Brothers at top-rated restaurant reveal driving force behind it all: their mom

An 81-year-old woman named Montserrat Fontan¨¦ was one of the biggest hits at the 16th edition of Madrid Fusi¨®n, a leading culinary event held annually in the Spanish capital. The three-day food festival, which ended Wednesday, provided insights into new trends, up-and-coming chefs, and how technology such as apps and social media can be used to improve the customer¡¯s experience.

Montse, as she is known to friends and relatives, has spent over half a century at the helm of Can Roca, in the Catalan city of Girona. This restaurant was the genesis of the world-famous?El Celler de Can Roca, which holds three Michelin stars and has put her three sons Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca on the list of the world¡¯s top chefs.

It¡¯s not our customers¡¯ fault if things have come to this

Montserrat Fontan¨¦

¡°It¡¯s not our customers¡¯ fault if things have come to this,¡± said Fontan¨¦ about the general state of affairs in Spain, to explain why Can Roca still offers three-course meals for €10, as it has for decades.

Fontan¨¦ and her eldest son Joan were giving a talk called ¡°The Importance of Origins,¡± about the value of simplicity as a starting point for everything else. Over an hour, mother and son charmed a packed audience with anecdotes about everyday life in the adjoining restaurants.

These included stories of how Fontan¨¦ cooks for all 70 employees at El Celler (¡°They¡¯re like my own children,¡± she said), or how buckwheat has become all the rage in the food world but people only used to serve it in postwar Spain ¡°because there was nothing else to eat.¡±

The matriarch of the Roca family ¨C one of the very few female names on the long list of Madrid Fusi¨®n speakers this year ¨C also prepared a spearmint soup live on stage.

The talk was part of a section focusing on Spanish food, which also included workshops on codfish, salting methods, or what the restaurants of the future will look like. There were tapas competitions, beer-serving contests, and a quest to find the world¡¯s best croquette.

There were tapas competitions, beer-serving contests, and a quest to find the world¡¯s best croquette

Meanwhile another section, Enofusi¨®n, focused on the world of wine, with over 200 different listed wines and nearly 20 tastings featuring products from the California-based Bodegas Torres, old-vine wine by Marqu¨¦s de Riscal and wines from Catalonia. ¡°We also opened a pop-up space with 15-minute tastings,¡± said Cristina Villar, one of the organizers of Enofusi¨®n.

A new section called The Drinks Show underscored how cocktails and the art of mixing drinks ¡°are on the rise everywhere in the world, which made it necessary to have this kind of space,¡± said C¨¦sar Ram¨ªrez, the head of the section. Ram¨ªrez held that cocktails should not be confined to after-dinner moments, but could go well with some meals as well. Not everyone was convinced.

Then again, as the no-nonsense Mrs Fontan¨¦ said during her talk: ¡°The dishes have to be tasty. After that, each one has its special something.¡±

English version by Susana Urra.