The most typical dishes of Ibizan cuisine are made with local or “zero KM” products. Because it is an island, for centuries, Ibiza had to produce its own top quality fruit, vegetables, oils, wines, cured meats and sausages, cheeses or meats, all of which are still grown, produced and consumed in Ibiza and are the prime ingredients of the star recipes for some of the celebrated dishes served in the island’s top restaurants.
In line with this tradition, some restaurants and businesses in Ibiza are firm advocates of the slow food movement which is seen as a new way of understanding local cuisine, based on organic farming, using home grown and fair trade products, with an ethical commitment to local food producers.
With this premise in mind, the Consell d´Eivissa and the Grupo d’Estudis de la Naturalesa, GEN-GOB, have devised a campaign to encourage consumer bulk buying of the island’s products, encouraging sustainable development and maintenance of its countryside and farmlands, and advocating reduction of plastics use. This will benefit not only the island environment, but also its tradespeople, entrepreneurs and consumers, and as part of this venture a leaflet, Comerç Senalló, has been published listing several shops that do not belong to supermarket chains, and which sell at least three categories of foods that can be bought in bulk, for example, fruit, vegetables or dried goods such as beans and lentils. In the case of outlets selling prepared foods and ready meals, you can take along your own container to be filled at the shop.
The campaign covers the whole island of Ibiza, and lists the shops and outlets that sell sustainably produced goods and “zero KM” cuisine in the island’s five municipal districts.
Consuming these types of product has many benefits, not just for health reasons alone, but because the quality of the foods is so good and because they taste better, contain fewer preservatives, and keep their nutritional values intact; and these products are also beneficial to the environment, reducing pollution, as transport is unnecessary. Local “zero KM” products also help to develop a fairer economy with greater margins for producers, who can then further invest in their enterprise and ensure the continuation and maintenance of the primary sector, all of which helps to preserve the countryside and farmlands, which in turn enhances the beauty of Ibiza’s landscape.
The island boasts hundreds of local products with traditions going back thousands of years, such as salt, oils or almonds, and these unique culinary traditions, currently enjoying a renaissance, are an invitation to savour the authentic gastronomic heritage of Ibiza’s local produce and cuisine.