Travel Spain
This historic tram connects the small town of Sóller with the Port de Sóller district.
The Slow Life
Mallorca is all about sun, sand, and the pleasures of an unhurried life Tim Johnson elcoming our small group to their small cooking school, Deborah and Nina smiled and offered each of us an apron. Soon everyone was chopping and kneading while sipping a nice, local rosé. On the menu that night were two Mallorcan classics: “coca de verduras” (flatbread with greens) and “arros de carxofes i sobrasada” (rice with artichokes and a traditional Mallorcan sausage). “We cook with simple, humble ingredients, but a lot of flavor,” said Deborah, who owns the cooking school Deborah’s Culinary Island. She said their priority is to preserve and present the unique cuisine of the Mediterranean island. “This isn’t Madrid; this isn’t Barcelona; it’s not Seville. People come here, they want a taste of Mallorca,” Deborah said, noting that 58 I N S I G H T May 6–12, 2022
the meals they make aren’t gourmet by design. “You will never see this in a restaurant—it’s peasant food.” I told her that I’m a terrible cook, so she assigned me one of the easiest tasks and carefully showed me how to make the dough for coca, a traditional flatbread. I just needed olive oil, a pinch of salt, and flour—the latter made from an ancient grain that almost went extinct and was procured from a local farmer. We mixed it all together, expanding the dough to fit the dimensions of a small rectangular pan. It’s just one element in what would soon be a feast. Like everything there, this meal was many centuries in the making. “We were a center of commerce and trade,” Deborah said. “There are so many layers—the Romans, the Phoenicians, the Arabs; they all left their mark.” Set in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Mallorca is the largest of Spain’s Balear-
MADRID
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MALLORCA
Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands.
Traditionally made for Easter, “panades,” small meat-filled pies, can be found year-round.
