There is no doubt, that nowadays a fast change of eating habits is taking place in Catalonia and it is caused by several reasons.
In the first place, we are living the rupture of the family transmission of eating habits of traditional food caused by the incorporation of women (who traditionally have had the role of cook) to the labour world.
On the other hand, we must talk about the influence of other cultures (mainly the Spanish gastronomy and other as American, Italian gastronomy and so on) in the Catalan one. Little by little, this influence has substituted some Catalan products or dishes for other ones, for example: in a supermarket it is easier to find Burgos cheese rather than a kind of Catalan fresh cheese (called “mató”), custard rather than Catalan cream or pizza rather than “coca de recapte” and so on.
In addition, the rhythm of our daily life with a long length of our working timetable without time for buying food and cooking causes that most people cook simple dishes.
It is obvious, that the younger generations are changing our eating habits unlike our parents, who eat the elaborated traditional food of Catalonia. For example, I see this change when I go to my parents’ house: my mother only cooks home cooking with natural and fresh ingredients and she spends all the morning making the lunch. I like this food very much but I cannot do it in my daily day, only at the weekend I make some elaborated dishes of traditional Catalan food. In spite of this, I cook natural and simple dishes for my everyday meals.
To sum up, I think that we are living a slow process of substitution of the Catalan gastronomy so, it is fundamental to keep our own eating habits because it is a vital part of our own cultural heritage.
