Laughs and good food are guaranteed at this party, which can be celebrated in houses and restaurants and, if it’s good weather, also outdoors.

The calçot is a tender, white and elongated onion –thanks to the way of cultivating it– that is usually consumed between January and April. To cook it, it’s roasted with naked flame on a grill until it is cooked inside, which usually happens when the outer layers are scorched by the flames.

Once roasted, the funniest moment arrives: to eat it. It’s quite a show! To begin with, you have to put the bib around your neck, since tradition “prohibits” using cutlery. So yes, you will end up with black fingers, but don’t worry about that and enjoy! Hold a calçot by the top with one hand; by the root, with the other one, and stretch to remove the scorched layers. Now, dip the white and tender part in the traditional romesco sauce –made up of almonds, hazelnuts, roasted tomatoes, pepper, garlic, oil, vinegar and salt– and nibble it.

Although the calçot is the protagonist, it’s not the only product in this gastronomic festival in which it’s traditional to drink wine from a jar. After calçots, there is the meat grill (chicken, lamb, sausages …), which is cooked on the same embers and go with grilled artichokes and potatoes and white beans. The final touch is put by traditional desserts such as Catalan cream, sorbets and Cava.