There are dishes that do not originate from a territory, but that are incorporated into its repertoire of recipes and become an essential element of its gastronomy. The gazpacho was one of these elaborations that generated discord among the theorists of Catalan cuisine. Finally, the recent publication of the new Corpus de la cuina catalana, the official book that includes the cookbook of Catalonia, includes this dish and, de facto, it becomes part of the gastronomic culture of the region.
Since its first publication in 2006, the book that includes the entire repertoire of Catalan recipes has only been updated twice, in 2011 and now. The debate at the Institut Català de la Cuina about which dishes should be included and which not, had gazpacho as one of its protagonists.
Originally from Andalusia, it was a preparation prepared by the lower classes long ago. More specifically, it was the old peasants and laborers who took advantage of the dry bread from previous days, dipped it in water and squeezed it by hand, mixing it with tomatoes also squeezed by hand, crushed garlic in a mortar, salt, oil, vinegar and, if they had them on hand, some chopped greens or vegetables, especially cucumbers and peppers. This question of origins was what turned many theorists back.
Toni Massanés, director of the Fundació Alícia, was part of the direction and coordination of the first Corpus in 2006. At that time, when the debate around this Andalusian dish was already on the table, he had his clear position. In the presentation of that first edition, he maintained: “Gazpacho is not yet recognized as Catalan cuisine, but perhaps one day it will be accepted, as the fricandó was incorporated at the time.” And he added: “Presence in time and in the territory, this is the key”, not so much the origins of the preparations or their ingredients.
If it adhered exclusively to these criteria, Catalan gastronomy would be left without its traditional cannelloni, the tortilla or the Russian salad. “The grace of the kitchen is when we incorporate dishes, because that is how we enrich it,” Massanés now declares, 17 years after that speech.
The criteria that have been taken into account to introduce this recipe in the new Corpus of Catalan cuisine and that have served to convince dissonant voices have been the following three. First of all, there are written references to the preparation of this dish that have more than fifty years of history. In addition, the fact that it is prepared in different areas of the territory has been taken into account. And, the third and last condition, different people who claim to prepare the dish and who have no family ties to each other have been surveyed.
The book is a dictionary of Catalan cuisine, in which the definitions are the recipes themselves. The description of the gazpacho is as follows: for six people, you need a kilo of tomatoes, a cucumber, two garlic cloves, a red or green pepper, two kilos of onion, 50 ml of oil, vinegar and salt. After crushing everything and salting it, add slices of bread and enjoy!
