Volcanic daughter of a volcanic mother

“Les Cols is located between two volcanoes, on top of a volcanic flank. And that has to make its mark on us. We're volcanic”. Fina Puigdevall considers herself volcanic. And that means her daughters are volcanic too. Specifically, this must be true of Martina Puigvert, who runs the restaurant's kitchens, grabbing and moving hot plates as if her hands were made of esparto. “It's because they've been used so much, but I'm probably rather volcanic too", is the answer when she is asked about this.

Fina and Martina run Les Cols, a two-star restaurant at the heart of La Garrotxa, Catalonia's volcano territory par excellence, an area with some forty volcano cones, ten craters, 23 well-preserved cones and more than 20 lava flows, bearing witness to local seismic activity, the last incident occurring around 8,000 years ago. “That's nothing in volcanic terms”, says Llorenç Planagumà, scientific coordinator of the Volcano Active Foundation.

This makes La Garrotxa a volcanic location, an area where the products planted or eaten have their own mark. “After a period of volcanic activity - explain the scientists - the land can't be used for crops. But as the years go by, in moist climates such as La Garrotxa's, the ashes evolve and are transformed into a kind of clay which is good for crops", the kind of clay used by Puigdevall and Puigvert, for instance.

“Our cooking has a number of products that could be considered volcanic: buckwheat ("fajol"), maize, potatoes, Santa Pau beans ("fesols"), Croscat onion ... and not just these products. Snails or wild boar could also be considered volcanic, because they feed on plants grown on volcanic land", explains Fina Puigdevall. 

Her daughter adds: “The broth we welcome our diners with is also volcanic, and so is the stone we use for apéritif snacks in the garden. This is part of us”. So much so, in fact, that it impregnates the colour and material used by the ceramicists and artists who fitted out the restaurant - "That's why the inside is all the colour of earth" - and most especially the dining niches at Les Cols, made with local volcanic rock.

“So yes, we're volcanic. And it shows”, the chefs say in unison.