I still remember the day we met. I was working in France, and one weekend when I returned to Sant Pol, I went to cook at Salvador Sauleda's house with Josep Vilella. During that meal, they mentioned a man named Santi Santamaria; I'd never heard of him before. They told me he had a restaurant in Sant Celoni, a town in the Baix Montseny region. "He has two Michelin stars," they said. And so I went back to Paris.

At the beginning ofCream!(ColumnIn her memoirs, Maria Nicolau (La Garriga, 1982), a chef and writer, recalls that as a young woman, she understood cooking as a form of craftsmanship, a job done with the hands. Far from the catastrophists who predict the end of Catalan cuisine, and championing the complexity and sophistication of everyday cooking, Nicolau has established herself as one of the most important voices in contemporary gastronomic discourse. However, her life's journey also includes travels through several cities. In her memoirs, she explains that she chose La Rioja, not Segovia, to learn about wine.

On June 25, 2025, a Catalan made history. He went from having no Michelin stars to having three at once. And he did it with a restaurant called Somni, located in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, which had only been open for seven months. The Californian city had never had a restaurant with the highest distinction. No one with a Spanish passport had ever achieved it beyond the border. All this happened to a chef with a Basque name from Sicília Street in Barcelona. "I'm a kid from Arc de Triomf who ended up in Los Angeles serving food to Tom Hanks," he said. This is the story of Aitor Zabala (Barcelona, ​​1979) and how he made his dream a reality.

Heston Blumenthal (High Wycombe, 1966) is one of the greatest chefs in the United Kingdom and around the world. He's as famous there as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, thanks also to his television appearances and books. He's been one of the most influential chefs since his restaurant, The Fat Duck. He developed multisensory cuisine, which earned him the title of number 1 restaurant in the world in 2005. Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the Order of the British Empire, and yesterday he was recognized at the San Sebastián Gastronomika conference for his contributions to cooking. Recently, he has used his fame to speak openly about mental health, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, in addition to the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder he already knew he had.

Massimo Bottura, Juan Roca, Debora Fadul, Zizi Hattab or Santiago Lastra. The most prestigious chefs have gathered to receive the Best Chef Awards. In fact, once again this year, Catalan chefs have demonstrated their global recognition within the industry: a total of 19 have been recognized. It's worth noting the inclusion of Pep Moreno from Deliranto and Rafa Peña from Gresca, and Jordi Vilà's move from one to two knives (the awards' yardstick). But it's not all roses and violets. Haute cuisine is experiencing a period of certain exhaustion. There are several questions looming in the sector. Have people grown tired of tasting menus? Are they too long? Too heavy? Are there enough diners for so many high-end restaurants? What will come next? the revolution that took place in CataloniaFor that, Modena chef Massimo Bottura has the answer.

The world of haute cuisine is measured by various lists and rankings. One of them is the Best Chef Awards, where there's always a Catalan presence. The nearly 1,000 voters decided how to distribute the one, two, and three knives, as well as the individual awards. At a gala held Thursday night in Milan, there were two entries in the one- and two-knife categories, proving that Catalan cuisine can be captured by influencers. First, Jordi Vilà: he and his restaurant Alkimia were recognized with two knives. And that means at least 40% of voters considered him. Last year, Vilà had one, so he's moved up a category.

The chef at Safor has no one to compare him. Because Ricard Camarena broke the mold. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, he surprises you. A note that might seem dissonant moves the game board, and you realize the score is going in a different direction. This is because he's a person with two very distinct melodies resonating within him. On the one hand, his head is a jazz quartet. Creative, he works from intuition, from what he feels will be right even if he can't verbalize it. He imagines flavors, textures, combinations. In his mind, it's very clear. And then, through a privileged sense of smell and taste—and hours and hours of development in the restaurant—they lead him to translate into the physical world what he feels inside tells him will be right. It's his artistic side.