Paul Freedman (New York, 1949) is a professor of history at Yale University, specializing in the social history of the Middle Ages, and particularly in the history of Catalonia and its cuisine. He's visiting Barcelona because the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN) will honor him this afternoon as an honorary member. He welcomes me at the hotel where he's staying, and we agree to conduct the interview in Catalan. "I love having people to practice it with," he says with a smile.