Sustainable Food

Since its origins, Catalan cuisine has drawn on recipes for getting the most out of food and local ingredients. The distribution and consumption of food in the past was very different to today, meaning that the dishes we regard as traditional are made exclusively with seasonal local produce. Here we highlight Catalan cuisine by taking a look at its typical dishes by season, with sustainable food in mind.

‘Escudella’ stews and traditional winter food celebrations

Winter vegetables such as leeks, cabbage and celery become the ideal ingredients for typical seasonal dishes. ‘Escudella and carn d’olla’ (broth and stewed meat) are typical at Christmas, but this recipe is also about getting the most out of food and perfect for avoiding wasting vegetables or for using up leftover chunks of meat.

Another iconic dish where using up food is at the centre of the process comes from the Cerdanya region: ‘Trinxat’. Using just the three ingredients of cabbage, local potatoes or ‘trumfas’ and pork belly, this has become an essential dish in Catalan cuisine. The town of Puigcerdà hosts the Festa del Trinxat every February, a celebration asserting the origins of this recipe and the importance of the zero-kilometre ingredients it uses.

Elsewhere, and just as important, is the Gran Festa de la Calçotada, a celebration held in the town of Valls and signalling the start of the ‘calçot’ season. This variety of spring onion or tender leek, which the European Union recognised with the status of Protected Geographical Indication, provides the perfect excuse for Catalans to gather at the table and bid farewell to winter and cold temperatures.

Easter as the influence for spring recipes

In the same way that the Christmas celebrations influence Catalonia’s winter cuisine, Easter and its traditions have a big influence on spring dishes.

Schoolchildren sing of their intention to Catalan pork sausage on Fat Thursday… “el Dijous Llarder botifarra menjaré”, as they bite into their sandwiches of potato omelette and seasonal Catalan pork sausage, ‘botifarra d’ou’, which also has egg in it at this time of year. In the past, children were also tasked with knocking on local people’s doors and asking for eggs, the central ingredient for meals on Fat Thursday.

Similarly, it’s common for people to organise traditional sardine fests, or ‘sardinades’, coinciding with the Burial of the Sardine on Ash Wednesday. Sardines are an abundant fish in Mediterranean waters and bring together people and neighbourhoods around charcoal grills and barbecues. This is also the case with the Ranxo de Carnestoltes, a tradition rooted in feudal Catalonia and bringing together local people to make a large collective ‘escudella’, again getting everything from the ingredients used and here with everybody bringing something along to contribute to the communal dish.

Another product consumed in large quantities in the spring is the snail, coinciding with the Aplec del Caragol in Lleida. Cooked in various ways, the snail is the king of the table around the counties in the province of Lleida. They are cooked in sauce, in casseroles and, the most popular way of all, pan-baked.

Summer as the season for ‘coca’

The shortest night of the year more or less acts as the official inauguration of summer. Bonfires, fireworks and communal meals with a common trait: ‘coca de llardons’. This cake is typical during the festivities on the eve of Sant Joan, and is a simple cake made with flaky pastry, sugar, eggs, pine nuts and pork scratchings.

Another flatbread or flat pastry option in the summer is the ‘coca de recapte’. This dish is also about reusing or getting the maximum from its ingredients, using any type of ingredient, but traditionally ‘escalivada’ (oven roasted peppers, onions or aubergines). This is why we typically find it during the season for these three ingredients, as delicious hot as it is cold.

Another sweet dish in the summer are ‘Panellets de Sant Roc’, made especially to celebrate the day in honour of the saint at the Festes de la Plaça Nova, in Barcelona. Despite what the name suggests, Panellets de Sant Roc are a mixture between crumbly ‘polvoró’ shortbreads and light butter biscuits. They are only eaten on this day, when they are handmade in cake shops in the Ciutat Vella district and distributed free to local people.

Chestnuts, sweet potatoes and ‘panallets’ in the autumn

In the same way as Christmas and Easter, the ‘Castanyada’ (Chestnut Festival) has a big influence on food in the autumn. Seasonal over-baked sweet potatoes combine perfectly with roast chestnuts, from the chestnut trees of Viladrau, where we find Catalonia’s only chestnut producer.

The autumn is also a time for sweets, when ‘panallets’ are the undisputed stars in bakeries and cake shops. Here the traditional ones take centre stage, with the EU seal of Traditional Speciality Guaranteed. The recipe is simple, based on traditional marzipan made with sugar and almonds, which eggs and water can be added to. After that it’s simply a matter of finishing them with more nuts such as pine nuts and hazelnuts, also in season.

While it would be impossible to include all the traditional dishes in Catalan cuisine in a single article, these examples highlight how this is a cuisine rooted in sustainability, getting maximum use from food and using local ingredients, asserting the Catalan denomination or origin.