Based on a tradition of farmers, herders and sailors, the gastronomy of Catalonia has been based on self-sufficiency, utilization, strict fidelity to the calendar and a vast and rich pantry, the result of the diversity of landscapes that surround us. To savour its dishes is to understand an exciting story, where products, recipes and traditions resonate with voices of the past. Today, they make up a rich, complex and internationally recognized gastronomy. The result is a generous recipe that is expressed in all possible cuisines. The gastronomic origins of Catalonia To be able to know its origins it is necessary to go back to the pre-Roman era, where the Iberian tribes introduced the cultivation of cereals, the collecting culture and the taste for beer. With the arrival of Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, the local cuisine incorporated elements such as wheat, bread, chickpeas, rabbit meat, bluefish, tuna, oysters, fishing and olive oil. They also introduced techniques of using salt to preserve meat or fish. These influences established the foundations of a sophisticated cuisine that was enriched with Arabic contributions, such as rice, pasta and various vegetable ingredients and nuts. Later, during the middle age, Catalan cuisine began to be integrated into a diet based on legumes and vegetables. There was no shortage of poultry or game, or sweets made with local fruits. The power of the Aragonese crown and the conquest of the Mediterranean boosted the local gastronomy, and made the hostels and inns become renowned centres. Catalan cuisine lived its golden age. This is proven by the recipes of The Book of Sent Soví and The Book of the Coch, which collect the first Catalan recipes that are fundamental to our cuisine today. Hence the use of onions and almonds as the base of many sauces and the presence of cinnamon and other condiments that allow sweet and savoury combinations. Also from this period are mincemeat and stir-fry, the basis of any current kitchen dish. The gastronomic influence of the new world From the 16th century, with the discovery of the new world, we get new ingredients like corn, cocoa, potato, peanut and tomato. A change in colour and palate begins to be appreciated in Catalan cuisine. Over the centuries, the mix of influences and eclecticism gave shape to a rich culinary tradition, with establishments such as inns and taverns. They become the centre of public catering and popularize iconic dishes, such as pork loin with beans, capipota and tinned cod. It was at the beginning of the 20th century, when the influence of Italian and French chefs popularised dishes, such as cannelloni, and revitalises the local recipe. The result is a vibrant and active gastronomic scene, which corresponds to the bohemian and artistic life of the Renaissance and Modernism. It's time for a gastronomic explosion in Barcelona. Emblematic establishments appear such as Els Quatre Gats and La Maison Dorée. While the taverns and bodegas of the Barri Xino will grow the legend of Barcelona as a festive and nocturnal city. The gastronomic innovation of the 20th century At the beginning of twentieth century, Ignasi Domènech and Ferran Agulló gloss over what will be the traditional cuisine to come, destroyed by the outbreak of the Civil War and the darkness of the dictatorship. Democracy brought a new wave of preservation and gastronomic innovation. Chefs such as Santi Santamaria, Ferran Adrià, the Roca brothers and Carme Ruscalleda turned Catalonia into a benchmark for international haute cuisine and a first-rate gastronomic destination. A new generation of talented chefs maintains this tradition today and defends the Catalan culinary heritage with creativity and passion. Various cuisines to explore All this heritage and tradition, combined with the landscape, is expressed in various cuisines. It is a cuisine with tradition, with a soul, which is expressed both in fishermen's huts and in mountain refuges, passing through the haute cuisine of Barcelona and rural houses. It's time to explore them. Facing and open to the Mediterranean Sea, we find the recipe of the seafood cuisine. The heritage of fishermen and sailors that has given us ranch dishes, suquets and stews born on boats, such as the cim i tomba, the zarzuela, the rossajtas and the wide variety of rice - dry, soupy, lobster and lobregant, prawn, sea and mountain, rock fish, banda, octopus, etc. - or fresh fish de lotja, baked or grilled, paired with a white wine from DO Empordà, Alella or Tarragona. The imposing presence of Pyrenees of Catalonia has conditioned the emergence of a powerful cuisine inspired by necessity, the harshness of the climate and the severity of a pure and mineral geography. It is mountain cuisine, based on self-sufficiency and enjoyment. Mushrooms, game, liver breads, cheeses, soups, casseroles and stews accompany an endless repertoire of pork and lamb sausages. Barcelona is full of life and this is reflected in its gastronomy. Enjoy a good fork dish for breakfast in one of the municipal markets or enjoy the afternoon in good company on a terrace, having some tapas and a craft beer. In the evening, have dinner in a good restaurant or feed your dreams with a good cocktail before the night takes off. Every moment is an opportunity to celebrate life. Come and experience the cuisine of Barcelona. Born of ingenuity and necessity, the rural cuisine stands out. A complex and baroque cuisine, with deep flavours, that preserves the essence of our gastronomic culture. The landscape has become a privileged pantry where you will find all the flavours of pork, poultry, quail, rabbit with snails, truffles with mushrooms and ribs, cod with samfaina, stuffed pig's trotters, etc. Accompany it with a good red wine. The paradise of wine lovers Catalonia is a country tailor-made for all travellers and a paradise for wine lovers. You can find sparkling, sweet, rancid, keeper, parage, table and cooperative. Depending on the fermentation time, you will find young and long-aged wines, informal and youthful wines, but also wines to taste calmly. The result is a variety of wines that go well with a variety of cuisines. Catalan cuisine, with its rich history and diversity of flavours, is an authentic expression of our culture and tradition. Come to Catalonia, where every dish and every glass connects you with the essence of our land.