Sustainable Food

Rice from the Ebro Delta, dry Ganxet beans, hazelnuts from Reus, and more. Many of the products that define Catalan food culture originated a long way away from here. The hazelnuts came from Asia, as did the rice, which was from China, and beans which were from Mexico and Peru. Today, these foods are grown in Catalonia, and are well established – even having achieved protected denomination of origin status – and have a central role in the Catalan diet.

However, just as certain foodstuffs have arrived and taken root here, so have certain cuisines. A Google search for “Japanese restaurants in Barcelona” generates more than one and a half million results. The thing is, ever since it started to gain popularity twenty years ago, Japanese food has become an essential part of the city’s restaurant scene.

Fresh, local shiitake mushrooms

Carles Díaz of the Taller Escola Barcelona cooperative group took advantage of this boom. The project he leads, Bolet Ben Fet, was set up in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor twenty-five years ago, and was the first in Europe to cultivate shiitake mushrooms. In the beginning, most of the production was destined for Japanese restaurants. Today however, they are almost the exception.

A team of thirteen people, six of whom suffer from intellectual disabilities, are the ones responsible for harvesting 200 kg of mushrooms each week, and those who buy them are mainly Mediterranean style slow food restaurants that greatly appreciate fresh, local produce. They are also highly valued by individual customers at shops and farmers’ markets, and by the most discerning of gourmets.

Furthermore, the nature of the project itself throws up barriers that keep competitors at bay, as they are unable to compete with the freshness of the local produce. Their main market is within Catalonia, and they take charge of deliveries in person. In this way, a short-circuit supply network ensures that good care has been taken of the product, and encourages repeat custom.

With proximity as the hallmark of his business, Díaz adapted the Japanese system of cultivation, which requires wood for the mushrooms to grow, to the trees of the Montseny. Avoiding the purchase of parts that might have other uses, he pays above market price for sawdust and chestnut, oak, holm oak and beech wood, in this way supporting native tree species and forestry operations in the area. Once harvested, the substrate is used as compost in a nearby field that is organically farmed, thus avoiding waste. The resulting product is of high quality: mushrooms with fine, aromatic flesh.

Wasabi from Viladrau

Also, to source another of Japanese cuisine’s most iconic products, gastronomic giants in Catalonia like El Celler de Can Roca, Koy Shunka and Dos Palillos have put their faith in a supplier in Viladrau. At Yamaaoi, two Catalans formed a partnership and became pioneers in the local production of wasabi inn southern Europe. Before they started out in 2017, the only plantation on the whole continent was in the UK.

Hardly surprising, as the man with sole responsibility for the entire project, agricultural engineer Pau Gelmàn, explained that wasabi is one of the most difficult crops in the world to grow commercially. Only a very small part of the farm was suitable for growing wasabi, which needs two years before harvesting can begin.

The whole plant is harvested, and all of it used: leaves, flowers, root and the stalk, which is ground to make the well-known wasabi paste.

It’s a world away from what is marketed as such in the majority of Japanese restaurants, which is horseradish paste with mustard and other additives. Royal wasabi is a high-end product comparable to truffles, and once grated, it needs to be consumed within twenty minutes, before it begins to oxidise, losing subtle flavours and aromas.

At its peak, the farm was growing eight thousand plants that flourished thanks to the cool climate of the Montseny, and the purity of the water in Viladrau. Now that only Gelmàn is involved in the project, production has had to be moved, and it will be two years before the crop can go to market, apart from the sale of the leaves and flowers when in season.

Miso and tamari in L’Ampolla

Equally specific is what’s produced at Kenshô, in the Ebro Delta Natural Park. In a farmhouse in L’Ampolla, Humbert Conti and Meritxell Jardí have been making Japanese products derived from rice such as miso and tamari since 2015. Their aim was to extend the rice-growing culture – Jardí is fourth generation – while at the same time respecting the environmental heritage of the Delta as well as Japanese culture and tradition.

Rice cultivation is very much in keeping with tradition, but today a great deal of effort is made to ensure that a local variety is used, and that it’s grown organically. Subsequently it’s naturally fermented with koji mould, one of the mainstays of Japanese gastronomy. Ten days later, the result is Shio miso, a different variety to the better-known Shiro, one that’s milder in colour and flavour, and made with fermented rice and soy.

The liquid left over from fermentation is tamari, a product that’s similar to soy sauce, but thicker and with a more complex flavour. Each variety of miso has a corresponding variety of tamari, which also has different characteristics. Shio tamari is much valued in restaurants, as it has a lighter colour. It doesn’t stain either the ingredients or the plate, but still adds umami, which means ‘savoury in Japanese’, and is one of the five basic tastes.

All the Kenshô products have the CCPAE seal, and are much appreciated both by locals and Japanese people living in Catalonia who value the similarity in taste.

The efforts made by these three projects to shorten the supply chain and offer a local product pay off when it comes to the final result: “When the product arrives at the restaurant, it’s higher quality than one that’s travelled so many kilometres before reaching its destination. It’s much easier to appreciate the aromas and the characteristics of the food”, says Carles Díaz.