The Corpinnat sparkling wine brand extends for the first time to Baix Penedès: from July 1st, the Mas Vilella winery, owned by producer Albert Jané, will begin to label and market the two sparkling wines it produces, a rosé and a white, under the Corpinnat name. “I asked to be able to join Corpinnat in 2024, when I started producing them because my philosophy aligns with it, which means hand-harvesting, organic vineyards, integral winemaking, long aging, commitment to historical varieties, owned vineyards or long-term contracts with a minimum guaranteed price for the grape grower, and annual external audits,” explains Albert Jané, who adds that he will sell each of the two sparkling wines for twenty euros.

I interview Karin Leiz (Seville, 1938) at the Flash-Flash restaurant in Barcelona, created by her late husband, Leopoldo Pomés, and Alfonso Milà, and which this week has turned fifty-six years old. We look at the menu and count that there are currently up to fifty different omelets. During Leopoldo's lifetime, when she advised the restaurant, she managed to have up to one hundred and sixty. All different. We choose the Panadera (potato with bread with tomato inside) and the Gallega. We also eat peas with baby octopuses. And a bread with tomato that is perfectly soaked. It should be highlighted because it doesn't happen every day. When I pick up the cutlery to cut the omelet, she tells me if I knew that the journalist Nèstor Luján was allergic to metal. Karin has a prodigious memory, and the meal starts very well.

There was a time when we ate mayors for dinner (Micromesistius poutassou).We fried them, turning them over and over, with flour, and placed them on a slice of toasted bread well rubbed with tomato. It was a white fish that fell apart, with an easily removable central bone, with soft flesh, which was a delight if we poured a good stream of extra virgin olive oil over it. It was a good dinner, and with many advantages: nutritional and economic, because the sardines were cheap.

It was July 18, 1936, when Josep Ensesa Gubert inaugurated La Taverna del Mar on Sant Pol beach, in s’Agaró. It was a brilliant day, with a deep blue sky, when everything had to go well, because he had worked hard for the awaited day. By his side, the architect Francesc Folguera was happy with how that restaurant, which Josep Ensesa had named "tavern. Years earlier, he had not used the word hotel for the establishment with rooms in the s’Agaró urbanization; he called it Hostal La Gavina. As if he wanted discreet words for solemn establishments. The fact is that old Ensesa, as his friend and writer Josep Pla used to call him, went from joy to sadness in one day: the next day, July 19, the restaurant closed due to the start of the Civil War. Today, ninety years later, the Ensesa family, the four grandchildren, continues at the helm of their grandfather's tavern. They have been through thick and thin, but the present is full of novelties, such as the celebration menu they have devised to launch the summer, and which will be available all year round. It features seafood and Palamós prawn starters, and above all a fisherman's stew where the potatoes are as good as the fish, as it should be for a good stew.

Jordi Madern, cousin of the poet J.V. Foix, with two Foix patisseries in the Sarrià neighborhood, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 88. An energetic man, he had worked until the last days in the patisseries, where he attended to customers who asked for him or stayed in the office. In the workshop, located on Carrer Major de Sarrià, he has several pastry chefs, including Joe Moretones and Oriol Madern Mas, his brother, retired, and a nephew, Albert Madern, on whom he relied to continue the business when he was no longer there.

It is Friday midday and on Carrer Major in Sarrià, a few meters beyond the Foix de Sarrià pastry shop, the waiters at the Vivanda restaurant suggest to those entering for lunch whether they want to do so in the interior room, with a wooden floor and white walls, or in the garden. The answer I hear is unanimous: the garden. And I head there too. I find trees, a large palm tree, ivies, and well-distributed, spacious tables that make you think you have entered a small oasis. No traffic can be heard, there is calm, and a familiar, neighborhood atmosphere. We are at the restaurant with a green garden of the chef Jordi Vilà, the Vivanda, which he has been directing for eighteen years. As we have just started the month of June, Vilà has just changed the menu, so we will taste summer dishes.

Cherries mark the beginning of good weather, long days, and heat. They are the wise fruit, which brings a thousand and one benefits to the body, and which allows us to play with them, both as earrings and in the kitchen, with savory and sweet dishes.

I am interviewing the president of DO Penedès, Joan Huguet, the day after they unanimously approved the creation of two independent chambers (commissions) within the designation: one for sparkling wines and another for still wines. They say they will launch it in 2027, and that the objective is to build a designation that brings together all the agents of the territory, winegrowers and producers. Joan has his own winery, Can Feixes, where he makes wines and also sparkling wines, affiliated with Corpinnat since almost the beginning. With his presidency, DO Penedès has become the first 100% organic in the world, which is one of the great achievements.

Stuffed olives are one of the great successes of the food industry, which we have become accustomed to, knowing that they can be more expensive than if we bought olives with a pit. Furthermore, not all fillings literally correspond to what is stated on the label. So it could be that they do not contain pepper, anchovy, tuna, salmon or cheese, but rather "a reconstituted paste, formed by crushed pepper, thickeners, texture enhancers, flavor enhancers and food stabilizers that maintain its shape and preserve it for months," states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols.

The Mervier Canal pastry shop on Calvet street in Barcelona, the first one, has reopened its doors after the fire last December. "We thought that in two months we could save the Christmas turrons, and in the end it has been a full six months that the works have lasted us," explains Lluís Estrada, son of Mercè Canal (78 years old), who together with his brother Xavier (81 years old) owns the pastry shop. The display window is full of all kinds of Sant Joan cakes: filled with cream, truffle, fruit, or cracklings. They have lost the Christmas and Easter campaigns, but they are arriving in time for Sant Joan.

In Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, everyone was talking about it these past few days and the questions were constant. What will be the name that replaces Cavatast to refer to the festival that takes place on the first weekend of October in the town and which, until this year, only grouped cava cellars? Some neighbors said that not even the mayor of the town, Pere Vernet i Caldú, knew, even though it was the town council itself that had commissioned a naming company to find a new name. "Everything is under wraps so that no one knows until the day they announce it," the neighbors continued to explain. Well, today the day has arrived, and it has already been made known: the name of the festival is Escumostra. From this October onwards, we will go to Escumostra to taste sparkling wines, which could be Corpinnat, Cava, Clàssic Penedès, or others that are not protected under any name.

They say that babies always arrive in the world with a loaf of bread under their arm, and in the case of little Júlia Martorell Calatayud, it will be with two winning cakes: the cream one and the lardons one, created by her father at the El Sagà bakery in Granollers. These are two of the specialties that won the competition for the best Sant Joan cake, organized by the Guild of Bakers of the Barcelona regions and created by the agency Sr y Sra Cake. The baker Andreu Martorell (Lliçà de Vall, 1988), Júlia's father and also father of Jan (5 years old) and Pol (3 years old), was the first to be surprised to achieve first place in both categories, and even more so in a year when the organizers of the event stated that there had been more participation than ever: 20% more than in previous editions. So, in total, with each category (traditional, cream, lardons, chocolate, and creative), the jury had to taste three hundred.

I interview the winemaker Lola Palacios (Alfaro, 1997) at La Llotja in Barcelona on Monday, June 8. She has come from Alfaro, in La Rioja, for the event organized by the distributor Vila Viniteca so that interested the public can taste (and buy) exclusively the wines of 2025. Last year she had to go home when she was arriving in Barcelona because her pregnancy caused her constant vomiting. This year, her daughter, Federica, is already eight months old, and she has been able to spend the whole day there. She says that never before today has she felt that women have superpowers, and Lola says it because she assures that she works more efficiently than ever in the three family wineries while taking care of her daughter with all her love. Lola is a passionate woman, she speaks quickly, in Catalan and Spanish, and she has very clear ideas.

Buying yogurts should be a simpler task than it has currently become. If we are clear about the taste (Let's take it step by step. To begin with, what do A1 and A2 milk mean. “Some cow breeds produce a type of milk protein, beta-casein A2, while many other European breeds produce beta-casein A1," says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa. In A2 milk, this protein is mostly present, while in other milks it is not. “We know that the digestion of milk containing A1 can generate a peptide called BCM-7 (a peptide is a short chain of amino acids linked together), which some studies have linked to digestive discomfort in sensitive individuals,” points out Anna Grífols. Therefore, since the industry knows that A2 milks are more digestible, what is being done is selecting cows, which are usually Friesians, that produce beta-casein A2.

It is a spring Tuesday, we are on the beach of s’Arenella in Cadaqués, and the pastry chef Jordi Roca is sitting in a boat listening to what one of the most respected retired fishermen in the town, Dionís Baró, is telling him. He is wearing a red-striped t-shirt, blue shorts, and dark espadrilles. In his hand, he has a bottle of Estrella Damm, from which he sips while following the legend of Canyut, the man who one day fell into the sea, almost drowned, and suddenly found himself on the sand next to a girl who later taught him to swim.

It is Saturday morning, and L'Abricoc (c. de l'1 d'Octubre, 6, Fonteta) has organized a tasting of Empordà olive oils with cheeses, liver pâté, and sweet sausage. The village is pleasant to look at: stone houses, the Romanesque church of Santa Maria, two restaurants that everyone in the village recommends (El Magatzem and El Saó), and a cheesemaker that I will also visit (and about whom I will write) with a reputation throughout the country. L'Abricoc's display window, made of wood and glass, shows a summary of what is inside: chocolates, oils, wines, Pallarès knives, uniquely designed linen bags. Even the constant cyclists who pass by look at it. If you walk by, calmly, you enter without thinking about it after observing the good taste with which the products are displayed.

The Pope of Rome now knows a little more about traditional Spanish cuisine, at least that was the intention of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy of Madrid, which explained today what the dishes and products were that he chose for the dinner that took place last night at the Episcopal Palace of Madrid. The Lhardy restaurant, "one of the historic houses of Madrid gastronomy and a symbol of excellence and legacy", according to the Academy, was the one in charge of preparing the dinner.

I am interviewing Manel Batet, from Cafès Novell, from Vilafranca del Penedès, so that he can explain to me the history of the company where he works and about the coffee we drink every day. I noticed the Novell brand the day I checked that the Disfrutar restaurant was the brand it used to prepare coffees. As the great enthusiast that Manel is, he knows data, dates, stories, and the evolution that the drink has undergone, which is more fashionable than ever. And it is also sold at higher prices than ever, probably. Current geopolitical situations and climate change will not favor it in the coming years for the situation to change. We will continue to pay a very high price for a cup of coffee.

Extra virgin olive oil is the liquid gold of our kitchen. We revere it, respect it, and know that it is one of the healthiest fats, and probably the most studied. When From 180 degrees, extra virgin olive oil begins to oxidize, but it is also true that it will do so more or less depending on the amount of time it is kept at this temperature, and "it will also depend on what we cook in it," states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, who adds that despite this, "extra virgin olive oil is much more stable than is often believed thanks to its high content of two components: oleic acid and natural antioxidant compounds such as polyphenols and vitamin E". A maximum of two times

To the point: we can reuse extra virgin olive oil between one and two times, "as long as we have never taken it to high temperatures, as long as it has not reached the smoke point, if it does not contain burnt residues, if it has been filtered and if it has been stored correctly after use". On the other hand, "when extra virgin olive oil darkens, when it smells rancid, when it produces a lot of smoke or when its texture changes, it is a clear sign that the quality has been lost", says Grífols, who assures that this advice is general, the one that people can follow at home. "We could reuse it ten times if we did not heat the oil beyond 180°, if we fried vegetables in it, if we completely covered the food, if we filtered it after use and if we then stored it in a suitable place". Since meeting all these requirements is difficult, the recommendation is to reuse extra virgin olive oil a maximum of two times. A note on the idea that frying vegetables in it makes it more profitable: "It is not the same to fry vegetables in extra virgin olive oil as battered or protein-rich foods, because the organic and protein residues they leave behind accelerate the degradation of the oil and, moreover, increase the production of potentially toxic compounds", states Grífols, who underlines the idea that extra virgin olive oil should not smoke: "When it burns or is used too many times, it stops being a protective food and becomes a source of oxidized compounds that do not help our health".Finally, extra virgin olive oil can be solidified (not frozen) if you need to keep it for months with the same properties as when you bought it. "Below zero degrees, we manage to solidify the saturated fats in the oil, which are 15%," says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa, who suggests the idea of taking an ice cube tray and adding sauces that contain extra virgin olive oil (like a pesto sauce) and then using them according to the use we want to give to our dishes. The extra virgin olive oil will have been preserved intact with all its benefits, for health and for cooking.

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A dinner on the terrace of the Windsor restaurant in Barcelona (Còrsega street, 232) with live music on Fridays and Saturdays for fifty euros, all-inclusive, including desserts, coffees, and drinks. This is the proposal launched by the director and owner, Joan Junyent, who explains that the dishes follow the basic premises of the restaurant: Catalan and local cuisine.

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