The mill wheels turn thanks to the force of the water in the reservoir behind it. If the power went out, we wouldn't notice. Just like in 1521, when the little house we're in was built. We're in the Bianya Valley, where there used to be 50 mills. Every important house had one. The building has windows so the miller could see when the water arrived. Halters located on the spillway would alert him. It was time to take advantage of the water's full force to grind. Buckwheat, corn, barley.

Garrochina chef Martina Puigvert is one of the great figures of the Catalan culinary sceneAt just 30 years old, he is already head chef of the highly renowned Les Cols de Olot restaurant, with two Michelin stars, founded by his parents, Manel Puigvert and Fina Puigdevall, in 1990. He has just published his first book, Living nature (NOW Books), in which, besides sharing some of her most treasured recipes, she skillfully conveys a genuine way of understanding life and cooking as two inseparable pillars linked to the land and nature. The book is essentially a guide to ten dishes and preparations, based on tradition but with a modern perspective, which, with an exquisite visual presentation, evokes and paints an authentic sensory journey through the volcanic landscape of La Garrotxa.

Today's recommendation is for lovers of gastronomy and architecture. It goes without saying that you have to stop by Les Cols at least once in your life. the fantastic Olot restaurant of the Puigvert-Puigdevall familyNow, the experience is the best if you can also afford to stay overnight at Les Cols Pavellons. Let's just say that. RCR Arquitectes is the Olot studio formed by the prodigious trio of Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta. These architects won the Pritzker Prize, the most important in their field. And it turns out that an example of their virtuosity is found in both the restaurant and the Pavilions.

Melanie Joy is an American social psychologist and writer who in 2009 wrote Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows, a book where she expounds on the concept of "carnism": the belief system that considers eating certain animals so natural and necessary that it justifies structural violence against them, a belief that most of us don't question because, as Joy points out, all violent ideologies try to remain invisible in order to perpetuate their power of limitless exploitation and maximum profit. This requires killing as many animals as possible in the shortest amount of time possible, and these animals cease to be considered living beings and become things that can be accumulated, processed, and killed in any way.