I interview the farmer Jaume Torras (Sant Climent de Llobregat, 1974) one afternoon to talk about his company, Soulblim,, which is a spin-off of the stall his parents had at the Barceloneta market, where they sold vegetables. Everything started in 2007, when Jaume opened a website called L’Hortet del Baix to help his parents sell the vegetables they grew. For one hundred years in a row, someone from his family had always been at the Barceloneta market, but that year improvement works began, and his parents could not afford the cost, which was three hundred thousand euros. In 2004, they closed the stall. Jaume worked in software sales, he was a sales representative, and he helped his parents with L'Hortet del Baix. Nineteen years ago, the fact of selling vegetables through a website was exotic and strange, but it worked for him. He started getting visits from all over the country and the world. Later, something happened that helped him reach where he is today, selling local and organic vegetables and fruit throughout the country. His fields, of organic agriculture, are in Sant Boi, Gavà, Viladecans, and Sant Climent de Llobregat.

The European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) changes its name depending on how we cook it. If it is fresh, and we flour and fry it at home, it will be a 'seitó'. There are fishermen who claim that there is no need to even flour it, just fry it directly with extra virgin olive oil and that is enough. When eating it, use your hands, because that crunch of the fish is good to eat without the use of a fork and knife. If we salt it, so that it is preserved for a long time, the 'seitó' transforms into an anchovy. There are fishermen who claim that there is no need to even flour it, fried directly with extra virgin olive oil and that is enough. When eating it, use your hands, because that crunch of the fish is good to eat without the use of a fork and knife. If we salt it, so that it is preserved for a long time, the 'seitó' transforms into an anchovy. One of the most prized recipes is that of Cadaqués, like that of the chef Albert Raurich, who explains it and details the differences with respect to what the author Josep Pla left written. And if we were now clear that there are two names for the same fish depending on how we prepare it, in Llançà, chef Lluís Fernández cooks one of the most desired fish stews, the anchovy one. He cooks it just as the fishermen of Llançà used to do: without potatoes, with cloves of garlic. It is a stew with fresh fish, but in Llançà they call it an anchovy. So the theory that the 'seitó' and the anchovy are different depending on whether it is fresh or salted disappears in Llançà, because when it is fresh, they already call it anchovy. And when it is salted, too.

What a discovery, dear readers. I arrived there because a restorer expert in spoon cooking recommended it on Instagram. I thought: "If he says so, it must be tasted". It is a small, simple, and charming place in Barceloneta. Finally, I have a favorite spot to go eat rice in the seaside neighborhood. A new establishment, since it is only a year and a half old, but it feels like a restaurant that has always been there. Ideal for those who like to dip bread, for those who slurp shells and do not mind getting their fingers dirty, and for people who know that eating is so important that time must be dedicated to it. This week I present to you the Casa Maians.

I am interviewing the owner of the Vinyes Domènech winery (DO Montsant), Joan Ignasi Domènech (el Masnou, 1951), on a harvest day in the early morning hours. In addition to being immersed in work, these are also the September days in which he has organized the first Garnatxa Week, which has led him to contact nearly two hundred restaurants and wine shops throughout the country so that customers who drink a glass of garnatxa wine can participate in a contest whose prize is to visit the winery, enjoy tastings, and take part in contemplative activities. It is an activity that the Domènech family has invented, and they want it to last every year around September 18th. The winery produces a volume of 70,000 to 110,000 bottles depending on the vintage, and they export 20% to 30% of them to about fourteen countries. In 2024, Vinyes Domènech celebrated the twenty years of its first wine.

If you ask a Basque person, they will tell you that cod is a key ingredient in their gastronomy. A Catalan person can tell you the same. What would become of us without 'esqueixada'? It is such an important fish that it has its own shops. Not to mention the Portuguese, who boast of having a recipe for it for every day of the year. But the most curious thing of all is that in our waters there is not a single cod. This fish is the only one that is habitually consumed on all five continents. And its trade, experts claim, changed humanity. But now this healthy protein aimed at the working classes is in danger.

Gerard's life changed twice before he reached adulthood. The first, at 12 years old, when his parents decided to leave Barcelona and move to Mexico to start a new life there. The second, at 17, when he discovered what he wanted his future to be. He started an internship at Tezka, a restaurant advised by Juan Mari Arzak, and there he understood that cooking was much more than a job: it was his place. He stayed there for a year without earning a single penny. He didn't care. He had found his path. Tezka was his first school. The second came at the Spanish embassy in Mexico; he had gone only for a period of three months and ended up staying for three years. Afterward, he returned to Spain and passed through Arzak and El Bulli, two of the great kitchens that would mark his way of understanding gastronomy. But Mexico was still waiting for him. He returned there to open Biko, a restaurant that would end up becoming one of the 50 best in the world.

Very close to Plaça Osca there is a charming tavern. Casual. With a nice patio in the back, very cozy. Like "a Balinese space without Buddhas," they describe it. And with an offer that you will not find anywhere else. Catalan cuisine with an Indonesian finish. I ended up there without knowing anything about it, other than that it was called Bitxo. And once I had the menu in my hands I said "hey, we are in an interesting place." It didn't take me long to figure out where the talent came from. And then I understood everything.

Pastry chef Matthieu Atzenhoffer, from the Morreig bakery in Barcelona, at 25 Verdi Street, is euphoric: he has just been crowned winner of the award for the best croissant in the country, organized by the Barcelona Pastry Guild. "I didn't expect it at all," he confesses.

Ada Parellada, chef of the Semproniana restaurant, recommends a chicken with garlic, a casserole dish that we can cook in the morning and take with us in a lunchbox.

Forty years is no small feat. That is why Joan Roca appeared before the audience at the San Sebastián Gastronomika congress to explain how El Celler de Can Roca has celebrated and will celebrate these four decades of the Girona restaurant's life. One of the cornerstones will be an extraordinary (and long, despite being small bites) 40-dish menu to pay homage to the restaurant's 40 years.

“We are very happy”. This is how the married couple Fèlix Massana and Cristina Castillo, from the Fèlix Massana Ràfols winery, expressed themselves to explain what it means for them to be part of the collective brand Corpinnat. They began producing sparkling wines sixteen years ago, using vines and wines made at their own winery, located in Sant Pau d’Ordal, to which they have given long aging periods. The winery had been part of Covides, the Penedès wine cooperative, which includes the DO Cava and the DO Penedès, but left in 2012, when Fèlix Massana Ràfols opted for organic production. Now they have taken another step and have left the DO Cava to join Corpinnat, which brings together a total of 24 wineries and a total volume of six million bottles. “We do not want to be gardeners who look after the environment nor civil servants, but rather we want to live from our work, from making sparkling wines and wines”, affirms Fèlix Massana, who also says that this summer the grapes he sold as a winegrower to wineries that belong to the DO Cava have been “well below the cost price”.

Arrop exists. It is the literary offering that the shepherds propose to bring to the newborn Baby Jesus along with fresh bread, cheese, honey, and cottage cheese. When the writer Josep Maria Folch i Torres wrote the play Els Pastorets he must have turned to the most precious and beloved foods, among which was arrop. Today it is still a good food, and we can prepare it at home, right now, with the fruits that still linger from the summer.

"The first time I went to Peru I fell in love with Gastón Acurio. Thanks to him, children were dressed as chefs, and not in Messi shirts," says Ferran Adrià, who recalls that cooking is a social weapon and that no one has exemplified this better than the Peruvian chef. "I supported him, and people thought that the Peruvian government was paying me a fortune. I never charged anything; it was a matter of affection. And today here as well, because there is affection with the Velasco family. The father and the son."

We cannot eat them every day, but what a joy is this giant cookie by Ada Parellada. Let's see how the chef from Semproniana makes this cookie of large proportions.

The best red wine is made with the Syrah variety in the Costers del Segre DO: it is the Tros del Tossal 2023, made by the Cérvoles winery, which has just won the Grand Gold award for Aged Reds, granted by the Vinari Awards, which were held in Vilafranca del Penedès. The best aged white wine is the Coca i Fitó d'Or 2024, from the Coca i Fitó winery, in the Terra Alta DO. Meanwhile, a sparkling wine made in the Penedès twenty-one years ago, the Guilera Centenari 2005, from the Cava Guilera winery (DO Cava), has taken the Grand Gold for long-aged white sparkling wines. The Guilera winery has a long history in the Penedès, and the father, Pere Guilera, was one of the promoters of the Sant Pau d'Ordal peach market, which is well-rooted in the territory.

Doctor Bonaventura Clotet (Barcelona, 1953) ensures that the information he offers is correct while he speaks: he types—with two fingers—any factual data into his computer before considering it accurate. The director of IrsiCaixa and founder of Fight Against Infections has another role that is probably less well-known: he has been, since 2017, an honorary member of the Cava Brotherhood of Sant Sadurní.

A year ago, the mushroom season was very good. In the months of October and November, the craze for finding them filled the forests of Catalonia with cars and enthusiasts with full baskets. This 2026, however, the forecasts are much more pessimistic and the calendar has been delayed. Mushroom hunters, farmers, forest owners and mycologists, who know the terrain closely and know exactly which shady spot to search in depending on how the weather evolves, agree on the diagnosis: everything is very dry and so far very few have come out, even though the heavy rains of the last few days may improve the situation. Mind you, the rainfall needs to remain constant for a few days, the temperature needs to moderate, and the results will begin to be noticed in two or three weeks.

We are in the Sierra de Gredos. We have seen the devastation of the fire while heading to the vineyard. This summer, this landscape has been razed by the flames. But also by the political apathy that has allowed this territory to be drained by the great city of Madrid. There are no farmers. The forests are not managed. And, of course, it is not the first time the land has burned. In 2019, another great fire affected the region. Quim Vila, co-owner of the wine distributor Vila Viniteca, has vines planted there. He and his partner Siscu Martí had the vision that there was something special in this land. "It was love at first sight," says Vila, who knew how to see a buried potential that would explode. And so it was. Now we will get there. But first, the flames.