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Barcelona's cuisine, like its avant garde architecture, modern artwork and chic beach culture, is infused with energy and verve - explosive colours, nouveau styles and eclectic combinations.
The city gyrates whether you're traipsing along the marina of Port Vell, taking in Joan Miro's artwork or enjoying the sands of Barceloneta. Even Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Cathedral and Parc Güell scream modern flair with their organic-looking architecture.
It's no surprise, then, that Catalonian cuisine has been sprinkled with edgy character. In the kitchen, Barcelonians blend simple home-cook techniques with unique flavours, giving the food its own twist.
Take one of the locals' favourite side dishes - pa amb tomaquet (crisp bread smeared with wild tomatoes, raw garlic and olive oil). It's easy to prepare, yet outrageously flavourful. Then, there's the distinctive Catalonian esqueixada de bacalla (cured codfish salad), simply tossed up with traditional greens and the region's representative fish. For dessert, there's the regional speciality crema catalana, reminiscent of French creme brulee and Spanish flan, yet completely unique.
Cooking workshop
For visitors who want to delve into Barcelona's cuisine beyond patronising its restaurants and markets, there is a plethora of cooking schools that take tourists through Catalonia's culinary traditions.
At Cook and Taste, I learnt to pick up a knife like a celebrity chef and stir up paella in a pan the size of a bus tyre. Chef Teresa Rios, a veteran of 13 years, showed us what it takes to prepare a complete Catalonian meal.
Food shopping
Before whipping up a storm in the kitchen, Teresa took us on a tour through Barcelona's major food market, La Boqueria. The market, famous for its organic food and fresh produce, is an explosion of colours and sounds, with smells of just-caught seafood.
Passing rows of rainbow-coloured fruit and heaps of exotic herbs, we plunged into the market to find a display of wriggling codfish, giant calamari and scotching red lobster.
Barcelona, being a port city, raves about its daily catch. And seafood is often used in Catalonian dishes, such as mar i muntanya — a heavy stew of fresh king prawns and meat — and the iconic paella (yellow rice punctuated with condiments and seafood).
From the butchers' ceilings hang the country's iconic jamon: Quality cured ham so smooth and perfect some would pay thousands for. As we sampled the different types of jamon, Teresa explained the making of the savoury meat. "The process is long and tedious. The quality of the ham depends on the type of pig, what part is used and what the pig was fed. A leg of ham can cost between 10 euros (S$19.50) to 500 euros."
The creme de la creme is the jamon iberico de bellota, produced from freerange,
acorn-fed Iberian pigs.
Getting hands-on practice
Back in the stylish, modern cooking school, I fumbled in the kitchen along with other students. In a four-hour lesson, Teresa guided us through various stages of cooking, from selecting our ingredients to chopping them up and toying with the heat.
The school organises classes for individuals and groups, as well as company teambuilding events and seminars. Most students are tourists or foreigners living in Spain. Classes are in English, French and Spanish.
After the session of tossing and greasy mingling, we tucked into our creation. Flavourful pumpkin cream and sweet-as-gold crema catalana were no longer dishes on a restaurant table — they were the fruit of my own labour, which made their taste and the experience of transforming raw ingredients into tasty treats rather special.
- TODAY/ra
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