If you ask a Basque person, they will tell you that cod is a key ingredient in their gastronomy. A Catalan person can tell you the same. What would become of us without 'esqueixada'? It is such an important fish that it has its own shops. Not to mention the Portuguese, who boast of having a recipe for it for every day of the year. But the most curious thing of all is that in our waters there is not a single cod. This fish is the only one that is habitually consumed on all five continents. And its trade, experts claim, changed humanity. But now this healthy protein aimed at the working classes is in danger.

Forty years is no small feat. That is why Joan Roca appeared before the audience at the San Sebastián Gastronomika congress to explain how El Celler de Can Roca has celebrated and will celebrate these four decades of the Girona restaurant's life. One of the cornerstones will be an extraordinary (and long, despite being small bites) 40-dish menu to pay homage to the restaurant's 40 years.

Last June, The World's 50 Best Restaurants list determined that The best restaurant in the world was in Lima and it was called MaidoThis is the title that Disfrutar in Barcelona held last year, but as the rules dictate, it cannot repeat and thus joins the ranks of those who have already occupied the number 1 spot. At the gala held in Turin, the competition had narrowed down to two restaurants: Maido, specializing in Nikkei cuisine (a blend of Japanese and Peruvian cooking), and Mitsuharu. Micha Tsumura (Lima, 1981), chef and owner of Maido, jumped for joy and let out a big shout when he learned that the first position was returning to Peru, as It had already happened with the Central restaurant"I knew the whole country was watching," he says. Tsumura had been pursuing him for some time: he'd been in the top ten for eight years. And this year, he'd visited Catalonia to promote his proposal, making a four-hands meal at El Celler de Can RocaMitsuharu Tsumura speaks to ARA in San Sebastián during the Gastronomika congress.

The traditional pastry shop Casa Otaegui will soon be 140 years old. It is one of the traditional places in San Sebastián where you must stop if you visit the capital of Gipuzkoa and try the cake that Emiliana Malcorra invented here as a result of the shortage of ingredients caused by the Civil War: the panchineta. In fact, the panchineta is the most beloved cake by the people of San Sebastián and has been reproduced by all the great Basque chefs, from Juan Mari Arzak to Pedro Subijana, including Karlos Arguiñano. The fact is that despite the fact that this cake made of puff pastry, almonds, and custard is the emblem of the city, all the tourists—in San Sebastián they are crowded—arrive in the city with the fixed idea of tasting what they believe to be the most traditional: the La Viña cheesecake.

They are Héctor Barbero, Pau Pons, and Romina Reyes. You may know them from L'Artesana del Poblenou, a Catalan cuisine restaurant that has been operating for eight years. And just a year ago, they opened another one in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, L'Artesana de Santa Eulàlia. "We're the same people, and we do it just as well," they say. It's with this second establishment that they have entered the eighth edition of the world competition for calluses held at the San Sebastián Gastronomika congress, and despite having very strong competitors, they were the ones who won.