I have been buying meat at José Andreu all my life. We were classmates at La Salle school, since primary school. He is a dear friend. He is going to close the stop, he is retiring early because they have made him a good offer for boxes 89-90-91. In a couple of weeks, what is today a traditional Valencian butcher shop in the Central Market, will be a takeaway food stand. Another one.
Since the announcement, five days ago, I have been thinking about it, because I don’t know what to do. Purchase options are considerably reduced. Palanca, Rosa Lloris and Vicente Bau are still there, symbols of quality and good work, to whom I wish a long and prosperous existence, as Mr. Spock would say. But José Andreu’s departure saddens many families, and he is going to leave a huge void.
His grandfather, Pepico, already had a lamb stall in the plaza before the Market was built; His father, Paco, continued with the trade and left his two sons on track. To the little one, Paco, he offered to continue with his thing, lamb, and to José a traditional butcher shop, so that he could get ahead selling beef, pork and their derivatives. In the workshop on En Bou street he began to make fresh and air-dried sausages, sausages and onion blood sausages, the unique llonganissa de Pasqua, les pilates de putxero, the blanchet… Who is going to do that now? Nobody, there is no relief. Where am I going to order the arrangement of baked rice, fesols i naps, corvet bones, knee bones, sweet beef to stew, hip steaks? We will go to the surviving butcher shops, what a remedy! It will be difficult for me to reach the level of trust I had with him. He left everything to his discretion, listening carefully to his advice. He always rounded the bill down, without cents. A detail.
Few butchers have mastered the trade like him. His secrets were public. Us regular customers knew the origin of the product, the animals, some from as close as a small farm on Vera’s road; the pigs fed on chestnuts… The figatells made to order! Although they were not visible, it was one of the exclusive specialties for hotelier friends. So many delicious things that will be lost like tears in the rain…
In all these years I never saw José upset, always on his way, hard at work, punctual, helpful, endowed with an immense capacity for work. Now it’s your turn to rest, enjoy your grandchildren, Albocàsser, live without getting up early. What will that be like? An unexplored terrain, like the future of the Central Market.
Since Fallas, three butcher shops have fallen, which have become takeaway food stands, “Delivery” of Paellas. The name says it all, and sings like the clams in the fish zone, where a similar phenomenon has occurred. There they now serve oysters with cava, sea urchins and shrimp to taste raw, on the go, giving a profitability never dreamed of by the seller of clóchinas and whitebait. They are within their legitimate rights and I wish them the best, but do not forget, if someone tells you that tourism will win the game, they are lying to you, they won it a long time ago.
José Andreu’s butcher shop is now part of memory. Left behind is a business model that some of us privileged people have enjoyed for a good part of our lives, the sad thing is going to be to continue without it.
If by chance one day you see me in the meat products section of Mercadona, be careful, it could be for two reasons: the first, that I am disoriented due to a mental illness, or that I am going to immolate myself with an explosive belt. Run!
