Meet my Farmer Friend Dídac

I met my friend Dídac Valera of L’Hort d’en Dídac over a decade ago, although it feels like a lifetime. Back then, there was not a huge offering in Barcelona of local organic produce. Dídac was a pioneer, not only because he delivered local, organic produce to your doorstep, but he also offered from early on the option to choose your produce per kilo, instead of those closed boxes that provide little more than cabbage and potatoes throughout the entire winter. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against cabbage and potatoes, but by the end of the season they were coming out of my ears.

Back then I had already woke to the need to buy clean products. My early blog Desayuno con guisantes was one of the first blogs on healthy eating in Spanish language. I was diligent at posting a weekly recipe (much better than my current frequency), and I started buying produce from Dídac back when his farm was still in the process of converting to organic. Turning conventional soil into organic is a long process that takes several years until you receive the CCPAE certificate. In the meantime, you clean your soil of pesticides, while the local authorities inspect it periodically.

Dídac is a third-generation pagès (farmer in Catalan); his grandfather was able to purchase land outside of Mataró thanks to the earnings from selling potatoes to the Brits during the post-war famine. But it was Dídac who, many years later, decided to convert those same lands to organic, struck by an intense desire to make the world a better place. That’s Dídac for you: he combines the practical knowledge of a lifelong farmer with the Quixotic impetus to fight against Big Ag. And nowadays, in my opinion, that’s even braver than fighting against windmills.

I started loving Dídac the person -not just his vegetables- the day he signed up for one of the workshops I used to teach on weekends in my Barcelona apartment. He claimed he wanted to find out what I did with all those vegetables he brought over every week. That Saturday morning, he arrived early with vegetables for the workshop in tow. My son Bruno, who was maybe 5 years old, opened the door and hugged him straight away. Dídac never forgot that moment: how amazing, he thought, the cooking instructor’s kid hugging the farmer, that kid is well raised. (He didn’t know yet that Bruno is the most affectionate person on the planet.) I was touched by this young, energetic, curly-haired man who came to cook alongside a group of women with his own vegetables in hand, in my tiny urban kitchen.

Throughout the years, we got to know each other better. Now we are both a little less young, but still full of energy. I learned that Dídac’s will to become organic was directly related to the birth of his daughter Joana, whom I adore now as well. Dídac, upon becoming a father, grasped that the world must be improved for and by our children, who will inherit it. He started working with several school cafeterias, lucky them.

As time went by, I started suggesting crazy ideas to Dídac, like bringing groups of Americans to his farm to eat calçots, the famous Catalan onion that locals turn into a yearly feast, grilled and served with romesco sauce, my favorite of all Catalan recipes. I’ll never forget the look on Dídac’s face the first time I brought over a large group of American college students abroad. Dídac and his family served us a feast of just-harvested and grilled calçots. My 20 year-old students stuffed their faces with food and drink, and could not praise him enough. Dídac irradiated pride. Now it’s a yearly tradition, and Dídac has even started organizing calçotades for locals when they are in season.

Dídac’s farm is a small oasis of nature located in a somewhat strange place: surrounded by the highway on one side, and a giant ugly shopping mall on the other, Dídac resists as the last man standing. He swears he will never sell his land to the representatives of mass hyper-industrialization of food.

Dídac’s star product is the strawberry, and if you are lucky maybe one day he will gift you a box like he did to me, the first time we met up for coffee. If so, please look out for that twinkle in his eye, as if he were handing over a box of gems. Because they are.

The pandemic changed everything: Dídac’s main source of income is no longer school cafeterias or restaurants; he must now strive to make it to the direct consumer, in their homes. And I say: is there anything better than receiving your freshly harvested produce in the comfort of your own home? Dídac and his small team lovingly harvest them on the farm, and bring them to your doorstep with a big smile. If you are local, please try them out: : www.hortdendidac.com

A version of this article was first published on Delicooks on October 30, 2020. Photos by Becky Lawton.