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Sea and mountain cuisine

Dishes Mar Muntanya Catalan cuisine typical region Costa Brava gastronomy
 Gastronomy combines best sea and mountain Catalonia
Chicken with lobster dish. Photo: romaga2013
Sea and mountain (Mar i muntanya in Catalan) is a category of dishes typical of Catalan cuisine that mixes ingredients of the garden and the mountain (meat, sausages, game meat) with sea products (seafood or fish) getting a variety of tastes and contrasts that makes it special. The multitude of different combinations may seem strange to those who are not accustomed but respond to a tradition more than a centuries-old result of geographical conditions and popular wisdom.

The origin of these dishes goes back to the times when the cuisine should be based on products of proximity. To introduce variations in the diet, fishermen from the Catalan coast exchanged the product of fishing with the farmer who had poultry, meat or vegetables. In the case of the Costa Brava, the proximity of the sea to the Pyrenees facilitated much the mixing of products. In the middle of the last century the professional chefs have begun to translate these traditional recipes that mixed meats and fish from the two regions of Ampurdán to the restaurant menu. Great chefs have invented sophisticated culinary delights based on the concept of sea and mountain fusion.

In the middle of the last century the professional chefs have begun to translate these traditional recipes that mixed meats and fish from the two regions of Ampurdán to the restaurant menu. Great chefs have invented sophisticated culinary delights based on the concept of sea and mountain fusion.
Among the best known sea and mountain dishes we can list: chicken with lobster (pollastre amb llagosta), meatballs with cuttlefish (mandonguilles amb sípia), pig's trotters with prawns (peus de porc amb gambes), chicken with cod (pollastre amb bacallà), rabbit with crawfish (conill amb escamarlans), crab with snails (cabra de mar amb cargols). Must be added to this list also several rice dishes.