Farmers, ranchers, artisans, shepherds, small producers, cooks… The list of actors in what is known as “rural” is long, but it is more or less clear. It seems more difficult to define rural cuisine, where territory, tradition and product have to share prominence with social and economic aspects. Almost fifty chefs from all over the country recently spoke in Gran Canaria about all this and the problems they face and the pending challenges gathered at the Terrae congress. And in the absence of a clear definition, “life project” is surely the idea most repeated by the majority.
“More than the emptied Spain, we are the wavered Spain,” jokes David Pérez from the El Ronquillo restaurant, in Ramales de la Victoria, in Cantabria. The laughter and applause that this play on words has sparked among chefs is a good clue to measure the general discontent of the group.
Because, beyond the enormous differences between their cuisines and the realities that surround them, they share problems and a certain feeling of abandonment, as was evident throughout this II International Rural Cuisine Meeting held in the Canary Islands of Gáldar, Arucas, Agaete and Guide.
This is claimed by Luis Alberto Lera, one of the best exponents of rural cuisine and who, in fact, his colleagues have chosen as spokesperson for this movement. Or, rather, as mayor in a nice vote organized during the congress and that aims to symbolize a certain unity in a group in which the usual thing is that, beyond congresses or some other four hands, each one goes independently.
“If you add up all the jobs that we create among those of us who are here and you go to an administration, they will not pay attention to us. But if a company or multinational with those same workers threatens to close or leave, anything would be done to prevent it,” Lera denounces.
The chef, who has put Tierra de Campos on the gastronomic map, does not hesitate to talk about a gap between the rural and urban world. Only this distance and ignorance can explain – he assures – that today it is not possible to do things that 30 years ago were everyday life.
The obstacles to using game in the kitchen, the price of raw materials and what the producers receive, legislation not designed for artisan work or that, for example, a health registry is necessary for a restaurant to use the herbs from their own garden are some of the examples pointed out by the protagonists of this kind of conclave of rural cuisine.
“This goes beyond cooks, it also affects shepherds, bakers…” recalled Edorta Lamo from the Arrea! restaurant. Kanpezu, in Álava, surely has little to do with Castroverde de Campos or with that “full” Mallorca that María Solivellas described in front of the emptied Spain.
Nor will life in Almansa, where Maralba de Fran Martínez is located, be similar to the daily life of Borja Marrero de Muxgo in Gran Canaria, where tourism management has proven to be one of the main problems of the islands. But they are united by rural cuisine and that roots that many talk about.
“In cities the trend is to industrialize cuisine with large investments and businesses, rural areas are increasingly the natural place for real cuisine,” defends Solivellas. However, the always optimistic and pragmatic Nandu Jubany recalled that it is easier for him to fill a restaurant outside the city, because there is much more to tell. And, precisely for this reason, these types of businesses outside of large cities have everything to win right now.
But talking, as the Catalan chef and businessman recalled, is of little use and does not start business. Any firm proposals on the table? Despite the general disenchanted tone, the truth is that yes. Francis Paniego, for example, is clear that producers must be paid more. In Echaurren – he recalled – they wanted goat’s milk butter and paying it at 90 euros per kilo was the best way for a cheese factory to be encouraged to make it and to make ends meet.
“Sustainable is that the restaurant lasts 10 years. “That the farmer can live off of that,” Jubany recalled, insisting on the importance of making numbers. Projects like the one in Lera, which has launched a chick hatchery in his town due to the closure of all those in the area. Not only has he ensured that he has product for his restaurant and to sell to others, but local employment has also been created.
We must hunt and eat more wild boar and include this meat in school menus, proposed Edorta Lamo, amid widespread enthusiasm and, incidentally, putting on the table another of the recurring themes when talking about cuisine and rural surroundings. Lera is clear: “we will be the last generation that will be able to eat wild small game.”
And, in parallel, climate change. An issue that, in the midst of drought and debate on environmental sustainability, seems to be of less concern in the world of rural cuisine than one might imagine. At least until Joan Capilla remembers that it is only a matter of years before he has to leave the Ebro Delta due to rising sea levels and thus become a climate refugee.
The list of issues and problems seems endless, but what does seem to be clear is the person responsible for almost all the evils: administration. Abandonment, inaction or bureaucracy are recurring criticisms of the main actors in rural cuisine.
Hence how interesting it is to give voice to that administration, so often cited as an undefined entity. There are a million farmers and ranchers, but only five companies sell 85% of food,” recalled José Miguel Herrero, who until 2023 held the position of General Director of the Food Industry in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Few people know the Food Chain Law that prohibits selling at a loss, a common practice in large-scale distribution, Herrero lamented, claiming that this reviled administration has actually done and is doing things.
“All this is of no use if we return home and haggle a euro over milk,” concluded Lera who, by the way, already has an appointment at the Ministry to talk about some of the issues addressed these days in Gran Canaria. And, without a doubt, the first challenge for this group is that the complaints and proposals do not stop at just that.
