Barcelona restaurant offers tonic to city’s overtourism problem

Andres Torres is a former battle correspondent who has turned his experiences on the battlefield into an acclaimed restaurant. 

Nestled within the Catalan wine area of Penedés, Torres’s Casa Nova, the place he’s the top chef, serves high-level delicacies to clients whereas encouraging them to contemplate the place their dear meals is coming from.

Torres scooped the celebrated Basque Culinary World Prize and its €100,000 reward this 12 months. The prize is awarded to a restaurant that shows a wider socio-economic profit from its endeavors outdoors the kitchen. 

The previous battle reporter splits his time between Casa Nova and operating the NGO World Humanitaria, a non-profit group that primarily works in impoverished and war-torn nations to supply meals and clear water sources to locals. 

It may appear incomprehensible that one individual can run each a kitchen and a global humanitarian group, however these ventures have a shocking degree of crossover.

Torres’s Michelin Inexperienced Star restaurant drives a portion of its earnings into Golbal Humanitaria. The meals is impressed by locations the place Torres has reported and carried out humanitarian actions, together with Guatemala, Syria, and Ukraine. 

Torres informed Fortune by means of an interpreter that he discovered how battle impacted native meals ecosystems whereas reporting on the bottom. As a self-trained chef, he determined the easiest way to painting this to the general public wasn’t by means of journalism, however by cooking in Casa Nova.

Amid existential questions surrounding the ills of tourism, Torres’ restaurant is an instance of an idea that might create extra acutely aware vacationers.

Aware tourism

Barcelona residents have been among the many most stressed at a resurgence in tourism throughout Europe, fueled by the “revenge journey” craze within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Apart from the climate and architectural wonders of the famed architect Gaudi, meals tourism is an enormous draw for guests to Catalonia. 

The latter prompted locals to squirt unsuspecting eating vacationers with water pistols in July whereas greeting them with chants of “go house” as they walked down Las Ramblas.

Lowering tourism to ranges acceptable to locals is unrealistic for a lot of causes, not least its employment of hundreds of thousands of individuals and comparatively open borders that invite curious vacationers from the world over.

Nonetheless, the ills of over-tourism persist, affecting locals’ high quality of life and disposable revenue as a rising share of main cities’ lodging goes in direction of short-term lets servicing vacationers. 

Barcelona plans to ban Airbnb short-term lets from 2029 to release housing provide for locals, although it’s unsure what impact that may have on traveler numbers.

However with the dilemma between financial progress and placating pissed off locals, some cities are looking for a compromise between starry-eyed vacationers and pissed off locals.

The place Barcelona residents used the stick method to reign in over-tourism, the Danish capital of Copenhagen is choosing the carrot. 

In July, Copenhagen launched a CopenPay program, which rewards prepared vacationers with free museum journeys, lunches, and even kayak excursions in the event that they carry out group service. Fortune reported {that a} Surf College would supply free classes to surfers in the event that they helped clear seashores for half-hour. 

Throughout the difficult autonomous area of Catalonia, Torres’ restaurant is on the coronary heart of that rising demand for acutely aware capitalism.

Torres has develop into in style with Gen Z guests who’ve caught wind of his gastro-humanitarian actions, he informed Fortune, even when they will’t all the time afford to eat there.

The true goal, although, is high-net-worth people who’re in a position to put their cash the place their mouth is. A number of touring foodies will come to Torres’ restaurant due to the optimistic opinions, however will typically get caught up in dialog with the chef concerning the origin of their meals.

Torres says one unnamed rich diner made a donation to permit Torres to construct a bunker for varsity youngsters in Ukraine, taking cowl from seemingly infinite bombardment from Russia’s army operation. 

He says a number of different philanthropic diners will use the dinner to determine whether or not to assist Torres’s humanitarian ventures.

He additionally recounted a current expertise the place a desk of Russian residents and a separate desk of Ukrainians may talk about the fallout of the battle over dinner.

Torres thinks extra eating places in Europe have to deal with sustainability, explaining the place their meals is coming from and giving vacationers an perception not simply into the native ecosystem, however the world one too.

If this turned the norm, hungry vacationers would possibly depart with greater than a full abdomen.