Gazpacho, the preparation that is already Catalan according to the Corpus de la Cuina Catalana, is prepared with tomato, pepper, cucumber, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, a little bread (optional), vinegar, and salt. Everything is put together and blended with an electric mixer. It's easy, and the biggest difficulty is gathering the ingredients, chopping them with a knife, and blending them. However, so that we don't do anything, so that we always have everything done for us, the food industry gives it to us ready-made in tetrapaks. The cook Ada Parellada stated at the meeting with ARA readers that she would have said that such an invention would never have worked. Perhaps today industrial gazpachos have already entered a large part of Catalan homes. Which ones are the best?As always, we must read the labels. The fewer ingredients they have, the better; they will resemble homemade ones more. To continue, "the first ingredients should always be vegetables, especially tomatoes, which are the main component and responsible for a large part of their content of lycopene (antioxidant), vitamin C, potassium, and other antioxidant compounds," states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols. If you read bread in the ingredients, "it is normal within the traditional recipe and should not be a cause for concern." However, there are other ingredients that can also be found in some industrial gazpachos, which are the ones to avoid. "Some partially substitute extra virgin olive oil with cheaper refined oils, such as sunflower oil, which is also healthy, but nutritionally extra virgin olive oil remains the most interesting option thanks to its content of oleic acid and polyphenols." You also need to pay attention to the amount of salt. "There are gazpachos that easily exceed 1% salt, a high amount if we consume a large glass. Whenever possible, it is preferable to choose options with less than 0.8 g of salt per 100 ml," says the dietitian-nutritionist.Vegetables, the first on the list

So, first there must be vegetables; then extra virgin olive oil and be careful with the amount of salt. But there are still other ingredients that industrial gazpachos can contain, which are the ones that must be rejected: "Some incorporate added sugar, unnecessary thickeners, flavorings or a long list of additives that have little to do with a traditional gazpacho". And it is so because "supermarket gazpacho is a processed food, which also does not automatically make it an unhealthy food". It can be healthy "if the vegetables have been blended, mixed with the usual ingredients and subjected to treatments such as pasteurization to guarantee food safety and extend its preservation". As a consequence of this process "the amount of vitamin C, which is especially sensitive to heat, can be slightly reduced, but it retains a good part of the rest of the nutrients and can even increase the bioavailability of lycopene from tomato, a carotenoid with a high antioxidant capacity," says Grífols.To finish, making gazpacho at home is simple, and there are two tricks that the Disfrutar chefs reveal so that the garlic and cucumber do not return. The garlic will not return if you blanch it three times. That is, once you have peeled the garlic cloves, submerge them in a pot with boiling water, and do so for a few seconds. You can repeat this operation up to three times, because in this way you will manage to lower the pungency of the garlic. And as for the cucumber, they say you have to peel it, chop it, remove the inner seeds and put it in salt on a plate for a while. Then the cucumber will sweat and extract water. When it has done so, rinse it well with a stream of water to remove the salt. And the two ingredients will be ready to add them together to the blender jar and blend them. A quick dish to prepare that also hydrates.

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There is a popular street conversation about the fact that sardines are smaller than ever. Summer is the peak season for these fish, because that's when they eat a lot to accumulate fat for autumn; then they can lay eggs and reproduce. For this reason, it has always been said that sardines should be eaten in the months that do not have an 'R': June, July, and August, because that's when they have more fat and are tastier.In the city of Porto, sardines are the typical dish in many restaurants. Both in street food and in Michelin-starred cuisine. At the hotel The One Monumental Palace, located in the heart of the city, the chef Julien Montbabut has a menu that travels through Portugal dish by dish. It is a journey through traditional cuisine, filtered through his French lens after years living in Portugal, which earned him a Michelin star last year. Sardines, of course, cannot be missing. He cooks them to perfection, with bread and oil, and they are a meaty and flavorful bite. Meanwhile, in street restaurants, near the river, you will find grilled sardines. Also meaty. And that is because in the Atlantic, sardines are big, very big.In the Atlantic, bigger“In the Mediterranean, in general, many marine species are smaller than in the Atlantic,” says scientist Anna Bozzano, who assures that it is due to the environmental characteristics of the sea; the Mediterranean has a higher temperature and less nutrient availability than the Atlantic. When the sea temperature is lower, fish have a slower metabolism and, therefore, can grow more, says Bozzano. In the Mediterranean, there are many other factors that could explain why sardines are small. All together, they could lead us to understand it. To begin with, there is plankton, which has lost quality and quantity due to the warming of the water. If the sardine's food is less nutritious, it will not favor its growth.To continue, there are microplastics that sardines ingest. “They feel like they have eaten, that they are full, and then they do not eat their food. Microplastics worsen the metabolic condition of sardines, which end up being smaller and thinner,” says scientist Anna Bozzano, who points to rising sea temperatures as a factor that stresses sardines. “They can end up laying smaller eggs than usual because environmental stress can accelerate sexual development,” she says. Therefore, multifactorial reasons explain why our sardines have nothing to do with those from the Atlantic.To conclude, let's look at the data to check that we have fewer sardines than ever (beyond whether they are small). According to data from the Catalan Institute for Research for Maritime Governance, in 2025, 3,935.7 tons of sardines were caught, counting all Catalan fish markets. This figure represented a reduction of 33.3% compared to the average catch between the years 2022 and 2024. So we eat smaller sardines than ever, and fewer than ever. Probably, overfishing also explains this decrease. All this makes us envy the city of Porto, with those large, plump sardines. Ours are meager. And all this doesn't seem to have a solution.

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Hard-boiled eggs can be found in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. I'll write it again. Half a dozen boiled and peeled eggs, in the refrigerated section. There is a wonderful recipe, traditional to our region, made with hard-boiled eggs, which are deviled eggs. They are cut in half, the yolk is mixed with tuna and its olive oil, and then the filling is placed back inside the concave part of the egg. A little egg white is grated on top (from another hard-boiled egg we have). An important detail: the price of a package of hard-boiled eggs is similar to fresh eggs; it's around two euros for half a dozen.The question is: can't we make hard-boiled eggs or peel them? Is our culinary knowledge so meager that we can't put a pot with plenty of cold water on the stove and put the eggs in it? When the water boils, put the fresh eggs in with the help of a spoon and after twelve minutes they will be cooked. Let them cool, and then peel them. A note: if we leave the eggs in boiling water for six minutes, we will have soft-boiled eggs. If they stay in for three minutes, poached eggs. You don't have to have studied at ten cooking schools, or even one, to boil and peel an egg.Industry anticipates our needs, and what it gives us is time, because that's what we shouldn't have when we buy hard-boiled eggs. Nutrition specialist doctor Montse Folch tells me that a hard-boiled egg bought at the supermarket is "nutritionally very similar to one cooked at home." Dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols agrees, adding that supermarket hard-boiled eggs, like homemade ones, "provide high biological value proteins, fat-soluble vitamins such as A and D, B group vitamins, choline, selenium, and other essential minerals for health and sports performance. The mere act of cooking, peeling, and packaging it does not significantly alter its nutritional value." She also adds that there's no need to be alarmed "if ingredients like citric acid (E-330) or lactic acid (E-270) appear, as they are intended to maintain the microbiological stability and pH of the product." Among all the packages of boiled and peeled eggs you find, there is a warning: pay attention to the amount of salt. "If it provides more than 0.8-1 grams per hundred, it's better to look for another one, because the ideal salt quantity would be a maximum of 0.5 g per hundred," states doctor Montse Folch.Peeled with nutrients

Regarding the fact that eggs are peeled, the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols also sees no problem. “It does not involve a significant loss of nutrients; the same are lost as if we did it at home, which are some water-soluble and heat-labile vitamins, but their nutritional impact is minimal”. So science applauds the invention; industry gives us time and consumers don't even boil eggs so we don't have to cook. But, alas!, there is one thing we will never have if we buy a package of hard-boiled eggs: taste! The flavor, the smell, the texture of a hard-boiled egg from a plastic supermarket package will not be the same as the one we made at home on an exhausting day, when all you feel like is a fresh lettuce salad with a boiled egg that you prepare in that pot you have designated for boiling. While you boil the eggs, you can put on your comfortable house clothes and slippers. Set the table with your tablecloth, the plate, the cutlery. Peel the eggs with your hands. If you are very hungry, you will burn your fingertips a little if the eggs are hot; if you have had the patience to let them cool, you will peel them in a moment. Some people place a glass bowl in the freezer while the eggs are boiling, because that way, as soon as the twelve minutes have passed, they can take the empty bowl out of the freezer and place the boiled eggs in it. Then the egg cools down immediately. Everything is easy if we want to do it right. We gain a lot, we gain taste, which no invention of the food industry will ever beat us in.

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Mayonnaise, the Minorcan emulsion that the French have claimed for years they invented, is easy to prepare at home: it is made with olive oil, egg, lemon, and a pinch of salt. Current nutrition views it favorably because it is considered that mayonnaise provides the body with healthy fats and a small amount of protein from the egg. The problem, as everyone knows, is that "it is sensitive to microbiological contamination.” “The raw egg can contain bacteria such as salmonella," state dietitians-nutritionists Anna Costa and Anna Grífols. And all this is aggravated in summer, with high temperatures. So, what do we do? If we want to eat a Russian salad with mayonnaise, how do we go about it? On the supermarket shelves there are a thousand and one jars; are they good?“Paradoxically, from a microbiological point of view industrial mayonnaise is usually much safer than homemade,” says Anna Grífols. The industry uses pasteurized eggs, the sauce undergoes strict acidity controls and also elaboration processes that minimize the risk of salmonellosis. However, industrial mayonnaise is made up of ingredients that we would not use at home: refined sunflower oil (at home we would use olive oil), sugars and additives. “There are industrial mayonnaises that even incorporate oils of worse nutritional quality, or quite a few technological ingredients,” points out Grífols.The industrial, more than four ingredients

If we take a jar of industrial mayonnaise, we will find that the list of ingredients is more extensive than the four we have mentioned. Placed in order according to quantity, we will find refined sunflower oil, water, pasteurized egg yolk, lemon juice or vinegar, sugar, spices, salt, and stabilizers such as xanthan gum. It is an industrial product, therefore, which imitates a simple preparation, and which is safe because the egg is pasteurized. But beware, “because it is safe straight from the factory but when we open it and, therefore, air enters, it must be consumed quickly and kept cold, because microorganisms can also enter that spoil it,” points out the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa.So, the paradox of industrial mayonnaise is that it assures us of food safety parameters but we lose many others in terms of flavor and tradition, to the point where a simple recipe with four ingredients becomes ultra-processed. At this point, we recommend you make it at home with all precautions and eat it immediately. We advise you to use fresh eggs, with intact shells. Do not wash them, because the bacteria on the eggshells could penetrate inside. Wash your hands and also the tools with which you will prepare the mayonnaise. Add lemon or vinegar, because both act as acidifiers. Prepare a small amount; basically what you will eat. If you have any left over, store it immediately in the refrigerator between 2 and 4 degrees Celsius. Do not keep it at room temperature. And eat it by the next day at the latest, no later.

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The flavor that we all people in the world like the most is vanilla, according to the scientific journal "Current Biology". As the industry is aware of this, it uses it for custards, ice creams, infusions, and much more. Vanilla seems to be infinite, but it's not possible to use so much of it, because it's one of the most expensive spices in the world. "Its pollination is practically manual; cultivation is slow and production is very vulnerable to droughts, cyclones, and market fluctuations, so its price can be 500 euros per kilo", says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, who adds that vanilla comes exactly from an orchid, generally Vanilla planifolia". "Its pods don't smell when they are picked, but, on the other hand, when they are cured and fermented, they do, and this smell can last for months", she comments.

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Do you know the white shrimp? It is that small one, larger than the plump one, which until about ten years ago was from the south, from Andalusia, and was prepared breaded, fried, and eaten as a tapa or as an appetizer. And how good! Well, the white shrimp is now Catalan, we can say it that way. Meridionalization, the scientific term that explains the phenomenon, has caused species from the south to move north, where they seek suitable temperatures to live and reproduce. And the fact is that in our country the white shrimp has found them. Miquel Mir, patron mayor of the fishermen's guild of the port of Palamós, assures that during the months of March and April each boat has caught 200 kilos per day this year.Marine scientist Anna Bozzano explains that white shrimp has always been traditional to Andalusia. "It used to be found in the west of the Mediterranean, near Gibraltar, and the resulting cuisine was battered and fried," and it was eaten whole. Since white shrimp needs a higher sea temperature to live, it has moved north, where it has been found. "If it's comfortable there, then it can reproduce more," and hence the large quantity caught by boats from Catalan ports. In the markets, it is a shrimp that is well-received, and in homes, it is easy to cook and eat. Furthermore, the price is usually low, so we have all the arguments to understand its good acceptance: abundance and low price.

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There was a time when we ate mayors for dinner (Micromesistius poutassou).We fried them, turning them over and over, with flour, and placed them on a slice of toasted bread well rubbed with tomato. It was a white fish that fell apart, with an easily removable central bone, with soft flesh, which was a delight if we poured a good stream of extra virgin olive oil over it. It was a good dinner, and with many advantages: nutritional and economic, because the sardines were cheap.

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Stuffed olives are one of the great successes of the food industry, which we have become accustomed to, knowing that they can be more expensive than if we bought olives with a pit. Furthermore, not all fillings literally correspond to what is stated on the label. So it could be that they do not contain pepper, anchovy, tuna, salmon or cheese, but rather "a reconstituted paste, formed by crushed pepper, thickeners, texture enhancers, flavor enhancers and food stabilizers that maintain its shape and preserve it for months," states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols.

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Buying yogurts should be a simpler task than it has currently become. If we are clear about the taste (Let's take it step by step. To begin with, what do A1 and A2 milk mean. “Some cow breeds produce a type of milk protein, beta-casein A2, while many other European breeds produce beta-casein A1," says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa. In A2 milk, this protein is mostly present, while in other milks it is not. “We know that the digestion of milk containing A1 can generate a peptide called BCM-7 (a peptide is a short chain of amino acids linked together), which some studies have linked to digestive discomfort in sensitive individuals,” points out Anna Grífols. Therefore, since the industry knows that A2 milks are more digestible, what is being done is selecting cows, which are usually Friesians, that produce beta-casein A2.

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Extra virgin olive oil is the liquid gold of our kitchen. We revere it, respect it, and know that it is one of the healthiest fats, and probably the most studied. When From 180 degrees, extra virgin olive oil begins to oxidize, but it is also true that it will do so more or less depending on the amount of time it is kept at this temperature, and "it will also depend on what we cook in it," states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, who adds that despite this, "extra virgin olive oil is much more stable than is often believed thanks to its high content of two components: oleic acid and natural antioxidant compounds such as polyphenols and vitamin E". A maximum of two times

To the point: we can reuse extra virgin olive oil between one and two times, "as long as we have never taken it to high temperatures, as long as it has not reached the smoke point, if it does not contain burnt residues, if it has been filtered and if it has been stored correctly after use". On the other hand, "when extra virgin olive oil darkens, when it smells rancid, when it produces a lot of smoke or when its texture changes, it is a clear sign that the quality has been lost", says Grífols, who assures that this advice is general, the one that people can follow at home. "We could reuse it ten times if we did not heat the oil beyond 180°, if we fried vegetables in it, if we completely covered the food, if we filtered it after use and if we then stored it in a suitable place". Since meeting all these requirements is difficult, the recommendation is to reuse extra virgin olive oil a maximum of two times. A note on the idea that frying vegetables in it makes it more profitable: "It is not the same to fry vegetables in extra virgin olive oil as battered or protein-rich foods, because the organic and protein residues they leave behind accelerate the degradation of the oil and, moreover, increase the production of potentially toxic compounds", states Grífols, who underlines the idea that extra virgin olive oil should not smoke: "When it burns or is used too many times, it stops being a protective food and becomes a source of oxidized compounds that do not help our health".Finally, extra virgin olive oil can be solidified (not frozen) if you need to keep it for months with the same properties as when you bought it. "Below zero degrees, we manage to solidify the saturated fats in the oil, which are 15%," says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa, who suggests the idea of taking an ice cube tray and adding sauces that contain extra virgin olive oil (like a pesto sauce) and then using them according to the use we want to give to our dishes. The extra virgin olive oil will have been preserved intact with all its benefits, for health and for cooking.

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Rice or corn cakes are the trendy food, and through marketing we perceive them as healthy. You'll find all sorts: rice and corn with salt, with yogurt, with white chocolate, with dark chocolate... There are also organic ones. The reality is that they are an ultra-processed food: rice and corn are industrially subjected to high temperatures, and precisely because of this, the starch chain is broken, which causes the food to turn into sugar when we ingest it. If they add salt, it's to disguise the sweetening of the ultra-processed rice and corn, but if they add yogurt or chocolates, they increase the sweetness. For all these reasons, they are less filling than a slice of bread with extra virgin olive oil, of which, if we count the ingredients, there are four: flour, water, salt, and oil. "The nutritional labels of the cakes do not reflect the real sugar content from the processing of rice and corn because they do not take into account the industrial method with which they have been cooked," explains dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa, who adds that they are regulatory labels, but, despite this, they do not fully reflect reality."Popcorn are an ultra-processed product even when they only contain two ingredients, rice and salt," says Costa, who adds that the explanation is the high temperatures to which the industry subjects the two foods. "If it takes us ten minutes at home to make popcorn, the industry takes less than a minute, and for this reason, the starches, which we have to imagine as a pearl necklace, break and the sugars become individualized," explains the nutritionist. When we eat them, if we don't accompany them with any other food, they will cause a blood sugar spike, a hyperglycemia, because the individualized sugar from the popcorn quickly passes into the blood. The body, by definition, does not like such high sugar spikes, because the pancreas has to respond, it has to play the role of a solver, which means producing insulin to counteract it. Of course, popcorn eaten exceptionally cannot have more consequences, as stated by the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, but as a regular food, yes. "The excess glucose in the blood is transformed into triglycerides, which go to the arteries in the form of particles known as bad cholesterol, with all the consequences it entails," says the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Costa. Ideal for athletes

Finally, as a source of processed carbohydrates, there may be some situations where they can be "interesting to eat, because in nutrition the most important thing is not only the food but the whole diet and the context in which we consume it," says dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols. The fact is that for athletes "it can be useful before or during exercise, because they provide quick energy and are easy to digest; moreover, they help increase sodium intake." For non-athletes, if we want to eat them, the recommendation is to combine them with protein, fiber, or healthy fats. If not, they generate little satiety, leaving you hungry and thirsty shortly after, because the body has converted them solely into sugars.

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The potato omelette is so ours that it generates debates that polarize the population: those who put onion in it, those who don't; those who make it creamy, those who don't. But there is another more intense debate in nutrition with the potato omelette: resting it in the fridge to make it tastier, less caloric, and more digestible.

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As we approach the best time of year to eat prawns (Aristeus antennatus), in June, it's time to explain that the parental authority over red prawns lies with the Mediterranean. Not the port of Vilanova, nor Palamós, nor Blanes, nor Tarragona. The decapod crustacean that is the prima donna of our gastronomy moves tirelessly from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, and no one can scientifically say that it has spent its life in any specific town. The red prawn has no place of residence because it is nomadic: one day it's from Blanes and another day it's from Cambrils, for example.In a few days, the prawns will have a lilac-colored head (actually the cephalothorax, where the stomach is). This will mean they are females and are about to expel their eggs, which will be fertilized in the sea, and this might happen in Dénia. When the eggs are released into the sea, they will become larvae, and then the sea currents may transport them to Tarragona. Moving from place to place, they may have formed their exoskeleton in Vilanova, and also increased in size. And, finally, they may arrive, adult, in Palamós, ready to reproduce. We could explain the cycle in reverse: the egg could have been released in Palamós; the larva, in Vilanova, and the adult stage, in Dénia. And whoever says Palamós, Vilanova, or Dénia, also means other coastal towns. Therefore, it's anecdotal to say that the best prawns are from a fishing port, because they are all the same. Furthermore, there is no scientific basis for saying that prawns from the Costa Brava have an orangey hue "because in reality the red prawn has a predominantly transparent or white hue when alive, and once caught, the intensity and extent of its color gradually increases over hours and days," states scientist Arnau Subías, who runs the @gastrobio Instagram account. The only thing that indicates an orangey or red color in the prawn is how long it has been caught.

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We want to eat cheese when we buy a package of grated cheese, but if we don't look closely at the label, we might end up eating starches, milk proteins, melting salts, vegetable fats, flavorings, and water. All these are the ingredients that appear on the label of some industrial packages of grated cheese, some of which might not have a drop of cheese in them, because “they substitute it with vegetable fats, starch, and flavorings”, states dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols.

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The world is divided between supertasters and non-tasters. The former, due to genetics, have up to sixteen times more taste buds on the front of their tongue than the latter, the non-tasters, and this allows them to better perceive the bitter taste of food and drinks. These latter are the ones who, from a young age, eat all kinds of vegetables without a problem. So much so that there was a moment in history when some scientists believed that paternity tests could be done by checking who in the family liked the bitter taste, says the English psychologist from the University of Oxford Charles Spence. If the child did not like broccoli, because vegetables are bitter and, on the contrary, the father loved it, it could be that he was not the biological father. Fortunately, all this was an idea that science had in the thirties of the last century; today, it is the food industry that benefits from the distinction of humans between supertasters and non-tasters. So, currently, if the child at home likes vegetables and the father does not, the only possible thought is that the new generations are wise.Let's focus on the industry. What does the industry do to profit from the known distinction between those who like bitter taste and those who don't? It brings two versions of the same product to market. Have you ever gone to buy a package of cookies and found that the same brand has different types? The name or color has changed, but you can't quite figure out what the difference is.The tag, not very specific

“On the label it doesn’t say and companies simply let the market segment itself”, says Charles Spence, who also comments that the industry knows that the phrases zero fat or low sugar make food perceived as having less flavor. Storytelling is basic in life in general, and when eating, too. Even in the dishes we prepare ourselves at home, because this makes us believe that what we eat is better. Tell people at home that you have cooked the best meatballs in the world because you have put effort and love into them, and you will see how they eat them more happily.We return to the cookies. There are so many types that it's hard for us to choose some, but the same thing happens with jars of tomato sauce, guacamole, hummus, aioli, pesto, and many other processed foods that the industry has rushed to produce because it believes it makes people's lives easier. I pause: think that making them at home means we will use few ingredients (sometimes only four) and, therefore, they will be healthier. If you are, then, among those who don't know which cookies to choose because you don't see any difference beyond the packaging changing minimally, think that the industry is looking for its niche in your choice. It hopes that one day you will choose some and, the next day, others, and that you will then compare which ones you liked best. They seek to know if you are supertasters, with a genetically developed bitter taste because your ancestors could quickly distinguish if a food was bitter and, therefore, poisonous. If the dilemma overwhelms you, remember that to make cookies at home you just need to mix these ingredients: flour, sugar, egg, and yeast. If you want chocolate and hazelnut cookies, add these two ingredients. Give them the characteristic round shape and then put them in the oven at 150 °C or 170 °C for a few minutes. And that's it. A cookie shouldn't sour our lives.

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Open a bag of potato chips. With your hands it's very easy: you only need your thumbs and index fingers. With these two fingers on each hand, pinch and stretch the bag in opposite directions. And then you'll hear the sound: metallic, unmistakable. It's not shrill, but a pleasant, crunchy click-click. And the adjective is not in vain: if you opened the bag with your eyes closed, you would know perfectly well that you will find potato chips inside. The day the food industry thought about increasing the sale of potato chips, “the marketing specialists intuited that it would make sense to make the sound of the packaging congruent with the sensory properties of the content”, explains psychologist Charles Spence in the book GastroPhysics. The Science of Food (Paidós). It makes sense: if the food industry wanted to sell crunchy potato chips, which make a crunch-crunch when bitten, the packaging had to make the same sound, because that way all the body's senses prepare to intuit that what they are about to eat is a gift from the gods.

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Neither sardines nor anchovies. The most sold fish in our country is farmed salmon, which, for this reason, is gray and is dyed a range from pale orange to orange-red depending on the country where it is sold, because it is known that every land fights its war in colors. The popularity of salmon is probably explained because its nutritional benefits have been spread: as it is oily fish, it provides readily available omega-3. Sardines and anchovies from our ports also provide it. And you will say that salmon has no bones, and it is true, because they are removed with industrial machinery, and I counter-argue: the nutritional benefits of salmon, that is, the polyunsaturated fatty acids that regulate blood cholesterol levels and help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, are only achieved with sardines, anchovies, and oily fish in general with a short lifespan. And with wild salmon. Farmed salmon is another story, and I will explain why.To begin with, in floating cages there is a large number of salmon with a relatively small volume of water, states marine biologist Anna Bozzano, and this fact leads to all sorts of disadvantages. First: medicines have to be used because they are all together and a disease would be easily acquired by all of them. Second: the excrement they form there is organic matter that ends up at the bottom of the sea and suffocates marine life: "There is no animal that can eat it, and that is why the seabed under salmon aquaculture cages are deserts." Fattened with soy feed

To continue, farmed salmon is fattened with feed, made from small caught fish, processed into meal and with soy. “Until a few years ago, to grow one kilogram of salmon, five kilograms of small fish were needed. With soy, it has been balanced to one kilogram of small fish per kilogram of aquaculture; the rest is done by soy”, says Bozzano, who warns that if the proportion of soy with which they make the feed is higher than what the fish can absorb, they get sick because their system is not designed to feed on it. In this fact, the data must be highlighted: small fish and soy are needed to feed aquaculture, and these foods create consequences in the entire system. The small fish used to fatten salmon can come from other areas where the cages are located, such as Africa or South America.And, to finish, let's talk about the color of salmon. Wild salmon eat shrimp that contain a natural pigment, astaxanthin, but there are no small shrimp in the feed, which is why farmed salmon have gray flesh, which the market would not accept if it were put up for sale. So they dye it at the source before putting it on the market. Depending on each country, a different Pantone color. In our country, orange; if you travel and find other shades, lighter, redder, remember that it depends on the final pigment they have given it because it is the color that is liked in that country. A detail: the pigment can be natural or synthetic, which is allowed, but in the latter case, the exact amount that is healthy for the human body is measured, informs marine biologist Anna Bozzano.Despite all this, salmon is the best-selling fish. In 2023, eight thousand tons were sold; in 2024, nine thousand. The second best-selling fish, monkfish, is six thousand tons behind. It is clear, then, the abundance of salmon, but perhaps there is a way to save it: in a growing world population, with an emptying sea, is it perhaps the fish that can provide us with animal protein? But if the sea runs out of small fish, will farmed salmon also not be able to be fed? Perhaps we should eat small local fish and not a distant one, farmed crowded and fed with fish caught on the other side of the world. It is the (dyed) fish that eats its tail.

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Eggs have seen it all. There was a time when the advice was to only eat three a week. If you made a potato omelette with eight eggs or prepared a tower of omelettes, you had already consumed more than the recommended percentage. And then what? Our bad cholesterol would increase, we thought. A few years ago, nutrition studies showed that we had suffered counting the weekly eggs consumed for nothing, because dietary cholesterol does not have a direct or significant impact on blood cholesterol, as nutritionists Anna Costa and Anna Grífols state. Therefore, today we live in a golden age for eggs because we can eat as many as we want without worrying about having excess cholesterol in our blood, the kind that accumulates in the arteries, forms plaque and, consequently, increases the risk of heart attacks. Perhaps because of this and also due to dietary trends, egg consumption has increased throughout Europe: in the last ten years we have eaten 20% more than before.Regarding cholesterol, it should be said that nutrition knows that "a good part of it is manufactured by ourselves in our liver, and that what has the most impact is the entirety of the daily diet and the lifestyle we lead," explains Anna Grífols. In other words, we can eat an egg every day, which will have no consequence on bad cholesterol, but, on the other hand, if we accompany that egg with saturated fats, ultra-processed foods, and caloric excesses, then everything changes. And everything changes even more if we lead a sedentary life.The golden age of eggs

To continue, the golden age of eggs is also explained because we like to eat them for breakfast, for dinner and also at , according to data from the Poultry Federation of Catalonia (FAC), which clarifies that the

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In an artisanal sausage, the ingredients can be counted on one hand, and there are usually some left over. They are meat, salt, and spices. Industrial sausages, let's call them that because the law allows them to be differentiated from artisanal ones, contain more additives, including lactose, which on the ingredient list of the cured meat can be mentioned as whey,milk powder, lactitol or directly lactose, explains dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols.

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Chocolate makes us happy. It is popular, everyone knows it, and it is not prophecy. It is enough to smell it or talk about it and our mood changes. And this is because science assures us that it connects with certain molecules we produce, endorphins (the so-called "happiness hormones") and serotonin, and then they generate a sensation of well-being, pleasure, and emotional relaxation.

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