It's Monday, market day in Olot, and Sant Rafel street is a hive of people going in and out of the Can Carbasseres pastry shop. It has a large display window, showing a sample of what can be bought inside. On the sign, with the name, there is a date: 1884. I go inside, and I find a whole family working there. The father, Jordi Vilanova, is retired, and talks to the customers queuing to buy; the mother, Judith Ribera, serves behind the counter, and the children, Alba and Nil Vilanova, are in the workshop. “I am the first woman in the family in five generations to work in the workshop,” says Alba. She is the first to braid the tortells from Can Carbasseres, which are known throughout Catalonia, and which can be eaten as both sweet and savory dishes.

Maria Rosa welcomes us to her home in Tossa de Mar, which is full of tourists, accompanied by her family, children, and grandchildren, who will stay to enjoy her meal. “I'll make you some noodles, because they are my grandchildren's favorite dish. They are not noodles in a casserole, they are noodles with fish”. noodles in a casserole, they are noodles with fish”.

The art director Jordi Dalmau (Granollers, 1975) speaks as if his mind were in constant effervescence. Known as the "boy of the wings" in the world of bridal design, he has returned to his hometown after years of successes and difficulties in Madrid. He now divides his time between Catering Lebrija, with whom he prepares "crazy and creative" weddings; the design of a grass-scented cosmetic, and La Floristeria, the café-florist shop he runs in the city. At the moment we are having this conversation, however, what excites him most is ube, the Filipino drink he discovered on TikTok and which is already a hit at his bar.The world of bridal fashion must be a world full of champagne.

Sometimes they ask me if I've been to this restaurant or that one and I don't remember. Then I look at it carefully and often the answer is yes. There are many bland places. Correct, but they leave no mark. This is not the case with today's restaurant, the Cooperativa de Porrera. Anyone who has been there recognizes it in a second. You remember the blue of the walls, the flowered tablecloths, the wine bottles on the table and Mia coming out with her tiara to take notes or serving a steaming dish. It's a genuine restaurant, with essence and personality.

It's Monday at noon, and on the terrace of the dining room of Hotel Almadraba in Roses, the wooden cart with wheels where rigatoni, the iconic dish, is prepared, moves from one table to another. Perhaps it is one of the most well-known dishes of the Subirós family, or perhaps it is because everyone wants to watch their dish being prepared in front of them. If one table orders it, be sure that the ones next to it will too. "It all started in the city of Lugano, in Switzerland, on the trips my father made with the Almadraba team to work in the winter," recalls Lluís Subirós, the youngest son, who says he must have been nine or ten years old when the Almadraba cooks went there.

I interview Gemma Urgell and Jordi Bertran at Xerigots' headquarters, in Vilafranca del Penedès, who this year celebrate fifteen years since they started as cheese maturers. There they show me the cellars where the cheeses mature, which are as Catalan as those from other countries around the world. Especially impressive is the quantity of Mahón cheeses they have, all neatly aligned. Xerigots works for the hospitality sector, for four hundred restaurants, to whom they serve cheeses for a thousand and one dishes, savory, sweet. They prepare them just as requested so they can be served. As we walk through the cellars, they tell me that artisan cheese is in crisis. And with this question I begin.

Hard-boiled eggs can be found in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. I'll write it again. Half a dozen boiled and peeled eggs, in the refrigerated section. There is a wonderful recipe, traditional to our region, made with hard-boiled eggs, which are deviled eggs. They are cut in half, the yolk is mixed with tuna and its olive oil, and then the filling is placed back inside the concave part of the egg. A little egg white is grated on top (from another hard-boiled egg we have). An important detail: the price of a package of hard-boiled eggs is similar to fresh eggs; it's around two euros for half a dozen.The question is: can't we make hard-boiled eggs or peel them? Is our culinary knowledge so meager that we can't put a pot with plenty of cold water on the stove and put the eggs in it? When the water boils, put the fresh eggs in with the help of a spoon and after twelve minutes they will be cooked. Let them cool, and then peel them. A note: if we leave the eggs in boiling water for six minutes, we will have soft-boiled eggs. If they stay in for three minutes, poached eggs. You don't have to have studied at ten cooking schools, or even one, to boil and peel an egg.Industry anticipates our needs, and what it gives us is time, because that's what we shouldn't have when we buy hard-boiled eggs. Nutrition specialist doctor Montse Folch tells me that a hard-boiled egg bought at the supermarket is "nutritionally very similar to one cooked at home." Dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols agrees, adding that supermarket hard-boiled eggs, like homemade ones, "provide high biological value proteins, fat-soluble vitamins such as A and D, B group vitamins, choline, selenium, and other essential minerals for health and sports performance. The mere act of cooking, peeling, and packaging it does not significantly alter its nutritional value." She also adds that there's no need to be alarmed "if ingredients like citric acid (E-330) or lactic acid (E-270) appear, as they are intended to maintain the microbiological stability and pH of the product." Among all the packages of boiled and peeled eggs you find, there is a warning: pay attention to the amount of salt. "If it provides more than 0.8-1 grams per hundred, it's better to look for another one, because the ideal salt quantity would be a maximum of 0.5 g per hundred," states doctor Montse Folch.Peeled with nutrients

Regarding the fact that eggs are peeled, the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols also sees no problem. “It does not involve a significant loss of nutrients; the same are lost as if we did it at home, which are some water-soluble and heat-labile vitamins, but their nutritional impact is minimal”. So science applauds the invention; industry gives us time and consumers don't even boil eggs so we don't have to cook. But, alas!, there is one thing we will never have if we buy a package of hard-boiled eggs: taste! The flavor, the smell, the texture of a hard-boiled egg from a plastic supermarket package will not be the same as the one we made at home on an exhausting day, when all you feel like is a fresh lettuce salad with a boiled egg that you prepare in that pot you have designated for boiling. While you boil the eggs, you can put on your comfortable house clothes and slippers. Set the table with your tablecloth, the plate, the cutlery. Peel the eggs with your hands. If you are very hungry, you will burn your fingertips a little if the eggs are hot; if you have had the patience to let them cool, you will peel them in a moment. Some people place a glass bowl in the freezer while the eggs are boiling, because that way, as soon as the twelve minutes have passed, they can take the empty bowl out of the freezer and place the boiled eggs in it. Then the egg cools down immediately. Everything is easy if we want to do it right. We gain a lot, we gain taste, which no invention of the food industry will ever beat us in.

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Are you one of those who put an ice cube in a glass of wine when it's hot? Some do it to cope better and others consider it sacrilege, but the fact is that summer lends itself to letting go and, little by little, reservations about chilling wine with ice cubes are being lost. In Catalonia, the hospitality industry's experience is that foreign customers are more accustomed to asking for it, while local customers also dare to, but try to do so more discreetly. Whether you like it or not, drinking wine with ice cubes also reminds us that historically wine has not been drunk neat as has been imposed in recent decades with the improvement of its quality.Heatwaves are becoming more persistent and, although the only liquid remedy that truly mitigates their effects is water, anything that is consumed very cold seems to help. Although there are few wineries that have products specifically designed to be consumed with ice cubes and even in a large glass, such as Ice cavas or a new transparent Aragonese wine, the act of mixing wine and ice has been around for a long time and is rooted in combinations like sangria and the black summer cocktail (tinto de verano). Now with the popularization of the spritz, the orange cocktail that also has a wine component –prosecco if you're being canonical– the appeal of drinks with ice that are less alcoholic than distillates like gin and tonic has skyrocketed.Prejudices are lost (especially in private)

The wine produced nowadays is of high quality and, in this country, one of those with the most winemaking tradition in the world, the act of pouring ice cubes into a glass of wine is not a practice that everyone foresees, but there are already those who have let themselves go and put it into practice. The Wine Truck is a mobile wine bar that takes part in gastronomic, cultural, and private events, such as weddings. After five years, its co-owner, Sara Fernández, perceives that now "there is a little less prejudice, especially in more private venues," while "in more public settings, it's as if there's social shame in breaking the rules of the wine world".Since they do not have the same infrastructure as a restaurant and work outdoors, at weddings, for example, putting some ice cubes in the glass is one of the solutions so that guests do not have to refill it often and to prevent it from warming up too quickly. "The international client is the one who directly asks for ice cubes and does so casually: for him, it is not a sacrilege to put ice in it," assures Fernández, and he may even ask to add a slice of orange to the wine, which is usually reserved here for vermouth or other garnishes, such as putting basil and strawberry in a red wine, and ice, of course.

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Chef Joan Roca explains how to prepare a sardine escabeche to make and eat the same day. Although the technique is known because it helps to preserve food well from one day to the next, the chef from El Celler de Can Roca suggests seeking the freshest point of the fish. And for this reason, he suggests that it is a preparation that if made and eaten, much better.

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Francesc Serés (Saidí, 1972) is a writer. Author, among many others, of La pell de la frontera, La casa de foc –Proa Novel Prize and Llibreter Prize–, La mentida més bonica and El primer any, he has been living in Graz for almost three years, about two hours by car from Vienna. Serés' relationship with wine is marked by a bad relationship with sulfites and distrust towards those sold as "100% sulfite-free".

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La Gracieta is the new restaurant of the Juncà brothers Joan, Isabel and Jordi, who have just opened on the road to Vall de Bianya, which connects Ripollès with Garrotxa. The establishment is very close to their restaurant Ca l’Enric (one Michelin star) and l’Hostal, and when you take the turn-off from the road, there is a clearing where you can park well. “In the region, there is a great tradition of hearty breakfasts, and La Gracieta, the owner of the restaurant, who lives upstairs, proposed that we take over the premises,” explain Joan and Jordi just as they are putting the finishing touches on before opening the restaurant. The siblings believe that taking over La Gracieta is a gift: “We are returning to our family origins, to a bar, where our parents started, and which Joan, the eldest brother, remembers. I, who am seventeen years younger, didn't experience it,” explains Jordi Juncà, the chef.

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The sea, on the day I am here, is choppy. And this does not detract one iota from the charm of the restaurant where I am, which is located right on the coast, quite the opposite. We are at Es Còdol Foradat, in Formentera. In a place with great produce and a lot of skill. And needless to say, in an unbeatable location that screams vacation from all four sides. Free time for those of us sitting at the tables, of course, because those who attend us, with a wide smile, know perfectly well what they are doing. This is one of the four (or five, depending on how you count) restaurants Nandu Jubany has on the island, and this year is its seventh season. Very close by, he has El Pecador, a more gastronomic version.

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Sometimes it seems that to taste the authentic essence of traditional Catalan cuisine you would have to move away from Barcelona, where many criticize that the recipe book of the Catalan Countries has lost ground against brunch, poke bowls, street food and many other proposals from everywhere and nowhere aimed at tourists. But, as usually happens with all generalizations, where reproaches are made loudly and virtues are said in whispers, this image is biased and ignores all those oases in the Catalan capital that still fight and defend Catalan gastronomy.

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I interview Sílvia Subirós i Mercader near the office where she works, in Barcelona. She tells me that her son is three years old, his name is Guiu, and between work and family, she has snatched time from time to write the biography of her grandfather, Josep Mercader. The creator of the Motel (Cal·lígraf). It is a book like no one has ever written it because she has been able to access unpublished material: recipes dictated by word of mouth by her grandfather and especially the films he had recorded. A large part of this material was already used for the documentary La cuina dels homes. In the book, there is the information that she could not fit in.

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Declared the European Region of Gastronomy in 2022, Menorca has much more to offer the visitor than its calm lifestyle (slow life), its virgin coves, its horse festivals or its international art galleries. Menorcan cuisine is also full of appeal, and not just for its usual references to lobster or cheese. It fills the visitor with what local restaurateur José Bosch calls emotourism: emotional, sensory tourism. The offer is as growing as it is diverse. We recommend below some proposals so that, if you visit us this summer, you can know where to eat in Menorca:

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David Janer (Granollers, 1973) repeats himself: he has not abandoned his acting career. Known for his roles in Águila Roja, Amar es para siempre and El cor de la ciutat, he combines his acting vocation with the dissemination of two worlds that have passionate him for years: philosophy – especially classical – and wine, in the series Enológica, which will premiere its third season, and on his social networks. Aware of the power of union and conversation of the drink, when invited to dinner at home Janer always brings a book or a bottle of wine.

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The restaurant Tapas 24 (c. Diputació, 269) has turned twenty, and in all this time it has experienced all sorts of things. It was opened by chef Carles Abellan, with a career that has passed through the restaurant El Bulli and has been awarded Michelin stars in different restaurants, and is currently run by the employees. Since its beginnings, Tapas 24 has been a successful formula. Due to its location, its dishes, its product, and because it attracted a tourist who was precisely looking for dishes to share, which they were told was common in Barcelona.

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Guests staying in Barcelona hotels ask receptionists what they can visit, how they can get tickets for shows, and also where they can eat. They are usually more insistent with this last question because, of course, we all like to find a good table to taste the typical food of the country we are in. If the receptionists make the reservation for them from the hotel and call a taxi for them to go there, even better. And it is in this reservation made from the reception where the game begins: each reservation made at a series of restaurants in Barcelona from hotel receptions brings them benefits, which can be a fixed commission (a percentage of the final tickets or a fixed amount of money) or free meals at the same restaurant. What are the Barcelona restaurants that receptionists recommend? They tend to be those belonging to chains, those that are always full of tourists and have a high average ticket. They tend to specialize in fish and seafood, seafood cuisine, also in sushi, and have a lot of service turnover. These restaurants get in touch with the receptionists of some hotels in Barcelona, especially those with between four and five stars, and propose an exchange to the receptionists. They have muscle, that is, economic power, to be able to offer this treatment.One summer morning, in the middle of a heatwave, I interviewed the head of concierge and the management of a hotel in the center of Barcelona, which has other hotel establishments in the same city and also in nearby regions. I speak to them near the reception and I see the number of tourists entering with suitcases. I cannot describe the hotel in more detail because, otherwise, they warn me that it will be possible to deduce who they are. "We consider ourselves ambassadors of the hotel, and we want tourists to get to know the city through gastronomy," they explain without wanting to give their names. They add that both of them are up to date with the restaurants that are opening in the city because they know it is valuable information for their work. "Tourists staying in our hotels constantly ask us where they can eat paellas; it is one of the big questions." Each of the recommendations, whether or not linked to commissions and free meals at the restaurant, they guarantee, that is, they have investigated it well. They comment that they want to give quality advice, that when the tourist returns they tell them they have had a good time, that the food was good. "It's not recommending for recommending's sake, and we don't always focus on whether we have a commission in that restaurant or not; if we do and we know it's very good, perfect," they continue to explain.Paella, sushi and Catalan cuisine

After the request for where to eat a good paella, there is a second one: where to eat sushi. In Barcelona, yes. Tourists want to eat paella and sushi. And they also want to sign up for express courses to learn how to cook paella. “We encounter this constantly, and that's why the reception dedicated to 'city experiences' is important at the hotel,” explains the head of Concierge, who also does not want to reveal his identity. They organize the activities they want to do in a day in the city. “We also tell them the precautions they should take in the city; for example, if they want to go eat in El Raval, we recommend a door-to-door taxi and without watches on their wrists," they affirm. The advice seeks the same objective as when recommending a restaurant: the safety of the people staying at their hotel. “Daily, we check how they have fared after the recommendations we have made,” because they want everything to go well for them, he points out.

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The Terres de l'Ebre are popularly known for their natural richness. Marked by the Ebre River and with a delta that is unique in the world, many describe this area of Catalonia as a national treasure. However, it is also a territory with a unique gastronomic offer, both in terms of dishes and the locations of the restaurants themselves. There are places located in the middle of the sea, businesses with Michelin stars, wineries with more than two decades of history, or even an old mill that cultivates the products that will be used later in the kitchen.

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Happy ending for La Caleta. The beachfront restaurant serving seafood dishes in Sant Vicenç de Montalt since 1995 has avoided the closure of the premises. This has been decided by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 9 of Barcelona, which has temporarily suspended the eviction of the restaurant that was planned for this Thursday, July 30. For now, the postponement is for three months, until the end of the summer season.

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