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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The pistachio tree has spread like a green tide across the Catalan countryside, specifically in the Segarra-Garrigues and Urgell valleys. It's a tree with a broad canopy, the kind that provides ample shade and is beautiful to behold. But it's not its visual appeal that has tripled its production in ten years, but rather the fact that the pistachio is an emerald, a precious stone with only benefits and one possible drawback. Before mentioning them, let me share the figures that demonstrate the love our farmers have for pistachios: in 2015 they produced 310 tons; this past year, 2015, 638.

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Canned cod liver is found alongside cans of sardines, mussels, and cockles. The Catalan brand Dani, based in Vilassar de Mar, sells it for €2.80 and is one of the companies that produces it. Company representatives explained to me that sales of this product "have grown significantly" in recent years, even though "cockles remain the undisputed queen, followed by mussels." In fact, they decided to produce it because they saw a market opportunity to offer "a high-quality product with a very strong gastronomic identity." They further explained that, to prepare it, "they use exclusively North Atlantic cod, scientifically known as cod."Gadus morhua", and that it is "the quintessential species, the most appreciated in the world of gastronomy and the one that offers the best organoleptic and nutritional characteristics."

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High-protein yogurts are trending. You'll see them on every refrigerated shelf. They're more expensive than usual and are designed and marketed to seem like the healthiest yogurts in the world. But let's take it one step at a time, because yogurts, by definition, have always provided protein to our bodies; therefore, if a product contains more protein, we should consider whether we really need it.

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Legumes can be eaten just like a plate of Italian pasta. Given the lack of traditional stores selling cooked legumes, or the lack of time to soak and then boil them at home, the food industry has stepped up and invented legume pasta. In this case, the industry is adapting to the demands we, as a society, should place on them to produce good, high-quality products.

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People with lactose intolerance can eat fermented cheeses, and they're very lucky that there are many that are: Serra, Garrotxa, or blue cheese. And more. From abroad, there's Brie, Parmesan, Gruyère, Manchego, and many others. If a cheese is fermented, it means that bacteria like Lactobacillus have survived and managed to transform the lactose in the milk into lactic acid, which is a very different story, to the point that people with lactose intolerance can eat it.

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For ten years, a Catalan yogurt brand has used the slogan "It all starts within" to highlight the nutritional benefits of consuming their products. And it's true, yogurts are fermented foods, and eating them improves your gut microbiota, making it strong and thriving, like a dense, green forest. The denser the microbiota, the better, because viruses won't be able to penetrate it and, therefore, won't harm your gut. The good news is that we could have carried out the same campaign with olives from our olive groves. Olives, like yogurts, kefirs, cheeses, gherkins, pickled foods, and pickles in general, are fermented foods and, therefore, provide billions of active bacteria to our bodies.

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The insect called cochinealThe plant that typically lives on prickly pear cacti is used by the food industry as a coloring agent for cooked ham, cured sausage, mortadella, chorizo, and also yogurts and strawberry candies. Because if we were to read the labels cochineal (Dactylopius coccusPerhaps we would think twice before buying all these products; there are other, permitted, alternatives: E-120, carminic acid, or carmine. And incidentally, that same component, carmine, is also used in cosmetics to create red lipsticks.

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If you're someone who swims in the sea, you surely know that there's a fear that spreads like the heat to our beaches: the fear of stinging jellyfish, those that can leave a sting if you accidentally bump into them as they drift with the ocean currents. In our country, chef Carme Ruscalleda requested permission to cook in the European Union in 2013 and 2014. She had first eaten them in 2003 in Japan at a Chinese restaurant, and she had liked them; especially the texture, which reminded her of the cartilage on a chicken wing. The taste also stood out to her because it was sweet. And, as if that weren't enough, Ruscalleda researched their nutritional properties: eating jellyfish can reduce cholesterol and improve joint function, as well as maintain healthy skin and hair.

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It's a common, everyday conversation that always comes up when calçotadas return. Are there enough calçots for all the calçotadas held in homes, farmhouses, and restaurants? In an era of free movement of food entering our markets from all over the world, the question is more relevant than ever. Is it possible that our farmers work themselves to the bone to cultivate the best calçots in the world, but those sold in markets come from other countries and haven't undergone the same quality controls as ours? The answer, at least according to the data, is no. We eat Catalan calçots.

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It is an eternal debate, which has pitted Italians against the rest of the world. Pasta, undercooked or well cooked? Al dente Or soft? Hammered or spoon-shaped? Science has spoken, and dispelled any doubts: the less cooked it is, the better, because it will be healthier. Sinking your teeth into the pasta, chewing it thoroughly to digest it, is good because then the glycemic index doesn't rise rapidly, and this is essential for the body, and for having energy in the long term, too, says nutritionist Anna Grífols.

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Tomato sauce is a very popular product. It's great for making a quick sofrito, for topping macaroni that we don't want to eat plain, and for any other dish where we want to add flavor. The food industry knows we're a big consumer, which is why they produce all types, sizes, formats, and flavors. If you don't believe me, just look at the shelves of your usual supermarket: jars of tomato sauce line up right next to them. Which one do we choose? Without thinking too much, or perhaps after careful consideration, we look at the price that's easiest to afford, and probably also at what's advertised with the right words. homemade either craftsmanwhich leads us to believe it will be the best. However, according to dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, we should take a closer look at the ingredients. Otherwise, we might end up taking home a jar of tomato sauce that has everything but the main ingredient: tomatoes. To begin with, then, in the list of ingredients, which are written in order of quantity from highest to lowest, the first ingredient should be tomatoes. Only tomatoes. If it's called concentrated tomato sauce, it means there's very little of it because it comes from tomatoes that have been cooked for hours to concentrate the tomato, and then diluted with water. "This is how the food industry reduces production costs," notes Anna Grífols. More jars can be filled from the same tomato if it's concentrated, that is, if it's diluted with water. "If for whatever reason we can only buy one jar of concentrated tomato sauce, the advice is to choose one with a small percentage of tomato; ideally 25% or less," recommends the dietitian-nutritionist.

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