The taste and wisdom of mothers
A gesture from her mother – as simple as taking the pan off the heat so that a Roman-style hake could finish frying slowly – inspired Alejandra Herrador. Every summer, she manages to come up with new ways to cook zucchini and thus take advantage of the abundant harvest from her aunt's garden.
The influence of the women in his family is evident in the work of the vast majority of haute cuisine chefs, as was clear last weekend in Ezcaray during the celebration of MAMA. Although the event is inextricably linked to Ezcaray and La Rioja – local businesses, associations, and institutions have wholeheartedly supported its organization – MAMA has also served to strengthen ties with the Valencian Community, the guest of honor at this second edition. The leading figures of its culinary scene traveled to the Oja Valley, from Quique Dacosta to Paco Torreblanca, including Ricard Camarena, Kiko Moya, Begoña Rodrigo, Luis Valls, Susi Díaz, Alejandra Herrador, Vicky Sevilla, and Vicente Patiño. Also present was Santos Ruiz, manager of the Valencia Rice Designation of Origin, who offered a Valencian paella workshop, while nearly a thousand portions were served in the village church gardens to benefit [unclear - possibly "the Valencia Rice Foundation"].
Fists and pinches
Alongside the Valencian chefs, several Riojan chefs, including Miguel Caño, Pedro Masip, Aitor Esnal, Fernando Sáenz, Jairo Gómez, and Rodrigo Fernández Alcalde, took to the stage accompanied by their mothers or partners to cook some of the family recipes that have most influenced them. These ranged from the chickpeas with oxtail prepared by Caño, chef of Nublo, to the contrasting versions of Club Ranero cod presented by Jairo, chef of the renovated Bar Satorre in Ezcaray, alongside his mother.
The program offered insightful reflections, numerous anecdotes, and plenty of emotional moments. Like when radio journalist Pepa Fernández and the formidable critic Rafael García Santos donned aprons to recreate Marisa's famous croquettes alongside Francis Paniego. Or when Begoña Rodrigo opened up emotionally, confessing that at the beginning of her career, she felt her cooking "lacked personality," perhaps because her mother never enjoyed cooking, "although she was a wonderful hostess and taught me how to serve others," she explained.
A wide variety of ingredients, traditions, and styles were on display, but it became clear that mothers' cooking is a "cooking of the eye, of the fist, of the pinch, not of measured recipes, but of intuition," as Ricard Camarena defined it. "Even if the recipe is the same, there are always nuances that identify the cook's touch," Susi Díaz pointed out. In this effort to define something as broad as mothers' cooking, perhaps it was Miguel Caño who hit the nail on the head: "It's simply about looking around you and knowing how to make the most of what you have."
