In 1905 Santiago Rusiñol wrote a monologue, The escudel-o-meterIn it, he proposed a utopia. "An enormous widget would allow the stew to flow from every tap in every house. Noodles, stew meat, chickpeas, and rice would all come out." "Rusiñol reflects what escudella represents for Catalans, if our happiness depends on escudella flowing from the taps," explains Toni Massanés, general director of the Alícia Foundation, which is participating in the escudella monograph programmed at the Girona Gastronomic Forum. For Josep Roca, of El Celler de Can Roca, "it's a soup that can be popular but also imbued with solemnity. It's a lifestyle inside a pot." But apart from the sociological aspect, there is also scientific evidence. It's not an exaggeration to say that we are evolutionarily programmed to like escudella.

Girona will once again become the epicenter of gastronomy in February. From the 9th to the 11th, the 12th edition of the Fòrum Gastronòmic Girona will take place, a must-attend event for the restaurant, gastronomy, and Horeca sectors. It will bring together more than 200 companies and 150 speakers at the Palau de Fires and in the Devesa Park area. This year, escudella and carne de olla—one of the great symbols of Catalan cuisine—will be the focus of an edition that will celebrate tradition as a driving force for innovation and the future of cooking.

It's not the escudella (a traditional Catalan stew) that will send the scales soaring after the holidays. Nor is it the wine or sparkling beverages chosen to accompany it. What hurts more is the finger food at the company dinner or the office aperitif, where nothing is lacking. A escudella, a roast, some cannelloni are healthy, hearty, and comforting dishes, the kind that, once eaten, make you want to do what used to be called: "Stretch your legs."

Who hasn't asked someone at home for a recipe and ended up completely confused? Those who know them by heart, whether through experience, passion, or because they've practiced them countless times, struggle to rearrange the steps for others to learn. It's even harder to get those who possess the desired recipe to explain the exact quantities and cooking times. Phrases like "you'll see," "you'll know," or even "the time it takes to say the Lord's Prayer" are the go-to instructions for knowing how many grams or how long to cook. For all these reasons, we've decided to explain the recipes you've always wanted to know so you can cook at home this Christmas.

In the traditional Christmas stew and escudella, the meatball, the black sausage, and the galets (large pasta shells) are essential. This magical trio is what makes the dish stand out from all other stews and casseroles. cooked and stewswhich are traditionally cooked in the rest of the country and also in northern Europe.

For Carnival, in many Catalan towns it is time to take the pots out into the square to fill them with soups, stews and bowls. A popular activity that involves many of the inhabitants of the towns where they are made and that has long been demanding more public recognition. Popular soups, stews and bowls are documented since the 15th century. Some historical research relates their origin to a caloric meal that was prepared before the obligatory fasting that would be carried out during Lent and that was made from the ingredients that were collected from all the houses. However, other sources indicate that it was a meal that the feudal lords and the convents offered to the neediest people in the town. Be that as it may, this tradition speaks of Catalonia is boiling. The book of soups, stews and popular bowls (Edicions Sidillà), by Judit Pujadó, where she not only explains the recipes for these bowls, which are very different, but also the history behind each one. "Overall, we are talking about a popular tradition that, from the beginning of the 20th century, went from being the soup of the poor to becoming the soup of the villages," says Pujadó to explain this more popular and festive character that still dominates today.