“BE A TRAVELER, NOT A TOURIST: Experience Catalan Culture Through Its Gastronomy”
September 5, 2006 – Esentia Tours is a small travel agency based in Barcelona that specializes in culinary adventures for travelers who want to enjoy a truly authentic experience of local Catalan culture. Esentia offers gastronomic tours of both Barcelona and the surrounding countryside of Girona, the northernmost province of Catalonia, located on the French border. Esentia’s guests stay in private villas and medieval castillos, where they participate in in-house cooking classes with Michelin-starred chefs and go on excursions to local vineyards, farms, and markets to experience firsthand the origins of traditional Catalan cuisine.
Esentia was founded by Helena Garriga, a native of Girona with an intimate knowledge of the area who has recently returned to Catalonia after living in New York City for ten years. She is joined by Jess Shaefer, the company’s representative in New York. Both women have a passion for travel, adventure, and, of course, good food and wine! As hosts, they provide the essential personal link between visitors and the local culture.
Helena and Jess believe that there is a fundamental difference between tourism and travel: tourists interact passively with their environment, while travelers actively seek authentic experiences that enable them to gain a deeper understanding of the places they visit. They also believe in the cultural and environmental responsibilities of the traveler, and therefore only support and work with local chefs and locally-owned organic farms, wineries, and artisanal studios. By reconnecting with the sources of local gastronomy and participating in the processes involved “from soil to table,” Esentia’s guests experience a complete immersion in the essence of Catalan culture.
Esentia organizes its culinary tours around specific gastronomic events that happen throughout the year; for example, since October is mushroom-picking season in Catalonia, Esentia’s October tour is based around collecting, cooking, and preserving a variety of local mushrooms. Another essential aspect of the complete cultural immersion is onsite accommodation in the countryside, so that the smells, sights, sounds, and tastes of the region are a constant presence. Esentia gives its visitors the opportunity to ‘live like a local,’ to feel at home in a luxurious private house with every personal detail taken care of.
Catalonia is famous for its landscapes: the beautiful rugged coastline of the Mediterranean Costa Brava, the rolling hills of the vineyards of the Empordà, and the unspoiled medieval villages of the Pyrenées Mountains. Catalan cuisine, which is currently undergoing a renaissance, reflects this geographical diversity, incorporating elements of the sea, mountains, and fields.
Esentia aims to educate its guests about the local culture through active participation in its customs and traditions and through personal interaction with its people. This relationship to the origins of a culture is the essence of travel, and the essence of authenticity.
If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Jess Shaefer or Helena Garriga, please call or email Jess at +1 646 536 7568 or jess@esentiatours.com, or Helena at +34 33 152 541 or helena@esentiatours.com.
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