The lid has evolved until it sneaks into the haute cuisine

He has touched all the sticks in gastronomy, from haute cuisine to food-totation or his mythical gazpacho next to Michelle Obama.But he continues to remember the croquettes that his mother made at the end of the month to take advantage of what was left in the fridge.

How is the lid popularized in a recognized country, gastronomically, for its fondness for ‘King Size’?

Not all dishes are huge.In America there are also places that give you some taquitos that are almost incredible miniatures for 50 cents.There is everything.Staying with the topic that the rations are always huge would be like thinking that in Spain all paellas are bad when you have only seen those that serve in the beach bars for tourists.Spain also scares from the outside.

But the concept of lid, as a small dish to open mouth and share, is not something that was extended in the United States.Was it difficult to seduce Americans?

America has always been a country very open to everything.Few countries have such gastronomic and cultural wealth from all countries in the world.In other parts of the planet it is much more protective with gastronomy, foreign incursions are not allowed.The United States is a country clearly created by immigrants, so there is that opening to influences from other parts of the world, including gastronomics.Even in the same city you can savor dishes from many places in the world.

Do we have to rewrite the simplistic idea we have of the Americans in the face of food?

You have to eliminate topics, yes.I set the example of wine culture.In a country like ours, until not long ago he went beyond distinguishing between white and red.In the United States at any bar you find 20 or 30 wine glasses from different parts of the world.

Now don't tell me that the lid isn't our lid either

You also find small dishes in Chinese cuisine, in Japanese, in Ethiopia, in India...

What then would the definition of lid?

In Spain the lid has evolved in the last thirty years to sneak into the haute cuisine.The Bulli was still the longest tapas menu in history with many small dishes to enjoy multiple flavors in the same meal.

Our generation lived at home the use of use without dramas.We have a lot to thank that knowing how to do great things with little ”

But in a more abstract sense I like to see the lid like that dish designed to share.Like when years ago you went to Pinotxo in the Raval and put a plate of cap i pota and two glasses of cava at eight in the morning and shared it with someone.

In Spain we are convinced that you have arrived in the United States to teach Americans to eat healthy.How much is true?

North America is a very large country.No one has the ability to influence an entire country.Of course I have put my grain of sand to rediscover the possibilities of vegetables.I even have a Beefsteak fast food restaurant, where there are almost only vegetables and fruits in the menu.And in the last 28 years I have lost the account of the times I have prepared Gazpacho in the different American television programs.The last, at Waffles + Mochi, the Netflix gastronomic series promoted by Michelle Obama.My dream is that Gazpacho prepares in all American homes.

When talking about healthy food it is normal to run into resistance reactions.Is there any formula for the citizen to understand that this is also health?

It is a mistake to divide food into healthy and not healthy.In the end everything can be healthy if you eat it in its fair measure and nothing is if you abuse.You have to be pragmatic with speeches.I have applied the story myself and in the pandemia I took more care of my diet and I lost 30 kilos.We have to preach that preaching with the example.

Is it easy to find good raw materials and at a good price?

There are, but faces.It is getting easier, but it is still complicated.I always tell my Spanish friends that in Spain it is easy to be a good cook because you have excellent raw materials without making much effort.Here I have fresh squids, recently fish, but I had to work.You have to guide suppliers about how the product must be treated to get in optimal conditions.In Spain each fishmonger and each fish market treats fish as if it were a jewel.

In my restaurants there is no tablecloth "

Come on, they are not just the problems to introduce Iberian ham

I have had to fight even to import piquillo peppers.

That is, it is true that we have a treasure with our food

Of course!Right now I remember the cherries where I grew up, in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.If in the two weeks before picking them there were not many rains were incredibly sweet.And those peaches, or the melons or the seafood.Or the cheeses.This does not mean that we create better, because then you lag behind.Feel proud of what you have, but do not stay looking at your navel because others are already trying to make their products and gastronomy so good or better than yours.It is a healthy competition that keeps us all always awake.

In the campaign 'Nothing is thrown here', a use kitchen is defended.Is it really possible to manage a kitchen in a restaurant well, without throwing anything and without the offer of quality?

Yes and no.Putting restaurants in the center of the fight against waste is a mistake because the remaining ones are going to earn money and we buy and manage those foods with the idea of not missing.

José Andrés defines himself as a chef with an open vision of gastronomy that proposes a multicultural approach and relaxed to food

Where is the battle then, in the houses?

I always remember that nothing is missing at home.At the end of the month our fridge was empty.If there was a slice of ham my mother made croquetas.And the breadcrumbs prepared it with hard bread.I do not know if it was because there was no more money in the bank or for not throwing food, but I remember those croquettes of the end of the month with an ancient affection.Our generation lived at home the use of use without dramas and in Spain we have much to thank that knowing how to do great things with little.

Are the most Sibaritas young people about giving food a second life?

Clearly, yes.They tend to pull more lightly just because something has their expiration date next.Or do not put the imagination to reuse that they put our mothers and grandmothers.Supermarkets also make it easy to constantly draw easy and new proposals to not waste time in the kitchen.

Where do you have to focus?

The great fight against waste is in the policies of governments and social policies at the highest level.It is not possible, for example, that in the United States large cereal distributors receive subsidies and, at the same time, distribute dividends among investors.I am an entrepreneur and I understand that a company always looks for benefits, but not at the expense of aid when small farmers do not receive them.If you are going to help someone, it helps the little one more, not the big.The food distribution sector must be rationalized.It is not logical that it is wasted in a place or that the harvest is not collected because it costs more labor than its market price.More when there may be people who do not have to take to the table a few kilometers.We have seen it during the pandemic: farmers who did not know where to put their product and families with problems to fill the pantry.Solutions are needed at the level of states and in real time.You can do much more and much better.

Another problem of Western society is the lack of time.Is it possible to make rich, tasty, healthy recipes and without throwing hours cooking?

There is nothing richer than taking a turn and back with olive oil, vinegar and salt.In simplicity there is sometimes complexity.