Showcasing the endangered places of my city

Showcasing the endangered places of my city

I know this title might be a little alarming and frightening. But it’s something that I take seriously and that I take into account when I have to tell somebody why I’m a Google Local Guide. I’ve been and LG from Barcelona since 2016 and I’ve joined the program because I always loved to recommend places to my friends, colleagues and people in general. I’m a foodie and I have a great time tasting new food, discovering new restaurants and, most important, I like to share what I love and enjoy, with others.

Authentic Catalan and Spanish food

When I recommend a place to someone I try to think about a place that not only offers nice food and good service but also an experience that tells something about the city, its history, its gastronomy, therefore about its identity. Barcelona is a well-known city nowadays, with millions of tourist visiting it everyday not only because of the weather and its museums, but also because of its food. That has its pros and cons, as always. The good part is that restaurants try to do their best in order to have clients because the competition is fierce. The bad part is that a lot of the new restaurants try only to satisfy these clients that are only staying for a few days in the city. And that has its consequences in the gastronomic offer, not only quality wise but in the variety and authenticity of this offer.

Vermouth at the ‘bodega’

And that’s why I try to showcase and give a thumbs up to places that keep on doing what they do best, trying to give anyone who goes there the most authentic experience on Spanish and Catalan food. Some of those places might not be trendy, some of them even not fancy, but they have a story to tell and, what is more, they tell it through their dishes. Take the list that I created for this Connect Live application, which is dedicated to vermouth, a drink also famous in Italy and France, but that in Barcelona means something more. It takes place before lunch and it consist on drinking this sweet wine mixed with spices and and having some snacks, normally little dishes (tapas) but not too much, because you are going to have lunch afterwards. Traditionally this vermut is better to enjoy it in bodegas, bulk-wine shops. The ones that I love the most or that I went to several times are the ones that are on my list. And some of them might be in danger if we don’t highlight them. Some of them might be just a memory in a year if we don’t cherish them.

Recently I organized a vermouth walk meet-up around my neighbourhood. The idea was to put in value other bodegas that are not that famous but that they have nice vermouth and delicious food. It was not my first experience hosting a meet-up, actually it was the fourth I organized (cafe walk, ice cream walk, and also Paramount Oakland Theatre). As you can see, food is my thing! I also participated in other Barcelona meet-ups hosted by other Local Guides. We are a little but strong community of Local Guides here, and we take turns to organize the next meet-up in our city.

Where the locals eat

It’s not that I don’t love eating other countries’ food. It’s the opposite! I really love tasting new flavours and trying to learn new dishes as well (I’m a foodie and I also love cooking). But when I go abroad on a trip I appreciate knowing what and where the locals eat. So, that’s what I do in my city! Do not hesitate to ask for advice if you come to Barcelona :slight_smile:

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Hi @AnnaBcn , Nice and interesting post. Informative too, hope to meet you and definitely when ever I go to Barcelona , I know whom to meet for any help. Good to get in connect .

rgds

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@AnnaBcn I can’t agree with you more. Progress needs to happen but we also need to preserve what makes our city wonderful.

Our San Francisco meet up with start at a family own focaccia bakery. 4 generation strong but cheaper and faster mass produce focaccia had taken over a larger part of their business over the years but nothing even compares to theirs.

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@AnnaBcn Great post Anna. You raise some serious points about a city’s authentic cuisine and globalisation. Finding an authentic bodega is getting a lot harder in Barcelona. Your choice of vermut locations was outstanding. I really enjoyed eating the extraordinary fried artichoke and mushroom croquette tapas plus trying different vermut preparations that I didn’t know existed.

Living in Barcelona for over 12 years as a foreigner, I know even from the locals that finding authentic places are hard. As a Brit, we love spicy bravas. Nowadays most places have a slightly spicy ketchup offering. My local friends told me it used to be spicier, but it’s been tamed down.

Given encouragement to be authentic for business owners should bring back a standard of high quality cuisine that everyone’s grandparents would love to visit. It’d bring a tear to my eye if they said, ‘that tastes how I remember it did … back in the day’.

Let’s bring back the magic to great authentic cuisine in Barcelona. Let’s start supporting this with more local meet ups in Barcelona

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That’s a pitty @Twister411 You sumed I up perfectly: let’s preserve what makes our city wonderful. If we lose everything that makes it special it won’t be our city anymore.

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@AnnaBcn and @Phunky quick question. My friends are visiting Barcelona and a few near by cities. They’re trying to visit some Jazz clubs (I can’t remember what they called them). Any reasonable priced recommendation? I can’t read they because they’re not LG’s.

Oh yeah @Phunky I remember that bravas sauce that you are talking about. Fortunately there are still some places where they make it spicy. Next meetup we should go to Sr. Vermut. They claim that it’s one of the spiciest in the city.

@Twister411 One of my favorites is Jamboree and it’s also very afordable. We also have Barcelona Pipa Club, JazzSi and Jazzpetit. And if they want something fancier I love Campari Milano, that has concerts every night (they do dinners but I always went there for cocktails).

@AnnaBcn What an interesting topic you’ve picked. Vermouth. Ahh when I go to Spain one day I’ll have to check out some of these food places you’ve highlighted in your list.

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A good post. I appreciate your effort in protecting local food culture. Barcelona I agreed is a beautiful city that need to be preserved.

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Thank you @Dinakar1 I hope to meet you too! :slight_smile:

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Thank you @MariaNgo If you ever come to Barcelona I will take you to those places my self :wink:

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Thank you @Emmik20 :smiley:

@AnnaBcn that would be awesome!

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Great post @AnnaBcn and certainly I always like to pick places that are authentic. In Malaysia, and perhaps in most of Asia, fancy restaurants are okay… but locals are perfectly fine to eat in places that look really shabby because they usually prioritise the food quality (taste) over the state of the venue. As long as hygiene is maintained, I’m all game to eat good food!

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Totally agree! I love fancy places as well, but sometimes one needs to go to the essence.

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Hola @AnnaBcn great post.

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Thank you, @Natalia_20-12 !!