Taula d’embotits
The custom of pairing tomato bread with “embotits”, and cheeses as a lazy day dinner is very common and popular in Catalonia, sometimes catalans make a truita de patates to go with.
CATALAN CHEESES
Catalonia is one of the most diverse cheese regions in all of Spain. With more than 150 known varieties, every nook and cranny of the mountainous countryside has small producers and dairy cooperatives making unique, delicious cheeses.
While Catalonian cheesemaking pre-dates the Middle Ages, most of the world wasn’t able to enjoy the region’s offerings until the recent past because the remote location and difficult terrain made transporting products difficult. Further compounding the problem, the chain supermarkets of the 1970s and 1980s that dominated Catalonia’s biggest city and capital, Barcelona, sold only commercially-produced cheeses.
The 21st century has seen a robust focus on small dairy farmers and authentic cheese production. The new generation of cheesemakers boasts a diverse professional and educational background full of travel experience and creative ideas, infusing modern Catalonian cheese culture with new energy and cultural perspective as they bring the mountains to the big cities and beyond.
