This not-for-profit organisation stems largely from local pride. Its purpose: to protect the region’s endemic ingredients and the culinary cultures of its towns and villages and, above all, to ensure that mass-production doesn’t topple their small farms and producers.
About 10 years ago a spin-off group appeared, El Grupo Cuina Volcànica, who realised that the region of La Garrotxa had something special: dead volcanoes. Unlike the volcano parks of Lanzarote where you can quite literally dig a hole in the ground and get grilling, there’s nowhere in the Garrotxa where the earth is still so molten that you can cook over it. But the ancient, nutrient-rich soil of these extinct volcanoes does grow products unknown elsewhere, and a tradition of spirited country cooks in the area has spawned generations worth of old recipes such as farinetes with ratafia (buckwheat pancakes flambéed in this sweet, local liqueur made with cherries, almonds or green walnuts), esparrecada (a spicy sausage) and the fresh yet velvety soft amanida de peuada (a sumptuous, boneless pig’s trotter salad).
The taste of these dishes is as old and mysterious as the region itself, with some products considered direct results of the volcanic soil—rare and almost extinct products such as nabos negros (black turnips), Saracen wheat and escarlots (a type of wild mushroom), as well as the delicate fessols de Santa Pau (small white beans with a fine skin and sweet, soft meat), Vall d’en Bas potatoes and corn more closely related to the South American kind than the sweet ears we are used to in Northern Europe. Speak to local cooks and farmers and they’ll also tell you that their cheese and charcuterie, pork and wild boar is the best in Spain.
It’s difficult to argue when La Vall de Bianya is quite simply one of the loveliest places in rural Catalunya, with a prolific number of top-notch country taverns for staving off the hunger pangs. Throwing creativity and daring into the mix has generated what might be called volcànica nova, specifically from the region’s three Michelin-starred kitchens.
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