The Michelin Guide was born in 1900 with a business purpose that most have forgotten today: to sell more tires. How was it possible to combine cuisine with automobiles? Brothers André and Édouard Michelin had founded the company eleven years earlier in Clermont-Ferrand, in central France, encouraged by the positive outlook for the automotive industry. But at that time, there were fewer than 3,000 vehicles on the French market, and most were concentrated in cities. How could they get people to wear out their tires and get them punctured so they could sell new ones? Thus, a guide was launched, initially free, with maps and numerous recommended restaurants, with the intention of encouraging car owners to travel the country. Over time, the selection of the best restaurants by independent "inspectors" solidified the guide's status as a benchmark, and in 1926, quality began to be rated with stars. Today, the guide is a global benchmark, sometimes overshadowed by Michelin-starred restaurants, but it continues to carefully select the best restaurants, even outside major cities. This was the case on Monday in Girona with the presentation of Michelin plaques to recommended restaurants in Catalonia outside of Barcelona. This year, CaixaBank was responsible for presenting the 89 plaques, having taken over the organization with the aim of strengthening its presence in the gastronomy sector. As with Michelin stars, Catalonia accounts for one in five of the top establishments in Spain, with a wide geographical distribution. For 2025, 10 restaurants outside Barcelona will be added to the list, which, in keeping with the spirit in which the guide was created, are well worth a visit.

Not so many years ago, chefs found out they had won a Michelin star because a journalist called them or they simply saw it published in the newspaper. Now the event, which celebrates the 125th anniversary of the publication, is a spectacle with a red carpet, lights, a stage, speeches by politicians, and many sponsors. A sign of our times. In this context, the coveted Michelin stars were awarded in Malaga on Tuesday night, where the idea that "a star changes your life" was repeated several times.

I interview Jordi Artal (Toronto, 1966) on an exceptional Monday afternoon, because in the evening he will be hosting large groups of congressmen from the Mobile World Congress. Everything is in motion in the kitchen, and in the dining room the waiters are setting tables with white tablecloths. I ask him about my mother, and he tells me how well she feels at 85 years old. Jordi was born in Toronto because his parents left to make their fortune, and, for visas at that time, it was easier to go to Canada than to the United States. His mother, Roser Artal, picks him up every day from his house in a car to go to work at the Cinc Sentits restaurant, which has two Michelin stars. She tells me that the women in her family are very strong, that his grandmother died at 101 years old. Together with his sister, Amèlia, Jordi opened the restaurant in Barcelona in 2004. He had never been a cook before because, in fact, he worked in a very different field (he was a marketing director in Silicon Valley, California). However, both proved to be very knowledgeable, and in 2008 the Cinc Sentits restaurant received its first Michelin star. At the end of 2020 it received its second. Amèlia is no longer in the restaurant, but Èric has been there for seventeen years.