Another banquet

Raymonde Calbo Lafitte - The recent celebration of a gastronomic conference on the historical and stately cuisine of Menorca, accompanied by a lecture by Bep Al·lès, reminded me that in 2014, with a group of friends, we organized a banquet that transported us to the 18th century. This event took place in the manor house of Dr. Joan Miralles i Monserrat, a renowned philologist, author with Francesca Cantallops of the edition of the “Receptari de cuina del segle XVIII de Fra Jaume Martí i Oliver” publications of the Abbey of Montserrat 1989. Fra Martí (1712-1788) was a Majorcan monk of the order of Saint Augustine, compiler of recipes for aristocratic and stately cuisine.

For a day, our friend's house became the famous Parisian café-restaurant "Le Procope", an emblematic place, still today, a privileged witness to the History of France during the years of the Revolution of 1789. That place was a nest of wise men, "la crème de la crème", from where libertarian ideas and the guidelines to follow were cooked up to contribute to the overthrow of Bourbon absolutism. The illustrious characters who frequented it were: Voltaire the leader, Diderot, d'Alembert, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Robespierre, Danton, Marat and even Benjamin Franklin (the inventor of the lightning rod who, during his stay in France, conceived some elements of the future Constitution of the United States of America).

But on that May 31, 2014, the fictional “Le Procope” would leave philosophy and politics aside to dedicate himself to preparing a meal that would certainly deserve the approval of Fra Jaume Martí. Like a hive of busy bees, the flirtatious hands of some lucky chefs began to dance and began to cut, crumble, season, beat, flour, fry, boil, roast and bake. The house was filled with sweet and spicy aromas, joy and laughter. The group was impatient to crunch on the dishes chosen for the occasion, from that aforementioned recipe book.