Future cooks from IES Sa Serra rescue traditional Ibizan cuisine

During the workshop, Josep Lluís Joan, the Consell de Ibiza's agri-food quality technician, stressed the importance of local cuisine and its link to traditions and the festive calendar. He explained that in the past, food was conditioned by the availability of seasonal products and religious restrictions, which led to the creation of dishes like the Carnival omelette. This dish, made with sobrassada and bacon, symbolised a time of celebration before the arrival of Lent, a period of fasting from animal products.

The workshop was led by the chef Catalina Riera, from the restaurant Ca n'Alfredo, who shared her knowledge of traditional Ibizan cuisine with the students. As she herself says, ‘I married a man who owns a restaurant. I started in the restaurant as a joke and ended up for real. That's where we make all the Ibicencan food’. Under her guidance, the students prepared two recipes from the local gastronomy: Ibicencan beans and Carnival omelette. The broad beans, Catalina says, are simmered with a sauce of bacon, onion and tomato, and sautéed with sausage and mint.

The Carnival omelette, meanwhile, is made with fried sobrassada, bacon, bacon and potato. Riera emphasised the importance of training new generations in local cuisine and of giving continuity to these dishes in the island's homes and restaurants. ‘I learnt it from my mother and my mother-in-law, and now I pass it on to the cooks,’ he said.

The students were very participative during the day. For many of them, it was their first opportunity to learn about and prepare dishes that are part of the island's culture.