Some years ago, during the eighties and the first half of the nineties, we lived a long period where Catalan habits on cuisine where very influenced by American food and other kinds of fast food cuisine. There were many fast food restaurants openings, including McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts and a long list of names. From time to time, you could see some of these restaurants close its doors, claiming a “American fast food crisis” caused by the success of another kind of fast food restaurants: the typical sandwiches, called “bocatas”, were served on fast food menus, and were tastier, healthier (compared with “artificial” hamburgers), and filled with Mediterranean salads, instead of the crudités salads or oiling French fries. Despite on pizzas, which have a tremendous success thanks to the social event of “watch a movie with pizza” or “order a pizza while watching a football match”
Our culture (the Catalan culture) has been always very careful with food and meals. We use to see American food as rubbish, and we prefer to eat our “real” food. That is why influence of other cultures on food has only arrived to sauces and little things: you may see a ketchup bottle or some ice cream on the fridge, but nothing will replace the traditional salt, oil and vinegar to dress a salad or the healthy and juicy fruit to end a meal.
Sometimes, trends and tendencies make people go to Japanese, Mexican, Indonesian, and other “rare cultures” restaurants, and maybe they will inspire people and make them cook some foreign dishes (which is a very good habit), but we will find it always at special meetings and dinners, and always as a complement of the main dish, which will be a traditional one.
In my opinion, this will change very slowly, and Catalans will be able to fusion other cultures dishes and cooking habits into our ones, like has been happening in France on the last twenty years, were the Arabic and north African cuisine has been gaining ground into the French families kitchens, with dishes like couscous, which is very famous and accepted there.
