Viaje en autobús

Abstract

electricity services precluded the installation of such technologies in many working-class homes (see Segura Soriano, Cuines de Barcelona. Barcelona: Comanegra, 2017). Today, however, the meanings associated with these spaces have shifted. High-profile renovations attract tourists as sites of foodie culture and emblematic architecture. Despite significant critiques of these dynamics, the authors posit that markets persist as a “full immersion in one of the most important foodways of the city and Catalonia” (126). They are part of neighbourhood socialization also tied to “anecdotes that become part of the social fabric of the city” (130). Chapter five teases readers with the prospect of following the gastronomic experiences and incursions of Manuel V azquez Montalb an’s most renowned protagonist, detective Pepe Carvalho, through 1970s Barcelona and the cases he solves. This offers a way to examine Barcelona during Spain’s transition to democracy and through the lens of a detective who perceived the frenzy of the culinary scene with suspicion, and how the changing city erased decades of repression under Franco (132). The chapter focuses on documenting—or “detecting”—Catalan cuisine via twentieth-century restaurants that manifest the “tension between innovation and tradition” that defines Barcelona’s gastronomy (134). The final chapter, “Traditional Catalan Dishes Today” gives an overview of a cuisine enriched and distinguished by its connections with foodways from the wider Mediterranean and the rest of Spain. Authors delineate the building blocks of a Catalan culinary code via flavours, sauces, and techniques, while also referencing comprehensive recipe collections. Those included in the volume “embody a distinct character that can be linked to a Catalan gastronomic tradition” (154) and feature preparations from historic cookbooks in addition to contributions from chefs Fina Puigdevall and Albert Adri a, among others. This text is ideal for a general public curious about the roots of Barcelona’s food cultures and its ties to Catalan history and also for Food Studies readers who know Barcelona but lack familiarity with Catalonia and its political complexities. It is especially good for undergraduate classes in Food Studies or literature and culture classes; students appreciate its targeted historical context, thematic focus, and readability. For specialists, its celebration of Barcelona food cultures invites future work, showing how food texts elucidate nuanced understandings of political movements and historical periods. One example: its mapping of the trajectories of contemporary chefs, their projects, and alliances will be essential context for critical works on them as creative agents and capital-backed actors. As an urban food biography, A Taste of Barcelona shows how Barcelona has become renowned for its culinary innovations and identifies important topics for further critical studies of the peninsula’s foodscapes.