Nova cuina catalana

[TAPrice]

Recently I was talking to a Barcelona-born chef. He was really excited by the trends of nova cuina catalana in Barcelona. From talking to him, I didn't fully understand what this movement encompasses.

It seems to take El Bulli as its inspiration, but how avant-garde is it? This chef talked about a new emphasis on plating, but are the flavors changing? How widespread are the changes? Is this a recognized movement?

Forgive me if these questions are naive. I haven't been to Spain in almost five year and my last trip to Barcelona was in 1993.

[Rogelio]

I don't think that there are many differences between Nova cuina catalana and the Nueva cocina española but a part of the whole.

There have been some top catalan cooks leaded by Adrià but also Joan Roca or Carme Ruscalleda who had lead a revolution in the catalan restaurant scene. Being Santi Santamaría on the other side, being more interested in traditions and product than in the pure technic.

These cooks have been creating a school somewhere in the middle of both worlds whose disciples are Abac's Xavier Pellicer, Oriol Ivem and Guilem Pla from Hisop, Nando Jubani from Can Jubani, and then the ones like Gresca, Saüc, Alkimia...

They all have deep catalan roots and perfect technic, creating light but tasty dishes with beatiful presentations many of them inspired from the japanese traditions.

All this could be said from many other cooks from all around Spain, I don't see the differences between them and Quique Dacosta (well this one plays on a higher league), Ca Sento's Raul Aleixandre, Zaranda's Fernando Pérez Arellano, Pepe Solla from Casa Solla... All of them with their own pesonality and different origin but very similar filosophy.

Don't know if I have helped.

[docsconz]

I don't think that there are many differences between Nova cuina catalana and the Nueva cocina española but a part of the whole.

There have been some top catalan cooks leaded by Adrià but also Joan Roca or Carme Ruscalleda who had lead a revolution in the catalan restaurant scene. Being Santi Santamaría on the other side, being more interested in traditions and product than in the pure technic.

These cooks have been creating a school somewhere in the middle of both worlds whose disciples are Abac's Xavier Pellicer, Oriol Ivem and Guilem Pla from Hisop, Nando Jubani from Can Jubani, and then the ones like Gresca, Saüc, Alkimia...

They all have deep catalan roots and perfect technic, creating light but tasty dishes with beatiful presentations many of them inspired from the japanese traditions.

All this could be said from many other cooks from all around Spain, I don't see the differences between them and Quique Dacosta (well this one plays on a higher league), Ca Sento's Raul Aleixandre, Zaranda's Fernando Pérez Arellano, Pepe Solla from Casa Solla... All of them with their own pesonality and different origin but very similar filosophy.

Don't know if I have helped.

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I agree with you, the only difference being the regional specificity of the Catalan cuisine. Clearly the movement is occurring across Spain.

[Lenski]

This is a very complicate topic with many layers (from nationalistic issues to terroir ingredients) and a comprehensive attempt to answering what nova cuina catalana is will probably fail.

However, I have spent the last month in Catalunya, Asturias, and the Basque Country. I also visited La Rioja. I am not sure what it is but there is a difference between what the Catalan Chefs are doing and the rest of the country (I will not talk about Basque Chefs because I also think that they cannot be compared).

If I were to compare Nacho Manzano (I ate at both restaurants "Marcial" and "La Salgar" and I love his cuisine), Francis Paniego (I am also a big fan) to any of their Catalan Counterparts (comparable in terms of price point, or at the, approximately, level of a one Michelin Star), I would say that the Catalan Chefs take a lot more risks both in terms of flavors and techniques. I am afraid that the reason has to do with competition. There are many restaurants in Catalunya that are working at the 1 or 2 Michelin Star level and their local customers are very much used to that level, whereas in the other Spanish areas, this yearning for modernity on the part of the diner might not be there yet. For example, I also ate at "indianu" and at "gerardo" and, as good as they are, I doubt that anyone would take it as "nova cuina" or "nueva cocina."

Also, Barcelona/Catalunya has become very sophisticated (in the best and the worst sense of the word) in gastronomical terms and are willing to accept the many different experiments that the Chefs offer them. (it is also part of the social game, think Boudrieu and Distinction).

I am not talking in terms of good/bad just that the Catalan cuisine socio-cultural paradigm/framework is very different from the rest of the country and thus it creates different results, strikingly different sometimes. I think that the socio-cultural framework would explain why almost 60% of Michelin Stars (will check my numbers lately) stay in Catalunya and Euskadi, two relatively small areas.

L, at a conference in Berlin and clearly not listening to the proceedings.

[vserna]

Risks? Well, then Madrid must be in Catalonia now. Or at least an honorary Catalan city. Go to Diverxo, Senzone, Sudestada, Viridiana or Alboroque, and you'll see all sorts of risks...

[AlexForbes]

Dear TAPrice,

I think that the following points, written by the Spanish food critic Pau Arenós, sum up what this new cuisine is all about and will make it all make more sense to you. If you want to read more about why it has come to be called technoemotional, I recommend that you read this topic in this forum.

So here are the 10 points that pretty much define what technoemotional cuisine is all about, by Pau Arenós, reproduced with his permission:

1 The cuisine is a language which a chef expresses himself. The chef creates for himself, although his desire is to share his oeuvre and that the public appreciates it.

2.The chef takes risks: he knows that his style may be misunderstood. The technoemotional risks are higher than those that were involved in earlier culinary movements.

3. The chef doesn’t create dish by dish: he proposes to open new roads with the aid of techniques and concepts.

4. The methods chosen to prepare the dishes are chosen in order to achieve a result that stimulates all senses. The sense of touch is especially relevant, hence the focus on textures and temperatures.

5.The culinary act is greater than the physical, than the senses, and it is aimed at the emotional and the intellectual. There is an intellectual pleasure that is expressed through humour, provocation, thinking.

6. The creator bridges the gap with other areas of knowledge to achieve the previous points. Hence, he is compelled to make use of new technologies that become available or known to him.

7.The diner is not passive, but quite active. The act of eating requires of him a certain level of openness and attention.

8. All ingredients have the same gastronomic worth.

9. The frontiers between sweet and savoury disappear, as do those between the main element in the dish and its accompaniments. The ideal way to showcase dishes is as a multi-course tasting menu.

10. Cuisine is understood as a form of life. A restaurant isn’t merely a business.

[Lenski]

Risks? Well, then Madrid must be in Catalonia now. Or at least an honorary Catalan city. Go to Diverxo, Senzone, Sudestada, Viridiana or Alboroque, and you'll see all sorts of risks...

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I have been to Diverxo and Sudestada and I think they are not really representative of what the OP was referring to since these two restaurants (I like one of them very much) have adopted an Asian style and they mix it with the local rendering very interesting creations. A different issue than the one posed by the op.

I love "Viridiana" (the movie and the restaurant) but I do not think it is a risky restaurant per se. However, I think that the Catalan restaurant crowd (industry and consumers) is far more cutthroat than anywhere in the peninsula and that yields successes and failures. Both being the possible results of risk.

l

PS. I have never been to Senzone.