Barcelona,
By Joe Ray
I got a whirlwind tour of the Alícia food research center today at Món St. Benet, about an hour outside of Barcelona.
The center, whose name is a mix of the Catalan words alimentació and ciència (food and science) is chef Ferran Adrià's dream child, focusing on gastronomic research, improving eating habits, including pushing for better school and hospital lunches. It’s sort of like an Alice Waters dream project with more test tubes and scientific gear.
It was an unfortunately quick tour, but at first glance, I love the idea that kids come here to learn good eating habits. Instead of a field trip to the museum, you go to the lab of food. Pay attention America.
Another favorite is a quote from Alícia coordinator Pepe Zapata – “We don’t deal with processed food here. You can put vitamins in milk, but why not get them from the products they originally come from?”
Alícia / www.alicia.cat
P.S. - Speaking of Alice and school lunches, Mrs. Waters and collaborator Katrina Heron had a February 19 op-ed piece in the New York Times – “No Lunch Left Behind” – detailing what is needed to help make school lunches better – a worthy read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/opinion/20waters.html?ref=opinion
Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.
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