1. JOSEP PLA’S VIEW OF GASTRONOMY

2. JOSEP PLA (1897-1981) He came from a family of small, rural landowners in l’Empordà As a journalist he travelled all over Europe At the end of the Civil War (1939), he retired to the family house in Llofriu

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS WORK He identifies with no specific literary current Complete works: 44 volumes He wanted to reflect his times He used various narrative styles: essays, political reports, biographies, literary portraits, diaries, travelogues, short stories…

4. CULINARY INTEREST OF THE AUTHOR He’s no cook, nor critic nor gourmet; just a lover of good food. “What we have eaten” (1971) is a compilation of his culinary reflections. He backs traditional homemade food. He defines Catalan cooking as strong, rough and repetitive.

5. HIS CULINARY IDEAL Simplicity Lightness Lack of additives Peculiar to the region

6. COMPARATIVE EVALUATION Modern cooking Fast Urban, industrialisation Low quality Diversity, exoticism Available all year round Traditional cooking Slowly cooked and slowly eaten Social pleasures of conversation Rural Natural, fresh products Strong flavour

7. THE CHRISTMAS TRADITION escudella i carn d’olla (meat stew) roast chicken torrons (almond candy)

8. ESCUDELLA I CARN D’OLLA (MEAT STEW) One of the author’s favourite dishes. Before the Civil War, it was the normal social meal from Monday to Saturday. Since the Civil War it has been simplified or abandoned due to its rising costs.

9. CHRISTMAS ESCUDELLA I CARN D’OLLA A special stew for Christmas Day called “four meat stew” or “four Mendicant Order stew” ( pork, beef, chicken and lamb) Originality: long, tubular meat ball

10. INGREDIENTS MEAT Chicken, chicken offal (liver and gizzard) Veal Lamb Bacon, sausage, pig’s ear, tail, cheek, trotters and lean meat VEGETABLES Potatoes Cabbage Carrots Chick peas Haricot beans

11. JOSEP PLA and “WE ARE WHAT WE EAT” Links: climate gastronomy human character

12. CATALAN CHARACTER cheerful rather than reflexive lacking calm, understanding and tolerance extremist: from indifference to rage, either too fat or too thin nervous, impressionable

13. PLA’S INFLUENCE ON MODERN CATALAN CUISINE Moving towards a combination of tradition, calm and pleasure eg.: Santi Santamaria Moving away from experimental cookery (chemical resources) eg.: Ferran Adrià

14. MAINTAINING THE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS (46 pupils 4th. ESO) last Christmasfamily habitsocial habit

15. REFLECTION The Christmas festivals are cyclical rituals which unite: Family atmosphere Religious and Pagan traditions (the Yule Log, the Christmas Verse) Culinary tradition