As in travel, in life, to reach a goal you have to start from an origin. Carme Ruscalleda’s is in Sal Pol de Mar (Barcelona) and in the train station of her childhood. “It was beautiful, a station facing the sea, facing the beach. Paradisiacal, I think it looks like a postcard. It continues to be that way, just more modern,” describes the chef and gastronome, who still remembers the sound of the train when she left. “The trains used to start slower, “cri-cro”, now they are precise. With that “beep” stop, “beep” and it goes like a bullet,” she recalls.
A nostalgia that also appears when talking about what the train station meant then. “It was the way, the possibility of going to neighboring towns that were larger, with more offerings, or the possibility of going to Barcelona with your family. The latter was almost an adventure. The trip already meant preparing you for what you would find. Or arriving at the France station, I still have its mechanical smell recorded, like an almost arnic grease,” she shares with journalist Joana Bonet in the series of 12 interviews Women and Travelers from Renfe.
Much closer, in space and time, are the aromas that your kitchen gives off. But smell is not the only sense that comes into play. “In the kitchen, all your senses act: the visual when you see how everything moves; the acoustic when hearing if that oven works, if that “chup chup” is too slow or too fast; the olfactory one, which warns you of the cooking point, if something has gone too far.” Because theirs is a kitchen with five senses. “I intend that, when you eat, you are seduced by the flavor of that food.”
Carme Ruscalleda speaks about all these sensations with a joy that is contagious. And that, she assures, is a credit to her pig, which made her a nicer and more affable person. Laughing, the chef explains. “When the store – his parents’ supermarket – was modernized, a powerful bet, economically, my father had the idea, to make it more popular, of offering sausages from home-raised pigs. He trained me in charcuterie techniques for a whole year.”
At that time Ruscalleda was 17 years old and soon it was time to take another step. “When I was ready, I stood in front to offer the product. The pig opened a door of freedom in my mind. Obviously, I offered the sausages that everyone expected, but I was able to start flying at my own pace, and offer the sausages of two colors, with cheese, with other meats… I began to be happy working and to feel that commitment that you have done something new,” she says. There began her creative side in the kitchen, the one that has made her the woman with most Michelin stars (six, in total) in the world.
The artistic expression into which Carme Ruscalleda has converted her gastronomy owes a lot to the person who accompanies her in life: her husband, Toni Balam. “The work itself has led me here. That, really, is total freedom, which, obviously, has a very high price, which is working every day with total dedication,” she says.
And in that day-to-day life, Balam is an exceptional ally: “I consider myself very lucky for my partner, the person I married. During an entire winter, while I was in the military, he substituted for me in my parents’ store. so that I could do preparatory school at the Massana School for an entire winter. I got the highest grade. I had gotten rid of the thorn and I never thought about art again.” It was time to get married. “Of course, he had finished his military service and we were dating. since I was 16 years old,” shares the chef.
But that gift, inalienable, ended up turning her into the gastronomic eminence she is today. And also in a woman who enjoys getting to know other cultures through her gastronomy. “Eating has a lot to do with culture. Eating crocodile is very normal, for example, in South Africa. We had a wonderful experience there: we took it with pa amb tomàquet. That was already the ultimate fusion!”, she laughs, while she celebrates the luck of our Mediterranean cuisine. “It is sustainable, fun, healthy and gourmet, because you are taking what is in season. Seasonal products prepare us for each season. In summer, they cool us down. In winter, they give us energy to fight the cold.”
Simple and close woman, Carme Ruscalleda and snobbery do not know each other at all. “The cuisine interests me because of the cultural foundation behind it, because of the inhabitants who have grown up there, have taken a 360 degree turn and have put ingenuity to the things they had around them. That is why we Mediterranean people have such poor, economical and brilliant formulas,” she emphasizes. And she does not turn her back on gastronomic innovation. What’s more, he hugs her.
“You have to get on the train of progress. I often think “what I would give to see my grandmother with a Turmix in her hand”. I would be amazed! We are crossing a bridge, which is modernity, and putting our food in the hands of the agri-food industry, as we did with the textile industry. The key is to train an entire society so that it knows what it puts in its mouth. The more demanding the consumer is, the more quality he or she will have. Nature has such great value that it will never be lost.” That is why it separates the concept of artificial texture from pure artifice. “Perhaps the word “artificial” is not appropriate. “It’s processed nature.”
On her journey, Carme Ruscalleda is clear about the destination she would like to reach. “I know that I have only a few stations ahead of me, I have already made more than half of my trip. I would like to reach the goal realizing what is happening. It’s terrible when you get old and you’re not here… That’s what I’m really afraid of,” she confesses. Therefore, she knows how to squeeze fleeting moments of happiness like no one else. “Happiness is a very short state of mind. When you feel it, pinch yourself, savor it! Like an excellent delicacy! ”Suggests the best chef in the world.
