Catalan grandmas lead the push to protect region's best simple dishes

Catalonia's avant garde chefs have long made a name for themselves with their revolutionary techniques and molecular gastronomy, yet they are fond of saying they are merely paying homage to the simple dishes served at their grandmother's table.

- Stephen Burgen

Maria Antònia Udina, 76, prepares a traditional dish with what she says are the essential ingredients of Catalan cuisine: olive oil and herbs, left, and nuts, below.

Now the grandmothers have been given a chance to show off the real thing under a Catalan government initiative called Gastrosàvies.

A double play on the Catalan words for wise, sàvies, and grandmother, àvies, Gastrosàvies provides a platform for more than 100 older women to share cookery videos "with a view to preserving and communicating traditional Catalan cuisine for future generations".

No spherification or liquid nitrogen required - just basic ingredients, a sharp knife and a couple of pots and pans.

The project has collected more than 300 recipes from all over Catalonia, and videos of home cooks preparing 12 of them have been posted on the Gastrosàvies website, with more to follow.

These simple creations such as rice with cabbage and peas, thyme soup, chicken with apple, duck with turnips or pork chops with chestnuts hark back to an era where people cooked with what was at hand and in season, using basic equipment and techniques handed down over generations.