Publishing novelties in gastronomy are multiplying. But you always have to leave a gap for reading, or rereading, the great classics. It is a delight to reread ‘The book of Spanish cuisine’, a journey through our gastronomic geography by two great writers who enjoyed good food: Néstor Luján and Juan Perucho.
Of the former, its ‘History of Gastronomy’ is also essential. We must reopen the pages of ‘What we have eaten’, the book in which Josep Pla collected, ahead of his time, his passion for raw materials as a fundamental element of cooking.
Or delight in the prose of Álvaro Cunqueiro and José María Castroviejo in their ‘Teatro venatorio y coquinario galego’
And also reread ‘The taste of diversity’ by the late Santi Santamaría, one of the most cultured chefs of recent times.
Or go back to the kitchen of the end of the 19th century with ‘El Practicón’, by Ángel Muro, or the 30s of the last century with ‘La cocina de las’, by Teodoro Bardají. And have on hand the always current ‘Manual of the Women’s Section’ or the ‘1080 cooking recipes’ by Simone Ortega. Few current books will remain, like these, in time.
