An exemplary path from small family business to multi-Michelin-star empire, but Carme Ruscalleda today continues to give voice to all categories of workers. "I wouldn't want to be in the farmers' shoes, earnings too low," she confesses.
The chef
If we were playing "Guess Who," the questions would be: Is she a woman? Is she Catalan? Is she determined and bold? Is she successful? " and the answer would always, indistinctly, be in the affirmative. The "character" in question, in fact, answers to the name of Carme Ruscalleda, the first Spanish woman to receive three Michelin stars for her restaurant Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar. Chef Carme, as her children also call her - both, after all, involved in the restaurant business - is more than "just" Michelin stars; growing up in a family of farmers and merchants, she has had to earn every bit of notoriety throughout her life.
"Mine was a very strict family in which women were not expected to pursue education. I, on the other hand, was a girl who had other goals than my peers. To convince my father to let me go to school and graduate with an art degree, I asked Toni (now my husband), to whom I was already engaged, to work at my place in the family store for a year. I took my classes, got the highest grade, then forgot about it and gladly went back to work in the family store," she told Corriere della Sera some time ago. Down-to-earth, stern and with her feet always firmly on the ground, but, at the same time, with an ambition that has always gone far beyond the ordinary, after graduating Carme takes her first steps on the long road that has led her to become one of the most recognized and respected women in the world's gastronomic heritage.
It was from that very small store that it all started: Carme was 36 years old and had two children (one of 12 and one of 6), when in 1988, after years spent preparing delicious take-out dishes in the grocery store, she decided together with Toni, her biggest supporter, to take the plunge and open a restaurant that, within a few years, conquered all the world rankings. In 1991, in fact, came the first star; in 1996 the second; and in 2005 the third, for the first time awarded in Spain to a woman. "It takes a lot of determination to do something like this, especially in a small country where you only know your neighbors. You really have to think that in your hands is a gift that is worthwhile. People told us we were crazy, and it was actually very difficult in the beginning: some evenings without customers we felt tired, defeated. Having Toni by my side was crucial: we would cheer each other up, we were always a tandem ... I was elaborating dishes that took inspiration from tradition, but without bringing its constraints, and that follow one rule, to be tasty and healthy."
Over the years thus came the prestigious awards. "Every time we got a star we worked for the next one: out of ambition, but mostly to keep the bar high and because, like all artists, the chef is obsessed with originality. It is a way of life: I could not have behaved differently," she confides. Then in 2014 it was the time of the nomination for World 50 Best Restaurants as best female chef, an award that she politely declines because, Carme recounts, "When they called me I thanked them, but I said no on impulse: it would have been a disrespect to women. We are in the kitchen with the same strength and skill as men, why do they have to carve out a separate recognition for us? It's like celebrating a category for the best black chef - I find it ugly and offensive. Talent has no gender or race," she continued.
In 2018 Carme and Toni chose to end the Sant Pau experience , but certainly not to rest. Today, in fact, in addition to all activities still in place, she carries on, with the determination inherent in her DNA, programs to raise awareness about food and the importance of this element in human life. "If there is one thing that differentiates humans from other living beings, it is cooking: we are the only animals that process what they eat. I hope that a discipline of cooking and eating will soon be promoted. We are already behind schedule and there is no time to waste in spreading gastronomic culture," she said in an interview on Betevé's 'Terra Fértil' program. Similarly, Chef Carme extremely cares about the agriculture sector in the midst of which she grew up, as well as being her great source of inspiration for dishes.
Ruscalleda wanted, not surprisingly, to emphasize her support toward the agricultural sector, a field that everyone should strive to preserve and defend to the bitter end, but which today is often undervalued - even because of totally inadequate wages. "I would never want to be a farmer," she admits, hinting at how the life of those who sow and cultivate is worse than those in the kitchen. "One should be able to live with dignity and in relation to the quality of what one does (but this is not always the case). Agricultural and livestock products come to the market at a price lower than the price of production, so wages remain low," she concluded. Surely, on the strength of her numerous awards, her tenacity, and the honorary degree she received from the University of Barcelona, which has made her in all respects a landmark in Catalan gastronomic culture, Carme will succeed in making her voice heard in this field as well.
