Ada Parellada: "Let's bring the brooms back out into the street"

Ada Parellada is a chef and owner of the Semproniana restaurant. She was born into a family of restaurateurs in Granollers. Her father always said that education was a three-legged stool: studies, a trade, and a hobby. She studied Law and Tourism, she liked to dance and play sports, but the destiny of her trade was in the kitchen of an old publishing house located on the left side of Barcelona's Eixample. The best of her, she admits, comes out in situations of challenge, tension, and lack of comfort. Ada Parellada welcomes us juggling oranges and we sit between two glasses of water in the heart of Semproniana. But before starting, I'll share the last reflection she told me about her dream: "Not being afraid. It annoys me to have lost the most beautiful things of youth: naivety, illusion, unconsciousness... I was all of this and all of this made me fearful." Let's listen to the inn music.

--- She was born in 1967 into a family of restaurateurs in Granollers.

--- Many children don't know what their parents do. I am the youngest of eight siblings and I was born in an Inn. I used to think then what it would be like to live in a normal house...

--- A normal house?

--- Having galets, noodles, or sandwiches for dinner. In my house, we had cap i pota, and a boneless roasted chicken was a miracle. I like the noise of the restaurant. My brother Ramon says that we have inn music and not background music: the cutlery, the glasses, the plates, the people...

--- Childhood memories?

--- Our music. The children of restaurateurs or inns have been born and raised in such an environment. If you have been administered the vaccine, then all that music repels you, but if you have been inoculated with the virus, you are totally hooked on that trade. I wanted to do my parents' job.

-- A trade that comes from the family.

--- Like circus families. Restaurant families go against the grain of the rest and work when everyone else is celebrating. We are the negative of people's photographs: we serve when everyone is celebrating.

"We are the negative of people's photographs: we serve when everyone is celebrating"

--- At home, the figure of the heir has always been respected. I didn't get anything from the Fonda for being a girl and small. My father wanted to give us a good education, which he always said was like a three-legged stool: studies, a trade, and a hobby.

--- Studies, trade, and hobby.

--- That way, you could surely earn a living with one of the three legs. The trade was that of the Fonda, where we served coffees or glasses of anise, peeled peas, carried sandwiches, or made the cash notes.

"My father always said that a good education was like a three-legged stool: studies, a trade, and a hobby"

--- We didn't go into the kitchen, because we were small and we bothered. I remember it with nostalgia, but I was terrified of l'Ascensió day, which is an emblematic fair in Granollers at the end of May that coincides with the season for broad beans and peas. My hobby was dancing and playing sports, but I didn't know what to study and my father solved it quickly.

--- Law and Tourism.

--- He said it would surely be good to have a lawyer in the family. I also studied Tourism. I used to get angry with my father because he didn't give me any leeway, but over the years you realize the wisdom of parents.

--- What was your father like?

--- Fluent and capable. My father had a lot of business vision and always looked a little further. I didn't understand anything about Law, but I was obedient and studied. When I was in fourth year and already saw the writing on the wall, I started to fantasize about the idea of setting up a restaurant.

--- That day will be more than 30 years ago.

--- We opened Semproniana on November 24, 1993, after a couple of months of doing renovations and applying for permits. Before, the premises had been occupied by Editorial Miquel, which had been here for 70 years and we have been here for 30. We still keep their sign because it's beautiful and it helps me in low moments. It's my Come on, let's go!

"My grandfather used to say that we don't know if we're doing well or badly. The key to continuity ---not success--- is to open the blind and integrate it as your way of life"

--- The grandfather, who always made us laugh, always said that innkeepers' families tend to disappear because they close if the business doesn't go well, and if the business goes well, then their children study and don't want to be waiters or cooks. There is no generational replacement.

--- How has Fonda Europa de Granollers survived for more than 250 years?

--- That's exactly what we asked our grandfather, and he would answer: "We don't know if we're doing well or badly." That is, the key to continuity –--not success--– is to open the shutters and integrate it as your way of life. Success would have been having this conversation from home.

--- And failure?

--- We have gone through some very critical moments that jeopardized our continuity. 2013 was a very complicated year because we relaxed, and it was a significant setback. From 1993 to 2009, we had a period of growth, we opened many establishments, and we felt well-positioned.

"2013 was a very critical year because we relaxed, and it was a significant setback. The crisis forced us to roll up our sleeves a lot. It's a business school and a wound that you must try not to let fester again. They will never catch me bourgeois again"

--- We had no money and could not meet our obligations as entrepreneurs. We could not pay staff and suppliers. It was a Scarlett O'Hara moment that changed everything. Now we have painted tables and no tablecloths, we changed the entire menu, we made many offers...

--- Reinvent or close.

--- The crisis forced us to roll up our sleeves a lot. It's a business school. All crises shake you and make you learn. They will never catch me complacent again. I am always very alert and this is what wears me out the most.

--- The pandemic must not have been easy either...

--- They closed us that fateful Friday, March 13, with all the refrigerators full. It was coming, but no one quite believed it. I said I wouldn't close. Scarlett O'Hara came out again with great virulence. The next day I became the cook myself and my son as the delivery person and, after a few weeks, we were one of the few restaurants with the team doing home delivery service.

"We are not sovereign when it comes to choosing how we eat and we believe we do it as we want, but it is not true"

--- Yes, we were traumatized. Crises are not a tattoo, but a wound that you must try to prevent from festering again.

--- Why do we eat the way we eat?

--- It's a mystery because we don't pay attention to what we eat. We often say we like it and it suits us, we're used to it, but we don't think about it. Eating the way we eat has a very distant origin. We are not sovereign when it comes to choosing how we eat and we believe we do it as we want, but it's not true. I really enjoyed doing the exhibition What do we eat today?

--- What do we eat today?

--- We are the consequence of a series of cultural, economic, sociological, or environmental legacies. We are guided.

--- To what extent is healthy eating important?

--- The term healthy raises more and more doubts for me... What is healthy?

--- You tell me.

--- There are very competent nutritionists who study and work on what suits us at all times, but I am very much in favor of valuing culinary heritage and the legacy we have received. That is, what has always been eaten in our environment, which is the most coherent and shows that it hasn't gone so badly for us.

"Every healthy eating revolution generates a lot of suspicion in me. We must value the culinary heritage and the legacy we have received. We are heirs of lard"

--- Today, it's what has worked best for us and we are very well. We cannot throw all of this away. Every healthy eating revolution generates a lot of suspicion in me. When I was little, they said that olive oil, legumes, or oily fish were not good... My hair stands on end with these pronouncements. We are heirs of lard.

--- Heirs of lard.

--- You'll have to forgive me, but a roast without a little lard is not the same... We don't need to be so revolutionary or look at our navels so much, but what we should practice is healthy eating with the planet. There is a climate emergency and the way we eat has a direct impact on the planet.

--- Should we fight more and better against food waste?

--- Yes, the disarray of the food chain is one of the main causes of climate change. Perhaps we should review how we throw away food. Our perspective is changing because the hammering is quite different. It's very surprising how the profession of restaurateurs has changed.

--- What are 21st-century kitchens like?

--- Professional kitchens are about total utilization, but not for reasons of saving, but because we have everything that domestic kitchens don't have: time, machinery, knowledge, and culinary skills. It's our job.

"A cook's secrets are broths and sauces. The most intense flavor of our cuisine comes from what is not eaten"

--- A cook's secrets are broths and sauces. A spoonful of that broth made with bones, fishbones, fat, or the green part of the leek is the base of all sauces. It's what gives flavor and identifies your establishment. The most intense flavor in our cuisine comes from what is not eaten.

--- The most intense flavor is not eaten.

--- Imagine! What happened for the practice of throwing away food to be established in the heart of our kitchens? Let's start with customers' distrust of not eating cannelloni or croquettes in restaurants because they believe they are made from leftovers. They are made with new product and with the same formula, because otherwise we couldn't always guarantee the same taste.

--- It won't be for lack of good croquettes...

--- The cook is the channel of communication between nature and the customer, but the problem is that it went from deteriorating nature as little as possible to subjugating it to our desires, making the dish transmit our hand. The cook is a humble transporter.

"The cook is a humble transporter and the channel of communication between nature and the customer. Let's say enough to aesthetic cuisine, we have to return to ethical cuisine"

--- We cannot make the tree go down on a whim. It is arrogance. One day we must say enough to aesthetic cuisine, we must transform it and give it meaning. We must return to ethical cuisine. Let's look at nature again, making the eggplant have the shape of an eggplant on the plate. And if we can use its skin, let's do it with sense, because not even monkeys eat banana peels. Skins are the natural wrapping of the product.

--- Come on, let's go!

--- Consumers have to know our great power and the only way we have to change the food system is to lead by example. We must make an absolute militancy of our purchase.

--- Purchase militancy.

--- We have to ask where each product comes from, reject superfluous packaging, separate waste at home, minimize waste and love food again. Don't buy two loaves of bread if you're not going to eat them, even if there's a 2 for 1 offer. You have to be exemplary with your purchase.

--- Offers are our daily bread.

--- Let's change our perspective. 5 years ago it was unthinkable for a customer to take their plate in a tupper, but now we use everything. Throwing away is absolute negligence and we are ashamed. We must congratulate and applaud ourselves, because the end of the journey is to value food.

"The only way we have to change the food system is to lead by example. We must make an absolute militancy of our purchase"

--- I am totally suspended in this subject. The staff crisis is real, and I'm not even talking about qualified staff, but people who want to work... What I'm going to say is unpopular.

--- Go ahead.

--- People who end up in this profession don't have too many opportunities when it comes to choosing where they want to work. They have only one job opportunity and, therefore, we are employment insertion companies. That is, we insert people who don't have too many opportunities.

--- Working in restoration, out of necessity rather than willingness?

--- Often they are newcomers, with first jobs or who are in temporary or vacation periods. When you do a job insertion, a way of working and a way of understanding each other is generated. Turnover is high and it is an endemic problem throughout the sector.

--- How do we solve it?

--- I don't have the key to anything. There are real dramas of companies that have not been able to open in high season. We don't know if we are doing well or badly, every day we open the shutters as my grandfather used to say. I often say that this is the most beautiful profession in the world, but it's a very bitchy business. Catalan SMEs have many difficulties getting ahead.

"I have the most beautiful profession in the world, it's a very bitchy business. Commerce in general is experiencing a threat from much larger chains and companies. A restaurant like Semproniana will not exist in 20 years"

--- We are living a moment of commercial transformation. A store and a restaurant are very similar. Commerce in general is experiencing a threat from much larger companies. We work with skill, but large chains are a threat.

--- How do you imagine the future of restoration?

--- Although everyone denies it to me, I am very clear about what the sector will be like in 10 or 20 years. In fact, a popular restaurant like Semproniana will not exist in 20 years because it will be absorbed by chains. This is already happening in England, France, the United States, and the Nordic countries. Everything is chains.

--- Are there independently managed restaurants?

--- Yes, those are restaurants that have a high price, are very personal projects, and attract talent that they compensate with enthusiasm and good working conditions. They open at noon or at night and close on weekends. In such a restaurant, the staff is well cared for, well paid, and you can eat for between 100 and 300 euros.

--- The oligopoly of chains?

--- Chains will absorb the average ticket. They can make large purchases at a good price, have a central kitchen and a team for each shift, send everything semi-finished, make significant money movements, and occupy the best places in the city. They can open many hours, carry out large marketing campaigns, handle a large volume of customers, offer career plans to staff, and much better schedules.

"Chains play with factors that small businesses cannot compete with"

--- Chains play with factors that small business owners cannot compete with. They can negotiate with banks, they have financial and tax engineering, they optimize resources, they have better prices by volume...

--- What big chains are we talking about?

--- I'm not referring to McDonald's, but to groups like Sagardi, Isabella's, or Tragaluz. Each restaurant is treated uniquely, and you don't know if it's a chain or not. A third leg of the sector are the economic bars of newcomers, who are the Galicians or Murcians of yesteryear. That's how my lineage began: out of misery, as always. It's the same itinerary that shops have had.

--- In 2016, you received the Creu de Sant Jordi. What mistakes have allowed you to advance?

--- The trauma of 2013. The other mistakes have made me more ashamed than advanced because I haven't known how to solve them. Many media outlets have helped me break with the everyday, and I've learned a lot. It's impossible for me to master all fish, all meats, or all vegetables. It's impossible to know everything about food. It has bothered me not to do it well and to lose opportunities.

--- The frustration of a lost opportunity.

--- I didn't do it with bad faith, but I simply didn't know more. In 2013, it was for believing I knew, and it was a true lesson in humility.

"Saying your house is a mess is part of moving forward. Let's get the brooms back out on the street!"

--- Great! We have complained all our lives about Barcelona, as happens in all cities. We always criticize our home saying it's a dump until you haven't been there for a long time and then you miss it. Saying your home is a mess is part of moving forward.

--- And the Barcelonans?

--- Barcelonans should be more critical of ourselves. More demanding and more cooperative. Love ourselves a little more. We should go back to sweeping our piece of the street. Love the city.

--- Let the brooms come back!

--- Let's bring the brooms back out into the street! Our plot must be cared for and we must respect the plots of others. This is loving Barcelona. I wouldn't dare throw a paper on the neighbor's floor, but in an anonymous city you think someone else will pick it up.

"Barcelona is great, but Barcelonans should be more critical of ourselves"

--- I have never been much into politics, but that was a moment of blatant injustice and total indecency. It was a maelstrom and I had a very personal relationship with the repressed people who went to jail. My response was one of friendship. We asked them to be strong and stand up. They asked me to be part of a list and I said yes. I made a yellow dinner and oh my god! It still lasts.

The previous interviewee, Silvio Elias, asks you the following questions:

--- What, how, and when does the best version of Ada Parellada emerge?

--- In moments of well-controlled tension. Challenges bring out the best in me. Extreme situations are uncomfortable for me, but when they are not an absolute failure, I have the pleasure of having overcome them with minimal achievements. Over the years, I increasingly take refuge in my little corner.

--- What is your little corner like?

--- I retreat into my shell. I really want to go home because there is a lot of social wear and tear here and I am very exposed. I am always playing a character that I must keep feeding. My husband does it and is happy that way, but I cannot go to a meeting and stay silent. Whenever I can, I escape.

"I am always playing a character that I must keep feeding. As I have gotten to know myself, I have become more insecure"

--- Alcohol helped me always be in a funny moment, but now I don't drink. It feels heavy, I want to go home and shut myself in. My ideal vacation would be in a place where I only see my family with whom I can be myself. The best of myself comes out in the face of challenge, tension, and lack of comfort. I am more creative when I have energy and have truly been able to rest.

--- You get creativity by resting.

--- Yes.

--- Do you have any trick to work on serenity?

--- I have been losing serenity and I am more restless. As I have gotten to know myself, I have become more insecure. What do grandparents say? "Where will we end up and what will become of us? If I were you, I wouldn't do it..." What do children say? "I will be, I want, or I will do." Naivety, ignorance, and lack of experience give them the credulity to make it possible.

SEVEN OF LIFE

1. Referent: My grandmother, my mother, and my brother. The women of the house who have not been the heirs.
2. Book: Cuina o barbarie, by Maria Nicolau; El que hem menjat, by Josep Pla, and Comemos lo que somos by J.M Mulet.
3. Movie: Babette's Feast by Gabriel Axel.
4. Song: Mazoni, No m'estiris del fil by Marc Parrot or I will survive by Gloria Taylor.
5. Favorite spot: Sant Vicenç de Montalt (I will go there to die)
6. Life motto: Good night, sleep fixes everything
7. Dream: To live calmly and in peace. I told Silvia Cóppulo that happiness was having a bowel movement every day. Having the basics covered: pooping, eating, and sleeping. This is happiness. A dream is to value the things I have.