Guinovart cooking

EINA and the gastronomic event: a chronology of activities 1978-2018

Throughout its history, EINA has taken an interest in gastronomy in the sense of its creation, rites, sensitivity, imagination and value as a social and cultural act. The following events and activities are just a few examples of this:

El Gust a la cuina (Taste in the Kitchen) (1978)

The El Gust a la cuina seminar is part of EINA’s educational offer and consists of two practical sessions held in one of the classrooms in the Casa Manuel Dolcet, adapted as a kitchen for the occasion. In these sessions, teachers Miquel Espinet, Xavier Olivé, Joan Enric Lahosa and Llorenç Torrado cook in front of the participants while discussing gastronomy and the universe around the culinary event: restaurants and staging, the performance part of the ritual of eating, the leisure component, the literary references, cooking as art, oenology, etc. They are on the front cover of the Tele/expres newspaper under the heading "They’re not teaching how to cook but focusing on gastronomy as an exercise in culture".

Cover and inside page of Tele/exprés
Cover and inside page of Tele/exprés

Gust i estil: intercanvi de sensacions (Taste and Style: exchange of sensations) (1981)

Miquel Espinet, Joan Enric Lahosa, Xavier Olivé and Llorenç Torrado coordinate a new activity linked to the world of gastronomy. The seminar consists of six themed dinners at various restaurants and venues in Barcelona, where the aim is to relate an artist’s aesthetic with a chef and their restaurant. Rafòls Casamada with the Jean Louis Neichel restaurant, Sergi Aguilar with Racó d'en Binu, Frances Artigau cooking in his own studio, Francesc Todó with l’Agut d'Avignon, Maria Girona with the Suntory Japanese restaurant, and Xavier Olivé with Montse Guillén’s M.G. As well as dinner, each session features talks, discussions or workshops with professionals from the sector, such as Montse Guillén, Ramon Cabau, Miquel Espinet and Antoni Escribà. Each dinner also has a menu illustrated by artists with a link to the school: Maria Girona, Xavier Olivé, Francesc Todó, Sergi Aguilar, Albert Ràfols and Francesc Artigau.

Menu illustrated by Xavier Olivé
Menu illustrated by Xavier Olivé.

Gust i estil: la cuina dels artistes (Taste and Style: artists’ cuisine) (1995)

To mark the end of the 2nd Catalan Cuisine Congress, artists Francesc Artigau, Josep Guinovart, Maria Girona, Xavier Olivé, Albert Ràfols Casamada and Francesc Todó illustrate the menu with sketches of the dishes created by the Restaurant Hofmann.

Josep Guinovart making the coques
Josep Guinovart making the coques.

Guino de Guinovart (2018)

With staging by Xavier Olivé at the Barcelona Design Museum, Guino de Guinovart is a gastronomic montage with coques de recapte recreated by Salvador Sauleda following the sketches that Josep Guinovart made in 1995 for the special menu to mark the end of the 2nd Catalan Cuisine Congress.

Sketches by Guino
Sketches by Guino.

Menú diseñado por Maria Girona
Menú diseñado por Maria Girona.


Textos: Rubén Alcaraz y Xavier Olivé