

— I don't think about it. Physically, beyond the wrinkles and gray hair, I haven't noticed anything. And spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, I'm much better off than I was at 30. Calmer, more replenished, wiser.

What was happening to you at 30?

— I was 30! And at 20, it was worse. (Laughs) You get older and you rest a lot more, right? And you appreciate what you have and what you want a lot more. And I've learned to wait, which is very difficult. I've learned that sometimes, and since we were talking about boxing, not moving is the best move.

One of the problems many restaurateurs face is that they can't find a place in their lives. Your daughters are young, but I don't know if you'd want them to continue the same lineage.

— I have a 10-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a still-pregnant daughter: her name is Nina, and our due date is September 11th. And yes, of course, I'd like to if that's what they're interested in. I've adapted my life to work because I've been lucky enough to find a job that excites me. If you're lucky enough to have that, you should take advantage of it.

But with so much work, the family can become stressed.

— I always say that I am someone who goes to the gym, who eats queer and that he works hard. And we must always keep this in mind.

How much queer?

— As a bodybuilder most of my life.

For example, what did you eat yesterday?

— Now I'm like cleaning, after the Card gameI'll tell you what I ate yesterday, and it may seem very strict, but it's not heavy or controlled: the time will come to implement a strategy again. Yesterday I got up and ate oatmeal with water, a piece of fruit, and an omelet with ten egg whites and two yolks. Mid-morning, I had a really cool organic protein powder I got, with baby rice cream, and water. Then I had a salad and a chicken breast. And then I had a snack-dinner. Since we were going to see the Raluy circus, I ate a curry salad in Vienna. And then at home, when I got home, I made some cold lentils with chicken.

A Vienna surprised me. I don't know if we could see you at McDonald's too.

— No. My fast food It's Vienna, because if my daughters ask me, I'll eat the salad or a ham sandwich. But morally, ethically, and ideologically, I'm not going to go into a McDonald's or a Kentucky Fried Chicken or any of those things.

And all this has to go down.

— I drink about six and a half liters of water a day. This is normal. I need a lot of water to cleanse everything because I'm overeating. Keep in mind that, when I eat normally, I consume about 2,700 calories. But I overeat because I'm trying to build a body.

Does a body ever finish being built?

— No, and in the end it will be destroyed. The charm of this sport is precisely that Greek figure of the man who pushes a rock up a mountain, and when he reaches the top, it slips down the other side and he has to go back down.

Sisyphus was a bodybuilder, then.

— Of course, because there is always something, be it a filming of the Card game, or Nina's birth, or anything that will make you less focused and then have to start over. But for me, I love starting over. Even though I'm not in shape now, or in the shape I like. Thinking again, writing, designing this training routine, the diet... all of this makes me focus on myself, solely and exclusively on myself. I don't care if others like it or not.

If a good offer came along to do television in...

— Well, it depends. I don't know how long I have to hold off on the TV deal, but if it's an offer considering Madrid salaries, which are 60% more than what they earn here, well, maybe I'd take it, if it was something I felt comfortable with.

They don't ask you for much in politics.

— No one has ever asked me. Well, I'm someone on the left, and so I'm very worried right now. I don't like all the bias against migrants, all the lies being told, the misinformation... We have to pay taxes, we have to have good public services. I don't like armies, and I'd like to live in a world that doesn't need armies. We should be able to educate and live in a fairer, cleaner world. And I think individualism is increasingly rewarded, but not the individual. Now you walk into a place, say "good afternoon," and no one answers. The connection has been lost.