Paul Freedman: "The Boqueria, one of the most important institutions of Catalan gastronomy, is in the process of being destroyed."

BarcelonaPaul Freedman (New York, 1949) is a professor of history at Yale University, specializing in the social history of the Middle Ages, and particularly in the history of Catalonia and its cuisine. He's visiting Barcelona because the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN) will honor him this afternoon as an honorary member. He welcomes me at the hotel where he's staying, and we agree to conduct the interview in Catalan. "I love having people to practice it with," he says with a smile.

How does it feel to be named an honorary member by the ACGN?

— It's an honor because it's the first time the Academy has done so. And to a foreigner, too. But the truth is, I don't feel like an outsider. After 50 years of studying Catalonia, I feel half Catalan, an honorary Catalan.

YouYou first came to Catalonia in the 1970s on a pre-doctoral fellowship. What did you find in Catalan cuisine that interested you?

— I arrived two months before Franco's death. It was a time of transition, yes, but also a time of awakening from a nightmare. I was welcomed by a family in Malla, near Vic. The food they cooked at home was fantastic. I gained at least 8 kilos. The only thing I missed was the hot sauce.

How many times have you visited Catalonia?

— Every year. I usually come for two weeks to a month, mostly for research in archives and libraries...

What do you think makes Catalan cuisine distinctive?

— That the population accepts innovation. Yes, there are disputes, like the famous one between Santi Santamaria and Ferran Adrià, but apart from that, there's a broad consensus that tradition and innovation go hand in hand. What surprised me is interior cuisine, like rabbit and snails. This may be what's in danger of disappearing, since Barcelona has more than half the population.

The Mediterranean diet is in fashion, but in the US, they don't think of Catalonia when they talk about it.

— They think of Italy. Besides, Americans find it difficult to distinguish Catalan cuisine from Spanish cuisine when it comes to traditional cuisine. Now, when it comes to avant-garde cuisine, Michelin stars, and innovation, everyone knows the superiority of the Basque Country and Catalonia.

He Sent Soví's Book It's 700 years old, and now we have the best restaurant in the world. Why has such a small region managed to remain gastronomically relevant for so long?

— There's a Catalan fanaticism for gastronomy. This desire to push the boundaries. And it also appears in various strata of society; it's not something that occurs in aristocratic courts, as in France.

There are ingredients that become fashionable, and then it turns out we were already eating them in the Middle Ages.

— In the Middle Ages, there was an interest in spices throughout Europe, as they had already existed in the Roman Empire. But why did it disappear around the 17th century? When coffee, tea, tobacco, and chocolate emerged, they replaced the taste for spices.

But spices, as you have studied, were a luxury product.

— Yes, luxurious, but not extreme luxury. It was affordable luxury.

What would be the equivalent of this affordable luxury today?

— The coffee that costs 5 euros.

What kind of gastronomy do you think we find now with globalization?

— There's sushi and hamburgers everywhere, and the cafes all look the same. Despite everything, I think globalization won't wipe out Catalan cuisine. It will hurt, but it won't be fatal. Thirty years ago, people feared the Americanization of cuisine. At that time, McDonald's was the example. The truth is, McDonald's is part of globalization, but not its greatest symbol. What has distinguished the United States for 200 years is its eclecticism. Paris has superior cuisine, but in New York, you can find everything. You can have breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Paris, and dinner in Italy.

Therefore, globalization may impoverish local cuisines but it will not make them disappear.

— Not in Catalonia, but because there's a struggle to save local gastronomy that isn't artificial. We can think of struggles to save languages, for example. They've saved Irish, but artificially. It's breathing machine-assisted. In Ireland, very few people speak Irish. However, here in Catalonia, despite all the efforts against the language, today you and I are speaking Catalan. This also happens with gastronomy. There are places where the cuisine has disappeared or two or three traditional dishes remain. In Scotland, for example. But in Catalonia, despite the dangers, gastronomy generates international enthusiasm and is not an artificial program by an elite to save it in a culinary museum.

But we face problems such as the lack of support in the primary sector, which provides us with the food we are so proud of.

— The danger facing Catalan cuisine is not globalization, but demographics and climate change.

What initiatives can we take to promote Catalan cuisine?

— There's the good promotional work of ACGN. But then there's the case of the Boqueria Market, where tourists go to buy cut fruit or burritos. It is in the process of destroying one of the most important institutions of Catalan gastronomy.

You talk about cultural exchange in trade. Now, however, some people believe that difference is a threat.

— I saw a banner at a demonstration in northern Italy that said "Polenta yes, couscous no." But in Sicily, they eat couscous.

Since you've studied the history of trade, how do you think Trump's tariffs might affect it?

— It's terrible, and no one knows it. I'm a historian, not a prophet. Every era has great changes. As a historian, I've seen other things that are what we call avoidable disasters. For example, the Western Schism. There are terrible accidents, like the Europeans' love of sugar, which ended in a system of slavery in Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil. I've been fortunate enough to live in an era of progress. To enjoy budgets to study things like medieval history, which has nothing to do with the government's economic interests. Trump's election in 2016 could be said to be an accident. But this time, it can't be said that no one knew who he was. In a month and a half, he's done things to destroy 75-year-old alliances. The US is no longer a reliable ally.

Finally, what is your favorite Catalan dish and where can we find it?

— The dish would be canned snails. The restaurant, 7 Portes. Fifty years ago, it was the only one open before nine for dinner.