If you go to Barcelona’s tiny port neighborhood of Barceloneta, you can’t help but find some of the freshest fish anywhere. Bordered by a beach and a marina, this once dingy burg attracts the glamarati as well as sun-soaked local families taking a break. The real reason, we learn is the food.
While there are prefab frozen-seafood paella joins on the waterfront, instead, go to one of the eight restaurants that form the Barceloneta Cuina, an association of restaurateurs and chefs who have vowed to defend fresh cuisine. They only use seafood caught by local fisherman and fresh organic ingredients.
Restaurant Can Sole, is one of the oldest neighborhood establishments, has reintroduced zarzuela, traditionally prepared for bourgeois theatergoers after the opera. Served in a cast-iron skillet, the dish is brimming with fresh gambas (shrimp), mussels, squid and monkfish, bathed in a fragrant, garlicky broth. Bring on the garlic I say.
The movement here has vowed to reinvigorate traditions. At Kaiku, which sits on the tip of the peninsular jutting out to the sea, chef Hug Pla Cortes uses local seafood he personally selects from the commercial fish market across the street to create dishes like zamburina, baby scallops sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with Cortes’ own patent-pending elixir of ginger, lime, olive oil and black pepper.
Repurposed/printed from a Hemispheres article June 2011.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
