What are the first three foods you want to buy when you go shopping?
Coffee, bread and oil.
Which is that restaurant that you would repeat non-stop?
The menu of the day in my town. Home cooking, quality product, delicious recipes and at a more than affordable price. I will never get bored.
And which one you haven't been to, but you're dying to go?
A lot, actually. You should see my map app full of “I want to go” pins! They are all over the Spanish geography and also distributed throughout Europe. Some further still. I take notes of all the places that friends share with me or that they share when they travel and I say… that's where I want to go! Now that I have just returned to Madrid, I have a city full of dots to discover.
Te chivo tres: haute cuisine, I would love to know the gastronomic offer of the super specialist in grill Bittor Aguinoguiz in Etxebarri (I have studied it a lot on a theoretical level while writing What is cooking); gastronomic without a star, Eter and popular cuisine and for the mushroom season that is already here, the Sprout, both in Madrid.
What guilty pleasure do you like to indulge in (once in a while) at mealtime?
For me the concept of “guilty pleasure” is contradictory. If it's pleasure, it shouldn't be guilty. Pleasure is pleasure, far from making you feel bad or having remorse, it has to be pure dedication to enjoyment. Or so I understand it. On the other hand, the idea of associating food or certain parts of it with guilt seems dangerous to me.
Clarifying this, the pleasure that I cannot give myself whenever I would like and that I have to incur judiciously is… Ice cream. I crave ice cream. I could eat ice cream every day.
Which is the best market for food shopping?
The one closest to you, the one in your neighborhood, the one in your city, the one in your town. To this I would add a good supermarket that had products from other culinary cultures (for example, I am amazed by some Asian ingredients to mix with products from here) to complement and try new things.
What indulgence have you recently indulged in or would you like to indulge in?
I just turned thirty and I'd like to get a bottle of my vintage, which I've been told is great, and try a wine that's the same age as me. I'm on it.
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— ⒼⓃⓊ🐧ⓁⒾⓃⓊⓍ Wed Feb 28 05:20:47 +0000 2018
Do you remember something crazy you did for the love... of cooking?
Doing TheFoodieStudies Master's in Communication and Food Journalism while working at European Affairs in Brussels (it seems so far away now!). It was crazy because few understood that with my academic profile (graduated in International Relations) and working in the dreamed European bubble I added that training. The support of my parents was decisive. I made it compatible with work until I finished my internship in Brussels and then, after a period of uncertainty, everything else happened: working with Ferran at elBullifoundation and writing What is cooking, being a teacher at The Foodie Studies, my first experience on TV , x the visit to Harvard as a visiting professor, collaborating with Mercado Little Spain, the creation of VIVALABOCA as a study and dissemination platform and a few more professional adventures that left me safe. But how glad I am to have taken that road and all the places to which it has led me!
What ingredient or raw material do you consider overvalued?
All those that become important due to the appearance of a trend that is trying to be introduced into the shoehorned food market and suddenly seem to be essential.
And in restaurants, what aspect is overrated?
Well, being a very important aspect in the offer that the restaurant proposes is the design of the space and the atmosphere that is generated in it through lighting, interior design, etc. I think there are times when aesthetics take precedence over the rest of the offer. If the place is beautiful, the atmosphere is good, the crockery, glassware and cutlery are ideal and the decoration is neat, but neither the food that reaches the table nor the service that accompanies it works, as a client it is very likely that you will not repeat .
And which one is undervalued?
The service. Serving a table is much more than bringing and taking dishes to and from the kitchen. As a customer, in the end you don't see the kitchen team, your connection with them is in what you eat and in those who serve it to you. The person or people who accompany you, indicate you, inform you, serve you... can definitely change the course of the experience. They are the connection with the restaurant, the spokespersons for its concept. I'm talking about the entire range of service: from a waiter in a neighborhood restaurant to the highest star.
Your favorite cook?
I am lucky to be surrounded by good cooks at home, within the family and in my circle of friends. My boy is also very good at cooking. Those who cook good food that gives us wonderful after-dinner meals are my favorites. They know who they are so if they read me today, it's coming for you!
What do you think should be trending in the kitchen?
Buy food and cook it. I see a huge disconnect in my generation and subsequent generations with the act of making your own food. We consume more cooking and more gastronomy than ever: in restaurants, with home delivery services, in magazines, in series, in documentaries, on social networks... but I think it's a lot from the outside world. What happens at home? Isn't it relevant that an entire country was surprised by the possibilities of growing that a bread dough has in confinement? I would put a subject of basic culinary knowledge in schools, it seems to me an essential tool for life. I'm not talking about making foams or haute cuisine techniques. I'm talking about knowing how to make legumes, prepare a stew, bring body to a broth or flavor a vegetable. Basics for a good diet that last a lifetime.
If you invite us to your house for dinner, what would you cook for us?
Well, I love cooking and if it were a meal, I would put on my apron and get up early to go shopping and get to it on time. But if it's at night, I usually prefer to assemble than elaborate. I would bet on processed and canned product from my land (Cantabria) and I would make simple preparations to snack on. Cantabrian tuna belly with candied red peppers from Isla, toasted local bread with pasiega butter and Santoña anchovies, a seasonal tomato salad (if it were summer, there would be tomato for sure) with fresh chives, a cheese board with jam of figs to try and mix... I would suggest some craft beer from DouGall's or a white from Casona Micaela and for dessert a craft ice cream!