Interview Joan Roca | Story | FoodXperience.com

Well, I think that the kitchen has to be a language to tell stories. If these stories come from the heart, better, because they have more meaning, they are more authentic. Therefore, it is very important that whoever cooks can build a discourse to be able to tell it through the kitchen. Well, for us it is very important to take into account all the technical advances to be able to have more tools, to be able to tell those things that we want to tell in a much more complete way, with more resources. Science is one more resource that is as important as the product itself or as the story we want to tell. If the kitchen is a language, science would be, in a way, the spelling, a part of that language. For us it is important because it gives us resources, it gives us more tools. When we are in another place, we are in Mexico, in Colombia, in Peru, in Turkey, we cook with the products of the environment, of the place where we are going to cook. We make some previous, prospecting trips, we try to get to know the place, visit markets, products, so that when we arrive with the whole team, we can apply the same philosophy as in the seal. That is, for a week the seal of Can Roca is Colombian, another week it is Peruvian, another week it is Mexican, which is fantastic for us, for the learning of those gastronomic cultures. I have been only twice before in Holland, it is a place that I like to come to, I have friends here, cooks, but I don't know the kitchen well enough. I should spend more time here, but it is also true that it is a nearby territory and there are products that are similar to ours. I think I would feel very comfortable cooking here in Holland for a season. I am very interested in the fusion that exists in Dutch cuisine, because of the relationship with ports around the world, historically, and there is a great tradition of the use of spices here, there is a very rich culture in that sense. It is very interesting. It is difficult to know, but it is very likely that the kitchen will evolve more and more towards an ecological consciousness committed to sustainability and authenticity. There are many young cooks who are building their projects from authentic stories, specializations. The kitchen of the future will be the kitchen made with the heart, a kitchen committed to the small producer and the environment, and also a kitchen socially committed. We are talking about the kitchen of restaurants. Obviously, in parallel to this, there will be an open kitchen to the world and with influences and connections from other cultures. This is also obvious. There is a local kitchen and also a global kitchen, a local kitchen with global inspiration. The business part is probably the most complex part of a restaurant, because the cooks are often idealists or romantic, and sometimes we are not practical. I think the secret is to be practical and to take profitability into account. And that happens by having a clear concept. I think it is very important to conceptualize the business. It will be more and more. You cannot do everything in your restaurant. You cannot have a very large menu. You have to have a smaller menu and do it very well. This allows you to adjust the costs, to be competitive and to be different. It is important for us to have a transversal or multidisciplinary dialogue. The kitchen has evolved, at least in our case, to the extent that we have been able to maintain an open dialogue with people from other disciplines, with artists, musicians, industrial engineers, botanists, with people who allow us to have broader perspectives in order to make the experience in a gastronomic restaurant as full as possible. That is our goal. The objective of El Celler de Can Roca is to make food a gastronomic experience. And that is why if we open the range of dialogues, it is much more interesting, more enriching. We are not only asked to eat well. The client is not only asked to eat well. Of course he will eat well. He wants more things. He wants to experience something. He wants the dishes to tell stories. He wants us to be able to play with the smell, with the taste, of course, but also with the intellect, with the head, with understanding the story, with understanding what we want to tell. And that is why there is a wonderful game in all this. We are lucky because we can do this. We can play at that level. It is not easy, but it is possible. It is necessary that it is fun. It is necessary that there is a sense of humor. We are lucky to have a multidisciplinary team, but the core team, the three of us, the three brothers, Jordi, who takes care of the pastry, Josep, of the living room, and I, of the kitchen, we form a creative team that, above all, we have a good time thinking about things. And we laugh a lot. And it is very important to laugh and take this with a certain humor, because otherwise it is very difficult. If the kitchen is very serious, it is not funny. The atmosphere has to be respectful, it has to be comfortable, it has to be kind. You have to make your customers happy. We are happy making our customers happy. And for them to be happy, there has to be all this, but also a little relaxation, to take away the iron from that composure that is required or that is supposed to be a great restaurant. I believe that the key of restaurants in the future is that they know how to make people have a good time, that they have fun in the restaurant, that they are not only serious. The restaurants have to be fun. And this is achieved with the kitchen, but it is also achieved with the team, with the room team, that is able to maintain that respectful relationship, but at the same time relaxed and fun with the customer. Many people can inspire us. Many things we see and live can inspire us. A movie can inspire us, a book, a landscape, a market in Thailand. We had a dessert inspired by Messi, for example. It can also be an inspiration. There is the sense of humor, looking for that final complicity to make you laugh. It can also be a perfume. A dish can inspire us. A wine can inspire a dish. A memory, an experience can inspire a dish. There are many points of inspiration that allow us to build dishes. The important thing is to have an open mind, to be open and to observe. I think it is important for creativity, to observe. It is true that in our area we are fortunate to have high quality products and still maintain a certain biodiversity, but it is not the norm. The key is that everyone can adapt their kitchen, their offer to their environment and try to find the necessary variety as close as possible to make a comfortable kitchen. We should also say that we are not fundamentalists of proximity. Not everything is from our environment. We have no problem in bringing a product from another place if it is better. We do not want to be radical in this. That is why it is important to have this idea of openness. If you are interested in a product from another place, you can bring it. Why not? I am not in this sense. I do not militate in the radicality of only kilometer zero. We have to be open. Even if we have a very good product, we bring things from other places. Why not? The criterion is quality. If the next product is of good quality, perfect. But if not, I will look for another where it is good. I do not know. Surely there are things to do. I think the important thing is to keep the illusion and keep the energy of your environment, of your team, to be attentive to new projects. Right now we are immersed in these tours. These tours serve us as an incredible source of inspiration. It is something extraordinary. This year we are going to be in Hong Kong, we are going to cook in San Francisco, in Santiago de Chile. It is a new challenge that we are going to have this year. The tours themselves, as a concept, are a good challenge for us. It allows us to open up a lot and find many sources of inspiration.