Monday, April 23, 2007

If we were independent, we would not starve

Due to my eclectic nature, I read (or browse through) 8 or 10 e-newspapers every day: e-noticies, Vilaweb, Raco Català, La Vanguardia, El Periódico , but also ABC, El Mundo, Las Provincias (Valencia) and a couple of international ones (Reuters, BBC, CNN, Haaretz and Le Monde).

ABC always amazes me. When a Catalan does a something that they judge wrong, he is a Catalan, when a Catalan does something they judge positive, the person becomes a Spaniard.

The latest example of that, is yesterday’s report on the latest list of best restaurants in the world (Restaurant magazine S. Pellegrino’s list). According to ABC’s report, El Bulli, owned by the SPANISH cook Ferrán Adriá or Adrià (apparently, ABC also wants to re-write the Catalan grammar, it should be Ferran Adrià, no matter where it shows up in the article) is for second consecutive year, the best restaurant in the world.
According to the article, 6 SPANISH restaurants make it to the top 50 list. Good job Spain!!
But, let’s analyze the location of those restaurants:


Oh! Surprise, surprise. There’s three Catalan and 3 Basque. However, the article does not mention, not even a single time the words Catalan or Basque. I understand, it is hard to tell, El Bulli, Mugaritz, Ferran, Berasategui, Can Fabes, Celler, Arzak, nothing closer to standard Castilian, at least for ABC.es.

Anyway, Catalans and Basques, let’s not take this very seriously. Let’s not allow the single-sided, “Catalans-you-are Spanish-you-like-it-or-not-and-you-shut-up” approach of the Spanish nationalist media to cause us an indigestion.

The only consequence I can get from the ABC.es article is that when we are independent, we will not starve. Let’s toast with “cava” and “txakoli”.


Form ABC.es
El Bulli de Ferrán Adriá repite como el mejor restaurante del mundo

EFE LONDRES
El Bulli, propiedad del cocinero español Ferrán Adrià y situado cerca de la localidad gerundense de Rosas, sigue siendo por segundo año consecutivo el mejor restaurante del mundo, según la prestigiosa revista gastronómica Restaurant.
Gracias al voto de la mayoría de los 651 jueces participantes, El Bulli consigue mantenerse en la primera posición de la lista San Pellegrino de los cincuenta mejores restaurantes del mundo que elabora esta revista, a la que España contribuye con otros cinco templos gastronómicos, ha informado hoy Restaurant.
El Bulli, que en los últimos seis años no ha bajado del tercer puesto dentro de ese índice, ocupó el primer lugar en las ediciones de 2001 y 2006. Entre los elegidos de este año, y por detrás de El Bulli, los críticos de Restaurant han reconocido la labor gastronómica del restaurante Mugaritz, de Rentería (Guipúzcoa), que alcanza la séptima posición.
De cerca le siguen el donostiarra Arzak y el gerundense El Celler de Can Roca, décimo y undécimo mejores restaurantes del mundo, respectivamente. El restaurante Can Fabes, de Sant Celoni (Barcelona), logra el vigésimo segundo lugar, mientras que el Martin Berasategui, de Lasarte (Guipúzcoa), alcanza el puesto veintisiete.
Gracias a estas seis representaciones, España es el cuarto país, junto a Italia, con mayor número de restaurantes de alta cocina del mundo, superados por Francia, con doce; EEUU, con ocho, y el Reino Unido, con siete.
El brasileño DOM, de São Paulo, en el puesto 38, es el único restaurante latinoamericano que logra hacerse un hueco en esta lista de los cincuenta mejores, en la que el año pasado ocupaba el último lugar.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ian darling, I think you're the first person I've met who takes ABC seriously.

ian llorens said...

Trevor,
I ma glad you think like that, since your opinions about Catalonia are very much aligned with those of ABC.es

Anonymous said...

eres un puto catalanista de mierda. ARRIBA ESPAÑA

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you are fascist scum, is that your contribution to this debate?
Ian's post is flawless, and your reaction is proof of your undemocratic credentials.
Spain is a sorry place, the sooner than Catalans and Basques can get out, the better for everyone.

Garci said...

Unfortunately Robert is right in something: Spain is a sorry place. And it looks it is going worst, with people like this anonymous and others like him. Interestingly I have found many more 'anonymous' of the 'Amunt Catalunya' or 'Visca Paissos Catalans' than guys like this one, whom I find mostly online, almost never in real life.

Miquel Marzabal Galano said...

Dear Ian,
There are many people who seem to prefer to show a Spanish identity rather than the Catalan one. I regret that and envy the pride shown on every Scottish product.
But it is not from non-Catalan-Spaniards that this attitude bothers me the most.

The majority of Catalan entrepreneurs neglect the Catalan origin of their Catalan products, even if they produce products like cava or fuet!
Can you imagine selling Scottish Whiskey saying ‘British Whiskey’? It wouldn’t sell!
These entrepreneurs neglect their Catalan origin, their Catalan language and their Catalan identity. They don’t understand that by saying their products are Catalan they are more genuine, they are more unique, part of a smaller scale, more exquisite. It is not the same to be Italian ham than to be Parma ham. Hjörtronsylt jam has a higher value when it comes from Lapland than when it comes from (any other part of) Sweden. Therefore, if it comes from Lapland it will say!

This is a very sad truth. I hope with the years this will change to better (perhaps we need new generations of entrepreneurs). Catalan identity is as special and worth to mention as the Scottish, Tuscan or any other special identity.

Obviously if Catalonia were an independent country we would not have this kind of identity problems. It would all be much more simple.
This never-ending bullshit is tiring sometimes. Don’t you think?

Anonymous said...

Well, if Spanish newspapers aways write "generalitat" and "Catalunya" in catalan, be generous and allow them to write Adriá with an "á" as well.

Waipu Joan said...

el tema aquest del Bulli és una passada....realment ens col.loca líders en l'ambit de la restauració. Els catalans...
amunt l'autoestima!

Habibi said...

That's why I don't read those NewsPapers.

After a week in the "National Reality" of Andalucía (soon the re-conquired Al-Andalus), I have many thought on how "Spanish" are. Will share.

Garci said...

Habibi:

why do you relate Andalucia to Al-Andalus? I don't get it. Exactly to what year in the Middle Ages do you want to go back? The closer date I guess is mid XIII century, in which case you should include Algarve and parts of Alenteixo, take out the area north of Guadalquivir and east from Cordoba and include Murcia and the kingdom of Valencia. But you may also put your very special Al-Andalus in the lost kingdom of Granada (more or less Almeria, Granada and Malaga).

ian llorens said...

Oks,
I am always generous, but I think that paying so little attention to how names should be written shows lack of respect.
ABC wrote "Ferrán Adriá" first and "Ferrán Adrià" second, instead or the correct version "Ferran Adrià". However the same newspaper wrote beautifully "Ségolène Royal".

In a similar note, it took me two years of letters and complaints to change the way my family name appeared on my Engineering degree, since the Ministery of Education in Madrid insisted that Llorens should be written "Lloréns".


Habibi,
I look forward to your updates. I have not been in Andalusia in 15 years (although I would love to go there for a good vacation with my family).

Tom said...

OX - Catalonia is never referred to as 'Catalunya' in Spanish language newspapers. The Spanish word is 'Cataluña'. As to 'Generalitat', I've seen it referred to as 'Generalidad' plenty of times.

Personally, I find it fairly disgraceful to rename people to fit the language of the reader. I even dislike the name 'La Reina Isabel' for Elizabeth, even if I do support her removal from power.

The worst example I've seen was a right wing blogger referring to Josep Duran i Lleida as 'Jose Duran y Lerida'. WTF!?!

Garci said...

Today: newspaper AVUI: "La sala especial del Tribunal Suprem ha atès gairebé el 100 per cent de les demandes d'il·legalització del govern espanyol.."
If, according to the Catalanist theses, Catalonia is not Spain... If territories are defined by the "proper languages", then, according to Tom's theses, shouldn't AVUI write "espanyol" with an "proper" "enye"? Shouln't they apply the same to "Bunyol"?

Anonymous said...

Right, Garci, and instead of "França" They (avui) should say "France".

Tom, stop saying "Germany" say "Deutschland" from now on, ok?

Anonymous said...

Garci, don't forget to take your medication....what next?!?

Garci said...

Anonymous: Though it might seem surprising, I totally agree with Tom, I was just reminding Tom that it is not only non-Catalan newspapers the ones with that policy... "Aquel inocente que tire la primera piedra.."..so if one complaints about someone saying "San Cucufate" they should look at themselves too.