We already know what was ate in the restaurants of Catalonia in 1625. And we have very little to envy

If today you turn around the center of Barcelona you will surely find pizzerías, hamburger, Asian restaurants, springs, grills, premises specialized in Vegetarian food or vegan and a long (very long) and so on business willing to fill your palate with flavors. Some even with Regional dishes. But … what if instead of being in Barcelona of 2025 you were in the 1625? What would you find in the Catalan fondas in the early seventeenth century, when Cocoa either The potato were almost newly arrived foods from America?

Those old “menus” are already far behind, but despite the passage of the centuries we can get an idea of ​​how they were thanks to the historical archives.

“What is in the menu?” The 2025 Catalonia resembles that of the early seventeenth. Your menus too. We know it thanks to the information preserved in dietary and goats, documents on the payment of taxes.

Recently the historiographic and articulist researcher Marc Pons published in The National A brief essay In which he explains precisely what the goats of 1625 show, the annual liquidation in species that the free peasantry paid to the order of Sant Joan del Hospital. The document is interesting because it reveals to us what reached the markets and what ingredients ended in the stoves of the hostels.

Speciler: neither rich nor varied. Despite the image of big and opiparos banquets that Hollywood sometimes shows, the reality is that food in the fondas of That Bandoleros Catalonia It was not especially rich or varied.

The menus were rather sparse, there was not too much diversity and many of the dishes that seem to us today were a luxury reserved for the best pockets or certain times of the year. The desserts were not available to all the diners and not even the wine served to relieve penalties: in the fondas they did not worry about how it was preserved, so it was common for it to be chopped.

The star dish: the Catalan pot. As Pons explainsthe goats of 1625 show us that in the markets the cooks of the fondas could basically be found with legumes, tubers and fruits of the forest, that is, foods that could be easily kept in pantries.

That includes from beans, chickpeas and pea, nabos or chestnuts. Also vegetables taken from the garden, such as onions, garlic, chard or pumpkins. With those ingredients one of the dishes they used to prepare was the Catalan pot, a broth that thickened with wheat and millet.

Nothing else? To complete the broth to the diners, a bacon slice, a sardine, a boquerrón or a herring was also served, depending on the type of fonda and how much the client was willing to pay. The menus did not stand out for their diversity, but in the establishments of the region it was also not strange to find dishes made from turnip and boiled col, a popular option despite their reputation. Other option was boiled rice with thyme.

And for dessert? If you are a friend of sweets, in the Catalan fondas of the early seventeenth century you would not have a great time. Not at least they had a few coins in your bag. The desserts used to enjoy them the wealthiest customers, although in some hostels they could find biscuits with fruits of the forest or fruits taken from the private garden, such as apples, pears or peaches.

Nor were they places for sommeliers. The single dish used to be accompanied by a jug of wine (safer than water, which could be contaminated); But in the wineries they did not care too much about how the mouths were preserved, so it was not strange that the drink reached the client in more than questionable, hot and chopped conditions. If I didn’t have convincing you, you could always opt for something a little stronger and go to fondas with brandy.

Looking beyond 1625. It is not the first time that the dietary, old tax records or even kitchen books allow us to get an idea of ​​what our ancestors ate. ‘The Free of Soví’for example, the oldest recipe. What was served during the great banquets of the low Middle Ages.

Goats have also allowed us take an eye on to the menus of the early 18th and years ago, thanks to the collaboration of chefs, anthropologists and historians, even We could reproduce some dishes of the Catalan cuisine of 1714, “a survival kitchen” in which “what could be”, ” remember The Catalan cook Sergi de Meiá.

Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2

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