I repeatedly refer to these words of the president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, Carles Vilarrubí, which he spoke this Wednesday at the National Gastronomy Awards ceremony. He said (copied on the fly): "Gastronomy shouldn't just be for tourists. It should also be for the people who live here. For all citizens. When we travel, we want to eat how the locals eat. Monuments are very important, but we often don't hear about where we are or how the cuisine does it. From outside, we're told we're a gas power. We have one system of prestige for those who visit us and another for us."
I think it's very wise of this blessed academy to read between the lines, a careful and alert reading, of our highly celebrated cuisine. We give prestige to the cuisine that makes us international, but also to the cuisine that makes us national. We experiment, but we also remember. We don't charge an unfair price, below the market, but neither do we charge an abusive price above it. We don't eat seafood rice every day, but we do eat seafood rice some days. Let's not say that wine hurts, let's say that everything, in excess, hurts. Let's not say that croquettes are fattening, let's say that too many croquettes are fattening. Let's not say that the salad is boring. Let's say that poorly made and bagged salad is boring.
The politicians, journalists, chefs, waiters, waiters, theater people, wine and food people, and patrons who were at Mont Sant Benet yesterday seemed to me to stand out for one thing. A thing that permeated the atmosphere, in the conversations and shared glasses of wine (DO Pla de Bages), or the promises of future lunches. The people in the gastronomy are very cheerful people. They're happy; you can tell they know they're on the good side of the riverbank.
