Catalan Cuisine: Why Barcelona Has the Best Dishes

It’s no doubt that Spain offers the best mouth-watering cuisine out of all the Spanish-speaking countries. In fact, you don’t even have to be Spanish to find something that’s close to home for you. Barcelona is a melting pot of people and that means dishes spread wide and far across many cultures. For all those culture-junkies, one of Spain’s largest cities offers a variety of unique cuisines from Catalan to Italian to French and Asian dishes.

Gastronomy (the art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food) dates back 600 years in Barcelona. That means the people of Barcelona really know how to cook. Catalan people cook with essential and natural ingredients, fusing their dishes with other cultures, as well. So what sets Barcelona a part from other Spanish regions when it comes to cooking?

The answer is within the ingredients. They incorporate olive oil, garlic, and tomato in almost all of their dishes, and, unlike many other Spanish regions, Barcelona experiments with the science of cooking. For example, you may sometimes see dishes with crisp chicken or other meats combined with the sweet tastes of fruit, according to What Barcelona Online Travel Guide. Because Barcelona sits on the coast of the Balearic Sea, there’s no doubt Mediterranean dishes are a highlight on the Catalan menu.

Barcelona’s Main Dishes You Have to Try

Pa amb tomàquet (English: “Bread with tomato”)

This is a simple recipe often seen through the Catalonia regions, in particular Barcelona, and of course, there’s tomato and olive oil involved. This quick meal consists of peasant bread, sometimes toasted, with garlic and tomato spread seasoned with olive oil and salt. While this may seem like a plain dish, it’s often times paired with a type of sausage, ham, cheese, veggies, anchovies, or other types of fish. 

Escalivada

This is a traditional tapas dish with smoky grilled eggplant, bell peppers, onion, tomato, and minced garlic topped with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. This dish is perfect either for outdoors or indoors. It can be cooked over coals or directly on top of hot coals, then peeled, or cooked indoors with the eggplant over a gas burner and the remaining vegetables broiled.

Fideuà (English: “Noodles”)

This classic Catalonia seafood pasta dish is served with a variety of ingredients, introducing your taste buds to the Mediterranean culture of the Barcelona coast. The dish, a cross between risotto and paella, consists of browning the noodles in olive oil and then simmered in a fish and shellfish broth. The ingredients can be a variation, usually comprised of white-fleshed fish and crustaceans, sometimes served with a garlic aioli sauce.

About the Author: Josie is a guest contributor from bizFlats, offering quality short-term rentals for business travel.