Arròs de Castelldefels and the Making of a Gastronomy Capital | Cities at the Table

Description

In this episode, we travel to Castelldefels, a coastal city just outside Barcelona that is using gastronomy as a powerful tool for identity, social cohesion, and tourism. We’re joined by Guillermo Massana, Councillor for Tourism and Hospitality, to hear how a city of 70 000 inhabitants and over 500 restaurants has built a shared culinary vision: from its multicultural food scene to a signature rice dish, Arròs de Castelldefels, that brings chefs, local producers, and public institutions together. At the crossroads of sea, mountains, and farmland, Castelldefels shows how food can unite a city around a shared table.

Whether you're a city leader or a food lover, join us at the table🍴

Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform and leave us a review to let us know what you think of Cities at the Table 🎧

About the Food Capitals by Délice Network

The Food Capitals is the international network of cities committed to using food and gastronomy as powerful tools for economic and sustainable urban development, cultural identity, urban well-being, and city attractiveness.

Founded by Lyon in 2007, this non-profit organisation gathers cities, working together on food culture, food sector, food policies, and food scene development. Through annual gatherings, study tours, collaborative projects and year-round dialogue, the network fosters a global community dedicated to learning, sharing, and connecting through food.

www.thefoodcapitals.com

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Buen provecho. Smakli le kit.
Speaker #1
A fieto. Smakli mol fit. Enjoy your meal. Smakli le go.
Speaker #0
Buen apetit.
Speaker #1
Taro a ka halwa. Buen apetit.
Speaker #0
Almox. Almox.
Speaker #1
Hello and welcome to Cities at the Table, the podcast that dives into the heart of urban food systems around the world. I'm Jessica Ferre, Executive Director of the Food Capitals by Dailies Network.
Speaker #0
I am Felipe Garcia. president of the board and CEO of BC Tucson. In each episode, we explore how cities are tackling food challenges and reinventing astronomy.
Speaker #1
From vibrant culinary scenes to cutting-edge food policies, we bring you stories from global food capitals and their inspiring leaders driving change.
Speaker #0
Whether you're a city leader or a food lover, join us at the table.
Speaker #1
Today, we take you on a journey to one of the hidden gems of the Spanish coast, Castelldefels. Just a short train ride from Barcelona, this charming seaside town is known not only for its stunning beaches and rich history, but also for its vibrant food scene. Join us at the table to meet Guillermo Masana, counselor for tourism and hospitality at the city of Castelldefels, and explore with us the stories, flavors, and recipes of this coastal town.
Speaker #2
Hola, my name is Guillermo Massana. I come from Castelldefels. Right now I am part of the city council. We are a city of 70,000 people and we are a touristic city. And the reason of that is because the city has amazing location between nature and seaside. You know, we have five kilometers of beach and also the weather is particularly good. We have like 330 days a year of sun. Also, our city is well known because, you know, Barcelona is quite near from Castelldefels, like 18 kilometers. But Castelldefels is working a bit like Hollywood to Los Angeles, let's say, because many people, like famous people who work in Barcelona, who have developed a huge career, a good career in their own professional field, people as famous as Lionel Messi or Ronaldinho. They decided to move there, and they are our neighbors. They were our neighbors for a long time. And that's why, well, to give them the value that they give us, we created the Walk of Stars of the city in the front line of the seaside, in the walk side of the sea. So we created something similar to Cannes or to Los Angeles that they have in Hollywood, but a bit different. So we are creating these kind of spots. where you can see the stars that they were living there we started with ronaldinho because i think it's not only something in terms of marketing it's also for our citizens to be proud someone who's earning millions and millions of euros every year they have the chance to leave whatever they want but some of them they choose castle defense and that means a lot to us and i think it's beautiful you know it's beautiful because one another things that they think it really represents us as a city is the mixture of social classes. The children grew up together, like they play in the same playgrounds, in the same scores. And myself, I was born in Castelldefels and I was going to a public school, but they have friends from all my life that they went to a very expensive private schools. And we are still being friends from all over life. And we come from different realities in terms of family, but Nobody's asking you where you come from or... What's your father doing in his life? I think we created by itself a city, a place where people, yes, are very welcoming and very easy, you know, in this way.
Speaker #1
Castel de Fels is a true melting pot. Let's hear more about how all of this relates to food and gastronomy.
Speaker #2
We are a city of 70,000 people, as I said before, and we have 500 restaurants. So you can imagine that we have a big proportion of restaurants for each citizen of our city. So the main history, the history of the city is related with gastronomy and tourism. So families and families like from 200 years ago, they are still working in the field of gastronomy and restaurancy. Well, mostly I think because we had the location, you know, that. people from Barcelona when they wanted to go out from Barcelona to eat somewhere else, they were looking for a place, you know, to relax. So they developed a whole system of gastronomy there in terms of restaurants already for 150 years for sure. We have like very, very important restaurants in terms of capacity and quality. So obviously for Castelldefels astronomy is really important. But not only because of the history, but if you attend to the numbers, we attend to the statistics right now, most of the business that they are developing in the city are related to astronomy or tourism industry. At least 90-80% of the economy of the city is related to astronomy. So most of our citizens, they find out in astronomy a career to develop. It's something that really makes a difference in our city. In Castellet Fes we have more than 120 nationalities right now. We have many different cultures and languages going on in the city. This is really influencing in terms of gastronomy because people who are selling, sitting down in the city, some of them, they're starting up businesses of restoration and mixing their culture and their cuisine with the local cuisine by natural way because some of them, for instance, they are married, like the wife, she's from South America, she's local, so they are cooking kind of. mixture of cultures, you know, in terms of gastronomy. But apart of this, we have like really, really good quality restaurant of Japanese or like Thai restaurant or like Georgian restaurant. I don't know, a lot of Argentinian restaurants and Uruguayan because we have a big community of Argentinian people.
Speaker #1
The city of Castelletos has recently launched a really unique project. designing a signature dish inspired by the sea, the mountains, and the vibrant culture of this coastal town. I personally had the chance to taste this dish on a recent visit, and what an experience to really taste the local flavor and history right in your plates.
Speaker #2
In Castelldefels, if you are looking for a product in terms of gastronomy, the most popular one for sure is the rice, like paellas. or different kinds of paellas. So we are a referent on the Catalonian coast. Castelldefels is serving every weekend tons and tons of rice to customers that they come from all over the world. So there are many stories to tell, but right now we have a really beautiful one that we decided to create a new project in terms of gastronomy that unify not only the history, but also the chefs, the most reputed chef in terms of rice. on the city and we decided to create a recipe of rice from our city. So to do it we were using like local products and also it was based on the historical recipes that they were cooking already like centuries ago in the city. So it was a process of development of this recipe that finally gave us this product that now we are offering all over that is called the rice of Casteldefens. I would recommend you to try it. This rice is hard to describe in terms of taste, but to explain you, like we have shrimps that they are catch, like they are fished close to our coast. Also, we are using Calamari, you know, Castellafes, we have the sea. So this shrimp and the Calamari, they represent the seaside. Also, we have the mountains, you know, we have the mountains of the natural park of Garraf. And we represent these mountains by using pork. You know, we're using the ribs of pork to give a stronger taste. And also in terms of vegetables, we're using another reference for us that is like all the vegetables that are grown nearby in the delta of Yobdegat. So I would say it's a mixture of the reality we have around. And it really brings identity of the city, not only because of how we create it, also because the elements we're using for it. And I have to say that. Every time I'm meeting someone in the city, I'm offering them to go to try the rice and sitting together. And this rice is giving us the possibility to share moments, to create new projects and to make people together around a recipe that represents a lot to our city. So I think it's a tool to promote the city, but at the same time, it's a tool to find a way of the collaboration between the public sector and the private sector, because it's a project that was created between the city council and the private sector. We have created a product that makes us work all together. I think it's a beautiful process that we had for one year of developing what is a recipe, but the beautiful thing of creating something between different perceptions, it's when people want to reach something, even people that sometimes they can discuss or fight, or they are competitors, because don't forget it, we are talking about businessmen from the restoration of our city that in fact they are competing every weekend for the client. They understood that they were something bigger than their competition, that it would be like a global interest for the city. So it's like, let's say in terms of football, a national team, something like this. So now they are like wearing the T-shirt of the city, not the T-shirt of their own interest or their own restaurant. So having the opportunity for me as a local politician, as a councilor of having this community. of chefs who are so concerned, so connected, so identified with our city. It gives me a lot of possibilities because in terms of budget, of course, we have a much lower budget than big cities like Lyon or like Busan or like, of course, New York or Barcelona or Madrid. But we have one thing that most of the cities don't have. It's like, as I am part also, I was working in Castelldefens as other members, other chefs. We have a project. We have an identity and we have a goal and we work together and we know where we want to go and we love what we represent. They give us something that you cannot pay with any budget. Every year more and more restaurants want to get into the rice, you know, because it's kind of a club of restaurants who are cooking this rice because you have to pass a test of quality. It's open to everyone, but anyone who wants to join has to prove the quality. needed to give a good result of the recipe. And now we have 15 restaurants that they are serving it at the same price and with the same ingredients, following the same process and recipe and using the same products like local products. So I think we have a good community of chefs, local ones, most of them, people who were born in our city and they developed their own career there and they created their own restaurants and their own businesses. And I think that makes them feel connected with the city and being very responsible of what they do, what product they use. and giving good job opportunities to the local people who are working with them because they have this conscience. I mean, so when you are going to a restaurant that they are offering this officially, you have a hundred percent, you can be a hundred percent sure that the quality of the product is going to be very high. So I think it's part of the magic of the project, you know. The good thing of having a project that makes people together like this one, is that you can go all over the world to represent with these people who are behind this project. We went to Fitur, that is like a show of tourism in Madrid, like the biggest in Spain. And we were cooking there a lot of rices and giving rice to many important people in Spain in terms of tourism and politics. open up a lot of opportunities. So people saw there the energy between our chefs, the quality of our dish, and we realized that we have something to share, very strong, and that people appreciate it. So gastronomy gives you a lot of opportunities.
Speaker #1
Castelli Fels is developing several projects using gastronomy to boost both global and local tourism. This includes very specific ways of connecting cultures and communities.
Speaker #2
We have one, we have a project called Flowers of the World, because in our city there are a lot of consuls, you know, like diplomats who are living in our city. So talking with some of them that we already have a close relationship, we decided to do also using the school of gastronomy that we have, like the school of hostellerie, where we're creating this event that, you know, the consulate. You know, the diplomats are bringing a chef from their nationality to cook with one of our traditional chefs from the rice, or another chef who's cooking traditional food from Catalonia and Castelldefels, and they are going to cook together in an experimental way for one evening. And they are going to create some recipes that will be served by students from the School of Gastronomy of Castelldefels, and we will use the gastronomy. as a way to explain how fusion between cultures and multiculturality is possible in a positive way and look into it as an opportunity. We will have these kind of dinners like every month from different each time with a different country, different nationality. It will end up in a big, pretty big, let's say, event of gastronomy based on having different dishes from different nationalities that they participated. in the main square with music and stuff so people will be able to try different recipes from different nationalities and it will be mixed with cultural events. So we're going to create this. It's going to be like one whole year of elaboration to share it with everyone.
Speaker #1
Castel de Fels recently joined the Food Capitals by Delis Network and is already extremely active as a member. Let's find out more about how the city is engaging in this global network.
Speaker #2
For Castelldefels, the Lease Network is very, very important, you know, because it gives us the opportunity to show not only in a national level, in an international level, what we love to do. And in our city, we really love to give good quality of food. We love to give the best service. We love to explain our story. We love to explain our dishes. And the lease is... something that makes us very proud to be sitting in the same table as many important cities in terms of astronomy that they have this big story that they have such a powerful and influential gastronomy globally speaking so for us it's more than a dream and everybody's very excited in our in our city with this possibility that the lease is giving us to open our arms to everyone who wants to join us, who wants to visit, or who wants to move to our city because everyone is welcome. Food has the superpower to create links between people. You should come to Castellafels. I'm sure we have things to show. We have moments to share. We will be very glad to invite all of you.
Speaker #1
You just listened to Cities at the Table, a collaborative podcast from the Food Capitals, a network connecting cities worldwide that use food and gastronomy to build urban resilience. boost local economies, and enhance city life. Want to hear more about all this from cities around the world? Subscribe and follow along on our website, thefoodcapitals.com. Thanks for joining us at the table. See you next time.