JOSEP PLAS VIEW OF GASTRONOMY JOSEP PLA 1897

JOSEP PLA’S VIEW OF GASTRONOMY

JOSEP PLA (1897 -1981) • He came from a family of small, rural landowners in l’Empordà • As a journalist he travelled all over Europe • At the end of the Civil War (1939), he retired to the family house in Llofriu

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS WORK • He identifies with no specific literary current • Complete works: 44 volumes • He wanted to reflect his times • He used various narrative styles: essays, political reports, biographies, literary portraits, diaries, travelogues, short stories…

CULINARY INTEREST OF THE AUTHOR • He’s no cook, nor critic nor gourmet; just a lover of good food. • “What we have eaten” (1971) is a compilation of his culinary reflections. • He backs traditional homemade food. • He defines Catalan cooking as strong, rough and repetitive.

HIS CULINARY IDEAL • • Simplicity Lightness Lack of additives Peculiar to the region

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION • • • Modern cooking Fast Urban, industrialisation Low quality Diversity, exoticism Available all year round Traditional cooking • Slowly cooked and slowly eaten • Social pleasures of conversation • Rural • Natural, fresh products • Strong flavour

THE CHRISTMAS TRADITION • escudella i carn d’olla (meat stew) • roast chicken • torrons (almond candy)

ESCUDELLA I CARN D’OLLA (MEAT STEW) • One of the author’s favourite dishes. • Before the Civil War, it was the normal social meal from Monday to Saturday. • Since the Civil War it has been simplified or abandoned due to its rising costs.

CHRISTMAS ESCUDELLA I CARN D’OLLA • A special stew for Christmas Day called “four meat stew” or “four Mendicant Order stew” (pork, beef, chicken and lamb) • Originality: long, tubular meat ball

INGREDIENTS • • MEAT Chicken, chicken offal (liver and gizzard) Veal Lamb Bacon, sausage, pig’s ear, tail, cheek, trotters and lean meat • • • VEGETABLES Potatoes Cabbage Carrots Chick peas Haricot beans

JOSEP PLA and “WE ARE WHAT WE EAT” Links: • climate • gastronomy • human character

CATALAN CHARACTER • cheerful rather than reflexive • lacking calm, understanding and tolerance • extremist: from indifference to rage, either too fat or too thin • nervous, impressionable

PLA’S INFLUENCE ON MODERN CATALAN CUISINE • Moving towards a combination of tradition, calm and pleasure • Moving away from experimental cookery (chemical resources) eg. : Santi Santamaria eg. : Ferran Adrià

MAINTAINING THE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS (46 pupils 4 th. ESO) last Christmas family habit social habit

REFLECTION The Christmas festivals are cyclical rituals which unite: • Family atmosphere • Religious and Pagan traditions (the Yule Log, the Christmas Verse) • Culinary tradition