Wednesday 14 May, 6pm, Auditorium, Fitzwilliam College

Celebrating that Catalonia has been designated the World Region of Gastronomy for 2025, Professor Bob Davidson of the University of Toronto, and a specialist in Food Studies, will deliver a talk on the drinking tradition in Catalonia.

Food Studies as a discipline has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two decades. Once denigrated and marginalized by the academy, critical appraisal of what and how we eat has become increasingly mainstream thanks to field acceptance and popular enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the status of the corollary subject of drinking remains nebulous. While beverages are routinely collapsed into the same category as “food”, Prof Davidson will suggest that they come with their own dynamics of commensality and an inherent taste mobility that makes them an ideal vehicle for cultural expression and interpretation. His talk will propose how drink, especially alcoholic beverages coded as “local”, requires special consideration within the sensory realm of Food Studies. With a nod to Vázquez Montalbán’s famous essay on Catalan gastronomic identity and in honour of Catalonia being named World Gastronomy Region of 2025, this talk will explore the art of drinking in the region through its signature beverages and ways of imbibing. From the porró to molecular mixology, it will look at how Catalan drink has evolved along a trajectory that takes us from aiguardent and the wines of the Priorat, through the complexities of cava and the urbanity of vermouth, to ratafia and the new bars rewriting Barcelona’s cocktail history. 

After the talk, there will be a wine reception, courtesy of Casa Torres where two wines from Catalonia will be available for tasting.