Is La Boqueria dead? Not by a long shot. It's more alive than ever. I read with surprise the recent opinion column 'La Boqueria Dead, Let's Save Santa Caterina' published in The New Barcelona Post where it was stated that La Boqueria is dead. And I couldn't help but wonder: have we reached the point of confusing a personal criticism with a definitive judgment? Because La Boqueria is not a metaphor. It is a daily reality that involves more than 1,300 people who work in its stalls, many of them from Barcelona.
A market with more than 175 active stalls, which receives more than 25 million visitors a year and which in 2024 has been recognized as the best market in the world by the Global Tastemakers Awards of Food&Wine magazine. And, above all, it remains the largest fresh produce market in Catalonia. Is that being dead? I understand that some may not like what La Boqueria represents today. It is also legitimate for them to be bothered that it does not fit their ideal of a city. But from there to burying it in a headline... there is an abyss. One can express an opinion without misinforming. One can disagree without disparaging what it represents for thousands of people.
Personally, I am not thrilled to see a Barcelona blocked by eternal construction, which seems to be at war with itself. Nor a city where walking to the center has become an impossible mission. I also don't like to see garbage trucks invading the streets at all hours while we still have a dirty city. And I find it hard to understand that 200 million euros are going to be invested in eliminating two cruise ship docks without opening a serious debate about the economic model. But even so, it would not occur to me to say that Barcelona is dead.
Because Barcelona is more alive than ever. And it is thanks to those of us who continue to believe in it. To those of us who open our shutters every day. To those of us who invest, innovate, and bet on a commerce with soul. In recent years, despite the difficulties, the city has shown clear signs of rebirth: more open businesses, greater security, higher quality gastronomy, a renewed sense of belonging, and a vision for the future that is once again inspiring.
And La Boqueria is no stranger to this impulse. Today, it is home to bars with history that continue to serve spoon lunches, family stalls that have been committed to excellence for more than four generations, and cuina per nens (cooking for children) programs that teach the little ones the value of our gastronomic culture. During the pandemic, when the streets were empty, Vidal Pons (fourth generation of stallholders) continued to set up his stall every day, even though he knew no one would pass by. He did it out of commitment, out of respect for his trade, and out of love for the market. That is the real Boqueria: the one that doesn't make headlines, but continues to beat strongly every morning.
Don't you like La Boqueria? Perfect. But come and get to know it again. Talk to its stallholders. Observe how history and modernity coexist in its aisles. Look beyond the cliché. Because if someone says that La Boqueria is dead, perhaps it's because they haven't set foot in it for a long time. And one more thing: whoever wants to kill La Boqueria, deep down, wants to kill Barcelona. And we cannot allow that. Let's save Barcelona and defend what makes us unique.