The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:3 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 18:39 cYanmaGentaYellowblac

• The Observer
  News 04.08.19 3

García told the Observer that while

his tweets were tongue in cheek, he

could not abide the disruptive feisti-

ness of cucumber in gazpacho. His

epiphany came in the late 1990s,

when he elevated the humble soup

into a dish for the high-end restau-

rant where he was working.

“The fi rst one I made that was a lit-

tle out of the ordinary was a cherry

gazpacho – even though it was based

on a traditional recipe, for raspberry

gazpacho,” he said. “When I made it,

I couldn’t fi nd a way to balance the

cucumber because it’s one of those

ingredients that I call invasive. No

matter how much you try to bal-

ance it out, it’s a taste that just

keeps on punching through.

I wanted it to be tomato and

cherry on people’s palates, not

cucumber. So in 1998, I just went,

‘That’s it – bye bye cucumber!’.”

When most people thought of gaz-

pacho, he added, they thought of a

simple tomato soup with cucumber,

‘Gastronomic terrorism!’ How the humble

cucumber has sliced a nation in two

Hotter even than the

weather is the public

debate that has gripped

Spain over whether

or not the vegetable is

a vital ingredient of

classic gazpacho soup

Sam Jones

Madrid

says. “Bread gives the soup a differ-

ent texture and means you’re adding

carbohydrates. And then there’s the

debate over adding water. It depends

on the quality of the tomatoes, but if

they’re not great, it could end up too

watery. I think it’s more about bread

than cucumber, but we think you can

add whatever you want .”

Barrios keeps thing simple and

proudly Andalucían. “I make it with a

tiny bit of garlic, onion, half a cucum-

ber, one or two green peppers, toma-

toes, good salt, sherry vinegar and

good extra virgin olive oil.”

LEFT

Gazpacho is a

hot-weather

favourite in

Spain, but what

are the classic

ingredients? Rex

‘I couldn’t fi nd a way

to balance the

invasive taste of

cucumber. It keeps

punching through’

Dani García, chef

peppers, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and

bread. “But, historically, a gazpacho

can be many things: a white gazpacho

[with garlic and almonds] is ajo blanco,

a green one is made with green toma-

toes and an orange one is made with

bitter oranges. There are as many gaz-

pacho recipes as there are people: it’s

all about how you make it at home.”

Fernando Huidobro, presi-

dent of the Andalucían Academy of

Gastronomy and Tourism , laughed

off the idea of people getting hung

up on a single ingredient. “The oldest,

most original recipes for gazpacho

are fairly anarchic,” he said. “It was

a way for country people to feed

themselves : ‘What can I eat eas-

ily to get me through my work?

I’ve got water, I’ve got oil, I’ve got

garlic and I’ve got vinegar. If I’ve got

bread, I’ll put bread in’.”

“ It’s a basic thing that was origi-

nally made with whatever you had

to hand – that’s what made it unique.

It really is as awfully simple as that.”

Wounds Jamie Oliver infl icted three

years ago when he added chorizo to

rice and called it paella remain raw,

while hopes of an end to the war over

whether onions belong in a tortilla de

patatas seem as forlorn as ever.

But as Spain endures a particularly

sweltering summer, the debate has

turned to the country’s best-known

antidote to the heat and, specifi cally,

the question of whether cucumber

has any place in a deliciously cooling

bowl of gazpacho.

The row began, not unpredict-

ably, on Twitter. At the end of July

the Spanish comedian known as El

Monaguillo (the altar boy; real name

Sergio Fernández Meléndez) con-

ducted his own poll. “Really impor-

tant survey,” he wrote. “Gazpacho with

cucumber or without cucumber?”

Of the 3,809 people who replied,

63% were in favour of adding cucum-

ber to the cold Andalucían soup. Others

felt differently – some vehemently so.

“Cucumber in gazpacho is gastro-

nomic terrorism!” said Dani García , a

chef who runs a three-Michelin-star

restaurant and who, like his friend El

Monaguillo, is from Andalucía.

When another Twitter user had the

temerity to remind García that he was

famous for his recipe for cherry gaz-

pacho, the chef replied: “Are you really

comparing the elegance of a cherry to

the aggressiveness of a cucumber?”

The issue has prompted long and

thoughtful pieces in the Spanish

press, and churned up another famil-

iar culinary controversy.

Charo Barrios, president of the

Academy of Andalucían Gazpacho ,

insists people can put whatever vege-

tables they like into the soup, and says

cucumber is not the only disputed

ingredient. “Cucumber’s defi nitely an

option, but there are other debates as

well, like whether you add bread,” she

BELOW

The result of

comedian El

Monaguillo’s poll

incensed chef

Dani García, left.

a lit-

herryy

ased

berryy

de it,

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hose

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ot

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gaz-

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Fer

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Gastro

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up on a

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It reall

Riot police in Moscow made mass

arrests yesterday in an attempt to

quash a protest rally banned by the

authorities.

The rally was the latest episode of

a nascent movement, triggered by a

refusal to allow opposition candi-

dates to stand in Moscow city elec-

tions, which has led to the biggest

political protests in Russia for years.

Moscow police

arrest 650 in

two hours to

quash protest

Within the first two hours of the

demonstration yesterday afternoon,

police had detained more than 650

people, according to the independent

monitoring group OVD-info.

The Russian capital was on lock-

down as authorities closed off

access to the central boulevard ring,

blocked mobile internet reception

in large parts of the capital and kept

an eye on demonstrators from a hel-

icopter overhead. Journalists from

several independent media organi-

sations were detained and protesters

questioned.

Lyubov Sobol , the only opposition

politician who wanted to stand in the

September elections not currently in

jail, was detained by police before

arriving at the protest. Sobol, who is

three weeks into a hunger strike in

protest at the lack of access to the

ballot, emerged from her campaign

headquarters to get into a waiting

taxi, but was pulled out by riot police,

who dragged her to a waiting bus

while she shouted in protest.

Riot police wore balaclavas, a meas-

ure usually reserved for high-profi le

drugs and extremism cases, after pro-

testers identifi ed several police offi c-

ers from last week’s protest, when

more than 1,000 were arrested, using

online facial identifi cation software.

Andrew Roth

& Shaun Walker Moscow

ON OTHER PAGES

Is Russia ready to defy Putin?
Special report, pages 15-
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