The summer edition of Joc de cartes kicked off with an intensity worthy of the high temperatures. A kitchen melodrama that hooked us to the show. In the Lleida Pyrenees, Marc Ribas was looking for "the best informal restaurant", a concept that, once we saw the show, seemed more like a euphemism to justify what we saw.The chapter had the most potent ingredients for conflict to erupt. Firstly, and as a determining factor, a dirty kitchen. Nothing causes more fascination than discovering a disgusting workspace. The spectators' morbid spirit is activated. Television facilitates a prudential distance so that we feel far enough away from the eatery and have the peace of mind of not having to taste any dish. But detecting dirty cutlery, rusty pans, and grease-filled extractors on screen provokes that kind of guilty pleasure similar to those successful Instagram videos where they remove earwax plugs or unblock shit pipes. The viewer enjoys in an exacerbated way looking at refrigerators full of junk and poorly preserved food. And, in addition, there is a certain degree of sadism when it is intuited that the presenter and the rest of the contestants will have to eat a meal cooked in that space. On Wednesday, moreover, we reached unsuspected levels of tragedy when one of the participants refused to eat anything cooked in that establishment, and she stood with her arms folded while watching the others devour. Her husband finished it off by asking for some "courtesy" patatas bravas, which he didn't even touch afterwards. It would have been interesting to analyze what he understood by "courtesy", considering the bad vibes he poured onto the table.The other essential ingredient for drama is the family bond between participants. In this case, a triple helping. Two mothers with their children and a married couple. The closer the level of kinship, the better. Faced with criticism, in the case of mothers with their offspring, a mama bear or just daughter effect occurs that becomes wonderfully epic. They develop an extreme defense of their loved one that accelerates the conflict exponentially. In the case of married couples, there is usually one who takes on a leading role, while the other silently suffers their partner's eccentricities. The gastronomic program also becomes a kind of reality show to test the affective cracks in the sentimental union.Another indispensable requirement is that the chef Marc Ribas play a bit of the whore and the "Ramoneta": on the one hand, encourage the contestant not to ask for anything if she doesn't want to and, on the other hand, embrace the people responsible for the dirty kitchen as a sign of solidarity to alleviate their displeasure.Finally, there is another explosive factor: put an Italian chef on the show. The intensity, the swagger, the bad temper, and the lack of inhibition of those we have seen so far have increased the adrenaline in the game. If we are to endure the high summer temperatures, it's good that sparks fly on Joc de cartes.

Just a few months after opening Pamb (c. Valencia 203), the delicatessen and sandwich shop that Marc Ribas opened at the end of last year with his partner Franxa Tomàs, the chef is already announcing a second, larger location, which will be on Verdi Street in Barcelona, ​​near the well-known cinemas of the same name. "The Gràcia location will have seating at tables, as it can accommodate fifty people," says Marc Ribas at the Pamb on Valencia Street, where he has successfully tested his idea: to offer high-quality sandwiches made with real, moist bread, tomato, and artisanal cured meats—sauce to be eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten, eaten. In fact, at Pamb, you can enjoy a variety of sandwiches, always with creativity as the guiding principle. To start, there are the cold sandwiches, which you can choose with either a flatbread or a slice of rustic bread, and any cured meats you like from their selection. Next up are the hot options, which might include the bikini made with rustic bread; the flatbread; or the baker's cake with sugar and anise, filled with medieval sausages. Finally, there's the clotxa, a bread roll closed at the sides and filled with stews. These last sandwiches can be eaten with a fork, as they are provided for spearing the filling. Prices range from 12 to 18 euros. If we've all been advocating for a hearty breakfast, chef Marc Ribas proposes the "fork sandwich," made with fricandó (a Catalan stew), roast chicken, meatballs, or squid in a casserole.

Chef Marc Ribas will open Pamb in early December, a delicatessen featuring tastings of Catalan products. While there won't be any cured ham, there will be sweet ham, salchichón (which will be eaten on a freshly dipped slice of bread), and two types of sandwiches: the Barcelona, ​​for eight euros, and the Eixample, for eleven euros. Pamb will be located at number 203 on Carrer de València, and the chef... He confesses that he is not opening it to join the trend of chefs who make their own sausages.Instead, he wants to offer Catalan fast food in Barcelona, ​​"which doesn't exist." According to Ribas, Argentine-style restaurants have seen the most growth in recent years: "On the other hand, if we want a good salami sandwich, we can't find one."

Chef Marc Ribas says that from heartbreak, he learned that love must be nurtured every day to prevent it from dying. With this idea firmly in mind, he met Berta a few years ago. They've now been together for five years. "We met while working. I needed someone who knew about marketing and advertising to build my brand, and I signed her," explains the chef. It was watching her work that Ribas fell in love. "She's a strong, determined, and intelligent woman. I believe that in a relationship there can be things you like and things you don't like, but if there's no admiration, the relationship won't work," explains Ribas.

He runs the restaurant El Ciri in Terrassa and also three programs on 3Cat: Kitchens, Card game and Cook as you canMarc Ribas is the man in the kitchen at the Corporation, and in this interview, he deconstructs himself and analyzes what he needs in life and what burdens he carries.