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Life and Culture

Life and Culture

Spain… the heat of the summer… temperatures in the 90s (over 30º C) in many parts of the country. Scorching weather is the recurring topics in conversations in bars, at bus stops, elevators and other meeting places and the key question now is where to go on the weekend.

Three brothers, one family, and a one-of-a-kind restaurant. Joan, Jose and Jordi shine the Roca family across the globe and El Celler de Can Roca is seen with neon lights from any corner of the world. El Celler is the best restaurant in the world and they are the geniuses that showcase their talents in its corners.

Creativity is, for Jordi Roca, a synonym for inspiration and freedom, two concepts that are deeply intertwined, but which are also present in the works infused with the smell and taste or that are close to concepts of memory and tradition. The youngest of the three brothers behind El Celler de Can Roca is, probably, the closest, happiest and most spontaneous of the three; imaginative, evocative, brazen and extremely genuine are some of the traits of his personality that he infuses in his desserts.

Rocambolesc is an ice cream parlor that conjugates the spirit of the Roca brothers and a story that, one step at a time, has moved through the streets of Gerona to become another nugget of folk wisdom. Today, Rocambolesc is an inextricable part of the spirit of El Celler; metaphorically, that is, because despite being based on separate location, their souls and purpose are still intrinsically linked.

In many cultures 7 is a lucky number. Seven are the days of the week and the seas in the planet. According to the Bible, it took God seven days to create Earth and in Hinduism, there are seven chakras or energy centers in our body. A cat has seven lives; there are seven wonders in the world, seven capital sins, seven colors in the rainbow, seven musical notes and even Snow White befriended seven dwarves.

Only a very special breed of people can make it to the top of the world’s tallest mountains. They are the ones chosen to touch the sky, to see the world at their feet, to reach peaks that stand over 8,000 meters tall, where visibility changes and where views can be as spectacular as scarce is the air for breathing. Carlos Soria is one of these heroes and, in many aspects, a unique one.