The kitchen of young people

For work reasons, I live and share meals with a group of young people in their twenties and thirties. I've cooked with young people before, of course, but the meals were always prepared or paid for by me. This is different—we eat with a few scrapes from work—because I can observe their culinary habits and customs.

These are young people who have completed a degree or university program and now have jobs. Most haven't "gone out to restaurants." They didn't have parents who regularly spent money on them. They have grandmothers who make croquettes, yes, but they don't have a specific dish ingrained in their memory, and therefore, when they order them (they like them and find them comforting), they have nothing to compare them to.

They eat much smaller portions and much less fat than their parents' generation. They don't order dessert for lunch or dinner because "they'll get full."

They've skipped, out of disinterest, the whole trend of nouvelle cuisine, with its foams and spherifications. What remains of all that now (a square plate, black salt, a drum) surprises and amazes them.

They value quantity. That there are leftovers (and that they can take them home).

They don't know about seasonal and local ingredients. They can order a carpaccio Tomato (very thinly sliced ​​tomato) with burrata DO from the supermarket, unaware that tomatoes now come from the refrigerator.

They don't drink wine, but if offered it, they show interest. A well-made, elegant, light-bodied wine with low alcohol content might interest them.

They don't like ceremony, but they value conversation and explanations.

They wouldn't spend money on a tasting menu. At home, they make pasta or rice that lasts them three days.

Body is important to them.

They readily accept the "narrative" of natural wine and are concerned about climate change.

They laugh at the "big shots" who are excited about all-you-can-eat buffets. For them, cooking is always in a festive context.

We urgently need someone to tell you about and cook traditional Catalan dishes, properly prepared.