The chef Jordi Vilà, awarded the Premi Nacional de Gastronomia 2021

The Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition (ACGN) has awarded chef Jordi Vilà, from Barcelona's Alkimia restaurant, the National Gastronomy Award, in a ceremony held this Tuesday afternoon at the Palau de Pedralbes, with the presence of the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the Minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Teresa Jordà.

Also awarded have been Rafel Muria, chef of the restaurantQuatre Molinsfrom Cornudella to Priorat, with theRevelation Award;Javier Oliveiraof the restaurantVia Veneto, with theHead Waiter Award; andAssocome, the association of wholesale companies of Mercabarna with theSpecial Academy Award. The awards were presented by academics Ramon Agenjo, Valentí Roqueta, Carme Ruscalleda ---vice-president of the ACGN--- and by Carles Vilarrubí, president of the academy. The National Awards aim to recognize the different actors who make gastronomy one of Catalonia's economic engines. According to Vilarrubí, "these awards were born as recognition of a profession as noble and ancient as cooking, producing, supplying or achieving harmony between the dish, the diner and the place. These are awards that undoubtedly help preserve the identity of our gastronomic culture." The new National Gastronomy Award winner, Jordi Vilà, born in 1973, began working at the age of fifteen in the Baixas pastry shop after telling his parents of his interest in the world of cooking. His father found him this summer job hoping that he would abandon the idea of being a chef once he realized the harshness of the profession, but it was not so, quite the opposite. Vilà trained at the Joviat Hospitality School in Manresa, and worked in many kitchens, including those of Casa Irene, Neichel, Joan Piqué and Jean Luc Figueras. In 1998 he opened theWatering holeon Barcelona's Paralelo Avenue with Sonia Profitós, who takes charge of the venue. In 2002, the Vilà-Profitós tandem inauguratesAlkimia, a restaurant that quickly succeeds in winning aMichelin star in 2004. After thirteen years of continuous activity on Industria Street in Barcelona, Alkimia closed its doors and reopened in June 2016 on the main floor of the building of theMoritz Factory, brewery with which Vilà has collaborated since 2011 as gastronomic director of the group. The Special Award to Assocome, according to the ACGN, "aims to be a recognition of the extreme solidarity and willingness of the wholesalers and employees of Mercabarna companies. They amply demonstrated this during the first months of the state of alarm and continue to do so throughout the pandemic, never ceasing to supply shops, markets or supermarkets with fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, and meat and poultry to ensure that everyone could feed themselves." To reinforce the recognition of the gastronomy sector, the ACGN has produced the documentaryGarlic Soup, and the world to come, which will premiere next Wednesday, July 28, inTV3. This documentary, according to the academy, invites one to make areflection on the critical moment and the turning point that the gastronomy sector and the agri-food industry of the country are experiencing.