The Barcelona Bakers' Guild presents its Pa de Mar, or ‘Sea Bread, created as part of the America's Cup Cultural Regatta
The America's Cup now has its very own bread, made in Barcelona. This is the Pa de Mar [Sea Bread], the loaf created especially by the Barcelona Baker’s Guild to mark the celebration of the 37th edition of this sailing competition in the city. The bread, made exclusively with seawater, flour and sourdough starter, forms part of the Cultural Regatta, the programme of activities promoted by Barcelona City Council to accompany the celebration of this major sporting event in the city.
The newPa de Mar, which was presented at La Boqueria, is in the shape of a sailor’s knot, and was created by Andreu Bertran, a baker from the Barcelona Baker’s Guild, who has been experimenting to get the desired flavour and design for the bread.
The initiative is supported by Barcelona City Council and the Baker’s Guild has been encouraging all its bakers to get involved in the initiative, producing their own Pa de Mar, or Sea Bread, and even decorating their shop windows with maritime motifs. The Gremi de Flequers de Barcelona [Barcelona Bakers’ Guild] will be distributing posters featuring the image of the bread to all affiliated bakers and has released a video where you can see, step by step, how to make the new Pa de Mar.
Councillor Raquel Gil has described the Pa de Mar initiative as a “perfect metaphor for Barcelona and its local commerce, which combines tradition and modernity and which embraces maritime heritage and mixes it with creativity and a future outlook”. “The America’s Cup is an opportunity to open the city to the sea and for people who see us and who follow the event to discover our culture, our commerce and our capacity to innovate, to be resilient and look to the future without losing sight of our roots”, the councillor remarked.
During the presentation on Wednesday, Andreu Bertran gave a demonstration of how to make the Pa de Mar and chef Quim Casellas, from the Casamar restaurant in Llafranc, cooked a fish stew made with seawater. Also taking part in the event were the president of the Gremi de Flequers de Barcelona, Jaume Bertran; the director of Port Vell, David Pino; and the corporate director of the America’s Cup, Albert Vilumara.