Catalan Cuisine

Catalonia’s culinary heritage is rooted in Greek and Roman traditions. These two cultures are at the origin of the three key ingredients in the Mediterranean diet: olive oil, wheat and wine. This triumvirate formed the basis for the refined cuisine in which the affluent classes began to lay the foundations for structured meals. 

But Catalan cuisine also owes a debt to the Moors, who introduced new farming methods, as well as new products, such as rice, sugar and aubergines. The medieval period saw the appearance of cookery books and culinary treatises, such as the Book of Sent Soví, one of the oldest surviving texts published in Catalonia and in a Romance language. 

The evolution of Catalan cuisine over the centuries was also marked by the discovery of America and the introduction of such products as the tomato, which has been used in almost every dish ever since. Above all, tomatoes are the key ingredient in sofregit, a sauce containing a mixture of peppers, garlic, onions and tomatoes slowly simmered over a low flame, and which forms the basis of countless Catalan dishes. 

All these historic influences have given our cuisine a distinctive Mediterranean character, whilst also providing us with new ingredients which we have included in our blends and mixtures: meat with fish, poultry with fruit, chocolate with picada (a garnish made by crushing garlic, parsley, toasted bread and toasted hazelnuts and almonds together with pestle and mortar), garlic mayonnaise with fruit, and so on. 

All this, not forgetting the influences left by the migratory flows of other Iberian peoples on the Peninsula, nor the contribution made by Italian cuisine and French haute cuisine. Many French and Italian products and dishes have taken root in our country, including, particularly, cannelloni, now frequently found on Christmas menus throughout Catalonia.