“The Basques proudly say that in our country they eat very well, but that usually does not match the image of a popular meal, and we want to turn it around.” These are words of Irantzu Gallego, a member of Lur Lan Baserritarren Elkartea. In the popular meals it prepares, organic products play a special role, and although not all foods are organic, what matters most is that they are close, quality, seasonal and sustainable. Through meals made with products of own production and certification of organic agriculture in the Basque Country, Galician is committed to changing the reality of the most well-known meals of the current festivities. Asier Bastarrika, from Caserío Goiabe, also performs these kinds of meals, but using 100% indigenous and ecological products. It emphasizes that the difference between traditional foods and theirs can be observed in the same raw material: “From the point of view of the market, ours are of the highest levels, both in quality and in the productive model, as well as in social and ecological responsibility.”

Both protagonists have long wanted to incorporate organic food into this type of popular food. But so far they have had hardly any requests. “We have long seen a great contradiction in our holiday claim models, between the discourse and the gender that was consumed in it,” says Bastarrika. For the first time the proposal to make such a meal by the Pirates of San Sebastian came to them. Galician, for its part, has noticed the ARGIA Day three years ago, which was his first experience in the world. They have stressed that, despite the fact that in recent years they have had more petitions than ever before, they have not seen a significant evolution and that there is a clear difference between what is said and done in society about environmentalism.

Before the speech

“In general, we see that social concern is spreading through the reconciliation of food and everyday life. You can see it. But I think the discourse is expanding faster than reality.” That's Bastarrika's vision. They wanted to break this reality in the Holiday Committee of Errenteria. After four years organizing the food, this year, for the first time, the food to be held in Madalenak will be completed with organic food from the area. “Although so far we have used products with Eusko Label, we wanted to take another step, and for this, this year’s wager is that 100% of the products are indigenous,” says a member of the Soroxoro Association of the Festival Commission. The meeting explained to the skeptics with this proposal that they would be able to make the whole menu with local products and that it was a way to boost another kind of economy, to merge with these producers and companies. After explaining the reasons, many say that they changed their minds. In his view, it is essential to make a claim in a festive atmosphere, and they have taken the step of being utopian, to prove that it can be done.

Galician, of the Lur Lan Rural Association, for its part, responded to the request: “Many times they asked us, we came up with proposals, and we wanted to respond to that.” And he stresses that food attendees usually repeat that he has attended for the first time one of these meals and the calls of those who are organizing another. “We have always been very welcoming. People appreciate the taste, you notice when you use a well-crafted product.” Galician states that through these kinds of meals they manage to bring organic food closer to the citizens, that this is their main objective, their presence.

Breaking Myths

“We wanted to show people that there really are producers, people who create healthy food, and that if we support ourselves as a society we have very good products to offer.” The members of the association believe that on many occasions there are many prejudices about organic food, “people think it’s not really so ecological or so local.”

Galician and Bastarrika ensure that they produce menus with local products. Both, besides being farmers or producers of Euskal Herria as far as possible, try to earn around them. “The week before making a meal like this is crazy, you have to talk to one baserritarra and the other, as well as cooking. After all, you have to make a puzzle,” says Bastarrika.

An adjective that is associated with organic food is “expensive”, so the members of the Errenteria Festival Commission have also set themselves in the price: “This year’s menu is three euros more expensive than last year’s, and that also worries us, because the price of such a meal has to be popular, worth paying for by the majority of citizens.” And they have managed to offer the same price as last year; the Fiestas Commission provides one of these three euros, and since they will use the vegetables of Oarsoaldea, and which are aimed at promoting local consumption, the other two will be paid by the City Hall. This price difference has also been compensated by Gallego and Bastarrika: the first, with the aim of lowering the price, asks volunteers to help distribute food, which can lower the workforce. And the second one, it has in mind the idea of doing in a working group what you're going to eat at the meal doing an organic food workshop before you eat. Another option they have is to simplify the menu: make beans, for example.

Variety on the menu

In most cases, seasonal vegetable salad and wild plants is the first dish that welcomes attendees to eco-friendly popular meals. The second dish, according to demand, consists of rice, stuffed eggplants, tortillas or stews of meat. “We have the opportunity to improvise,” Bastarrika says in laughter.

Errenteria, for example, will have a vegetable salad and seasonal flowers composed of Bastarrika during the festivities. Then you will have two options: steak meat in the normal and bellota menu in the vegan menu. In addition, the program will prepare a special menu for the youngest, as the second dish will be a hamburger for them. “We also didn’t know how to make such a menu, we were clear that it was an important change, and Asier’s ideas have made it much easier for us to compose the menu, especially in the case of the vegan menu.” The withdrawal of the usual foods in this type of food and the introduction of others, frightened the members of the Soroxoro Association. “I’ve had a piece of saucepan taken from me, and I’ve eaten a little rice and four lettuce leaves,” they wanted no one to think and, therefore, they’ve talked and thought a lot about the dishes that will form the menu.

Festivities as a mirror of society

The errenteriarras say that it is important to have an impact on the festivities if one wants to change society, since their presence at the center of the festivities inevitably has a great echo. To this idea is also Galician: “Action implies the incorporation of ourselves into society, as it is a form of communication in which we show who we are and what can be done”. They claim that everything depends on an ideology, a way of living and thinking, that they “get involved” and that it is “the most beautiful”. Even though they often do not benefit economically, they believe it is important for them to show what they do.

The members of the Soroxoro Association wanted to transfer the claim to the center of the plaza, they thought it was a very interesting space to work and disseminate their ideas: “There are demands that have a limited scope, that only reach small areas. We have found that this opens the way to people that we will not normally find in the areas where we move.”

Bastarrika is clear that one of the problems in the world today comes from food and thinks it is a very basic problem: “Seeing how organic food is produced, how it is distributed... It has all the advantages of taking care of our health, taking care of the environment and promoting another economic model in every way.” He says it's an impulse to start imagining that dream society, and that's why his family offers that life: “Our consumption is focused on this, among many contradictions, but taking steps, therefore, is of great importance to us. In popular meals and in all other areas.”