LORENZO DIAZ, SOCIOLOGIST, WRITER AND JOURNALIST, AUTHOR OF BOOKS SUCH AS LA RADIO EN ESPAÑA (1923-1997) OR LA ESPAÑA ALEGRE (OCIO Y DIVERSION EN EL SIGLO XX), HAS ALSO WRITTEN BOOKS ON GASTRONOMY: BODEGONES, MESONES Y RESTAURANTES DE MADRID; LUCIO, HISTORIA DE UN TABERNERO; OR JOCKEY, HISTORIA DE UN RESTAURANTE. HE COLLABORATES REGULARLY ON THE RADIO AND IN THE DAILY PRESS. NATIONAL GASTRONOMY PRIZE.

This luminous spring (2001) I had occasion to return to the region where I spent my childhood ( Carboneras, Pulpi, Vera, Cuevas de Almanzora, Los Gallardos and, above all, the Guardia Civil barracks in Pozo del Esparto). I have once again rediscovered the lost flavours of a gastronomy with a thousand year old pedigree. “ Almerian cuisine is an ancient cuisine”, that is how the lyrical and meticulous Antonio Zapata defined the cuisine of the region...

Pimentón soup, migas ( it is the custom to eat this dish when it rains), gurullos (an autumn and winter dish), trigo, ajo colorao, pelotas, etc. The isolation of this idylic region has favoured the preservation of this flavourful and strongly traditional cuisine.

The flavours of my childhood were provided by the Berber kitchen garden tended by some farmhands who lived in the farmhouse near the barracks. I have never in my life eaten better tasting tomatoes. These days, with the spread of the method for growing vegetables under plastic, Almería has become “the market garden of Europe” and this has encouraged the use of agricultural products in the local cuisine. I have also found the same quality of fish as when I lived there in the nineteen fifties. The most typical fish such as pargo, lecha and brótola are expertly grilled, as are the gambas and gambones (the ones from Garrucha are outstanding). And if you want to play the Sherlock Holmes of cuisine you will find some singular eating places such as the Terraza Carmona in Vera, where every February a series of gastronomic days are organized under the suggestive title of “The fighting bull in the kitchen”, creating such innovative dishes as “ tender sirloin steak in flakey pastry with vegetables on a bed of green pimiento sauce”....

When one arrives at the half century of life, one has to go for the sort of cuisine that has stood the test of time, because one never recovers from eating badly. I have always believed that good cuisine, eating well, is the best thing one can do for oneself. And there is nothing better than returning to where one grew up for re-encountering those lost flavours. Things that I have seen during my lifetime have been engraved on my memory and have altered my eating habits.

Lorenzo Díaz