“Olive oil forms part of our gastronomic DNA”

Published on: Lectura Magazine – Diari Segre (22th november)

Oriol Ivern is the chef of the restaurant Hisop in Barcelona –probably the most affordable Michelin-star restaurant in Barcelona out of personal principle–, the manager of a gastrobar in Stockholm and a gastronomic adviser. A seeker of quality products, he actively participates, with Jordi Morillo, in converting the premium oil Praedium KYLATT from the cooperative of Alcanó into an even more excellent product.

How important is olive oil to you in your cooking?

It’s indispensable. For 20 years, we’ve used the same oil, from a co-op in Catalonia, in our cooking. This gives our cooking a specific personality. We’ve seen it as essential from day one. In addition, ever since we founded Hisop 20 years ago, we’ve stuck to our practice of offering our customers two types of oil before starting the meal. So they can try each one by itself and really taste it.

Why?

At the time, the majority of what are now called gastronomic restaurants still offered their customers butter. We believed it was very important to add value to a product like olive oil, which has formed part of our gastronomic DNA for millions of years. We decided to offer two so our customers could see the different nuances. One was always Catalan, as Kylatt is now, and one was from abroad, Andalusian, Italian, Greek…

How would you rate this recent collaboration with the mill of Alcanó?

Very highly, we’ve learned a lot from it and everyone has plunged right in. We thought maybe they would receive us with some reservations and it hasn’t been like that at all.