Slowly, an act of homage to Santi Santamaria, the first Catalan to achieve three Michelin stars for his restaurant Can Fabes, located in Sant Celoni (Vallès Oriental), who died suddenly in February 2011, had been brewing for weeks. His death did not dissipate the great controversy he had with Ferran Adrià, but the elBulli chef attended the tribute this Monday to close that chapter, which he considered unfounded. “May nothing and no one reopen a wound that does not exist,” he intoned before almost 500 guests at the event, which also served to inaugurate Sala Santamaria, in Tona (Osona), a space dedicated to the chef’s legacy, who always defended a high cuisine rooted in his territory and committed to the season.
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“What is important is today, and the most important thing about today is that we are a family again,” said Ferran Adrià in relation to this tribute that brought together the most representative chefs of Catalan haute cuisine, such as Joan Roca, Carme Ruscalleda, Oriol Castro, the Torres brothers, Carles Gaig, Paolo Casagrande, Xavier Pellicer, Nandu Jubany, Paco Pérez or Fina Puigdevall; but also many Spanish professionals such as Elena Arzak, Paco Morales, Eneko Atxa, Nacho Manzano or Francis Paniego.
In an event presented by La Vanguardia journalist Cristina Jolonch, the famous chef assured that he has had “the luck to experience the most incredible things in this profession” and recalled that he met Santamaria in 1984. “We did many things together for so many years, although most people didn’t see it,” he said, recalling their relationship, which was clouded at the end of his life by statements about their very different ways of understanding cuisine at that time.
In an anticipated speech, as it was the first time Adrià had spoken publicly about the matter, the chef who led the culinary revolution from elBulli admitted it was painful. “I’m not going to be a hypocrite, it was very hard for everyone,” he admitted. But then, he stated that all of it was “a non-existent shit” and that “others put it there.” “Whoever wants it can eat it themselves,” he concluded, intending to close this chapter.
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At this point, Adrià referred to the elBulli Foundation’s Instagram so that people could see old images of the two together, which they posted today in memory of the chef. There, snapshots of Santamaria and Adrià together are seen, also with the late Juli Soler, and with young Pau Santamaria, the son who organized this tribute and who currently looks exactly like his father, as Adrià wanted to emphasize. To dispel any doubt about Adrià’s support, he will also be in charge of writing the prologue for a book that Jon Sarabia is preparing.
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The event served to inaugurate the Sala Santamaria, which is born with the aim of preserving and projecting the chef’s legacy and keeping alive his way of understanding gastronomy, based on respect for the product, the producer, and the land. This space, which features the original kitchen and the piano from Can Fabes, is located in the new facilities of the Font Gastronòmic company, an indispensable partner in carrying all this out together with Pau Santamaria, who, for his part, owns the product distribution company Santamaria Gastronòmic.
In the morning, a group of chefs prepared a menu for an exclusive lunch for family and close friends at Can Jubany, reinterpreting emblematic Santamaria dishes, such as prawn ravioli with porcini oil, turnips and bone marrow with lentils and caviar, cod tripe with black sausage and sausages, pork jowl and truffle mille-feuille, or veal shank.
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