Just over a week ago, The New York Times published a good article by Lisa Abend dedicated to Barcelona in the series on express tourism in 36 hours. We know that a fleeting visit will always offer a superficial reading of any city in the world, but the experiment of the New York newspaper was interesting to know the musts we offer through the eyes of a cultureta traveler (even more so in the case of a journalist who knows what she's talking about, since she worked as a correspondent for Time in Madrid). Having read the text, it is no coincidence that an expert in the gastronomic scene of Copenhagen like Abend centers her Barcelona journey on the stomach. In short, if Barcelona can boast of any leisure area at a first-world level (and ridiculous prices compared to most capitals on the planet), it is that of restoration. In our city, basically, people come to drink and eat very well.
The chronicler has a good palate and rightly praises the work of our beloved chefs Rafa Peña (Gresca), Albert Adrià (Enigma), Antonio Romero (Suculent) and Rafa Zafra (Estimar), reserving an important space for the smell of traditional cuisine represented in the Pinocho breakfast and the potato omelet from Mantequerías Pirenaicas. The chronicler, by the way, will have found it much easier to dive into the universe of modern cuisine than to eat some decent macaroni, which certifies that we excel in avant-gardism while falling into the misfortune of neglecting the tradition that underpins it. The comment is not idle and we must take seriously the interview that Roger Escapa recently conducted with chef Marc Ribas in which the presenter of Joc de Cartes warned us that in Barcelona four excellent strongholds survive while the culinary subsoil of the city is on the verge of collapse.
But all of this is nonsense if we consider an idea that Ribas brings up in the interview in question; namely, that cuisine can become a high-level craft, but that its essence, as food consumption, will never equal the cultural depth of art. And what does Barcelona offer in this regard? Adler focuses, basically, on two totems of Gaudí's work: Casa Milà and the Sagrada Familia, also recalling the new urban pacification projects in the Sant Antoni Market and its surroundings, finally recommending us to visit the Picasso Museum and the Moco. I insist that all summaries are unfair, and may the journalist forgive my audacity; but if in a 36-hour visit, Barcelona's art and culture are Gaudí postcards, an already antiquated heritage museum, and another without an ounce of interest... I would say we have a pretty serious problem.
I perfectly understand that, thinking of an Anglo-Saxon reader, Adler avoids mentioning some undisputed attractions of the city that she must know well, such as our extraordinary bookstores (let's say it without mincing words; there are few cities on the planet with a similar level of establishments!) or a more than decent theater scene that has the opportune particularity of being performed in Catalan (perhaps one day, by the way, the luminaries who direct our theater will have the kindness to publicize themselves to the world, program thinking also of spectators from London or Paris, and offer subtitled sessions in English). However, the fact that a visitor can spend more than a day in Barcelona without consuming culture beyond dining or the stones of the Eixample, however excellent they may be, is a misfortune that, if it happened in another city, would generate discussion.
If in a 36-hour visit, Barcelona's art and culture are Gaudí postcards, an already antiquated heritage museum, and another without an ounce of interest... I would say we have a pretty serious problem.Unfortunately, Barcelona has been living for quite some time in a siesta of initiatives that go beyond food & drinks and, what's worse, he has come to think that four star names from the culinary world will save the day. The joke, when it is the restaurateurs themselves who warn that many establishments will close their doors in the coming years, can end in tragedy. I do not neglect this industry; in fact, it would be fantastic if some bright spark from the City Council or the Generalitat would ask themselves how they can better support our restaurateurs (and bartenders, I haven't forgotten you!). But also one might think about how we can achieve that our musical, theatrical, literary, and museum scene has a greater footprint in the world. It would be good to give it some thought before, to give just one example, most of the festivals held in the state (many of them directed by Catalans!) go into exile in Madrit.
The question is as burning as it is painful. Does any public official in the city think about all this that I have just written to you?