I read that the L'Estrella bakery, the oldest in Barcelona, after being closed for a few months, will be able to celebrate its two hundredth anniversary. This is exceptional news, amid the avalanche of information about traditional businesses closing due to a lack of generational relevance, trades being lost, architectural heritage deteriorating, entire neighborhoods losing their personality. Great news.
I discover that the people who have embarked on the great adventure of saving Estrella are two girls, Anna and Judit, twenty-five years old. They have known each other since high school and for a time worked together in this bakery.
And it is then that good news, great news, becomes a true joy. I am happy about the recovery of a historic establishment in this Barcelona that is melting in our fingers, but it makes me even more aware that there are young people who have the sensitivity, the drive, and the ambition to do it. Good ambition, which means doing great things and not making a lot of money the easy way. Exceptional too, but there are other cases. The country is certainly full of young people eager to do interesting, beautiful, important things. These are the ones who deserve our attention and should become the idols of our children.
I can offer you another example.
Germán, Josep Maria, and Judit are also young and ambitious. They have created a publishing house based in Llagostera called Cap de Brot, whose mission—they say—is to give a voice to authors from all over the world who write in Catalan. They define themselves as a fearless publishing house, not subject to fashion or any political correctness.
They publish young authors like themselves, but they also revive works that had fallen out of print, such as Clay Birds, by Rusiñol; This is where it all ends, by Josep Piera, or Island situations, by Carme Guasch.
Since I knew this last author well, I can say with complete certainty that she would be grateful and excited, and above all, very proud to be part of the project of these young and ambitious publishers.
I would like, therefore, to give you some homework. Buy a book published by Cap de Brot and go read it, while having a coffee or hot chocolate, at L'Estrella, on Nou de la Rambla.
The young pastry chefs want to respect the establishment's recipe book, but they also offer innovative products. Traditional Swiss roll and roscón, but also croissants with unexpected flavors. A fearless pastry shop.
Novels, stories, and poems by authors selected with love and admiration. Books made with care and quality. A fearless publisher.
Young Catalans who aren't afraid to look forward because they're looking back. A youthful, top-quality, excellent team. Sometimes things still happen that make us maintain or redouble our hope.
