Barcelona's Best Keept Secret Food Feasts

Have you been running out of smiles? We have a solution for you.

You probably have never thought that an onion could make your day, but we’re not talking about any onion. Originating from Valls, in the Tarragona region of Catalonia, Spain, the Calçot has already been spreading joy for over two centuries.

Loved by adults and children, la calçotada is a time to share delicious calçots and other grilled food, wine, or your drink of choice, and have a good time.

Essentially, putting some onions on the grill is the Catalan excuse to fire up the bonds with your closest people and meet some new friends.

At the end of eighteen hundred, a lonely Spanish farmer from Valls, Xat de Beniages, thought of a great invention: The Calçot, a culinary king! He did it by partly covering the baby onion sprouts with soil as they were growing.

The calçot is a long and thick spring onion with a surprisingly sweet and delicate taste. A calçot looks like an oversize scallion with an extra-long white stalk.

The ideal way to cook calçots is over a fire made of grape vine branches. Wood and charcoal can also be used. Place the calçots on the grill and cook until charred. When they come off the fire, roll them in sheets of newspaper to keep them warm and soft.

Once the calçots have cooled inside their newsprint packages, it’s time to put on your paper bib. Then grab a calçot and eat it.