A book on Carthusian cuisine is published

The historian and archivist Javier Pérez Gómez, a great specialist in the history of the Carthusian monastery of Montalegre, has just published the book Cocina cartujana, where he makes a selection of 100 dishes and recipes from the Carthusian order from the studio of three recipe’s books prepared by the monks of the Carthusian monastery of Montalegre (Tiana), to which the Museum of Badalona dedicated an exhibition in 2017.

These manuscripts, which date from the years 1718, 1890 and 1970-80 and are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (the first) and in the Montalegre archive itself (the other two), include a wide variety of dishes ranging from the soups to the sweet desserts, including stews, sauces, eggs and fish. The only food that is not represented in the selection is meat and its derivatives, as the monks, in compliance with the austere diet that marks the Carthusian order, never consume it.

The work, which can be found in the bookstores of Badalona, ​​includes a first part dedicated to explaining the main characteristics of the Carthusian diet and its relationship with the daily spiritual work of the monks.