Garoinada in Palafrugell, Costa Brava

The long months between Christmas and Easter seem to drag on and on in Catalonia, with no official holidays to look forward to. Not wanting to spend time merely with family, at work or following other routines, Catalans have come up with a few ways to amuse themselves.

First, as is the custom among Catholics, preface the beginning of Lent with a wild celebration of Carnival that lasts a full week and requires that you forget about diet, moderate drinking, and any other healthy lifestyle choice for once. Second, remember that many municipalities have more than one patron saint, each of whom has to be commemorated on a dedicated date throughout the year. This conveniently allows local festival calendars to include a "minor festa major" in winter (festa mayor is a celebration of the existence of said town or village that typically lasts several days). And third, you may always choose a locally made dish and dedicate a special gastronomic campaign to it in, you guessed it, winter.

Calçotada, the consumption of the locally grown type of leek called calçot, is one such activity that is well known across the country. This gastronomic event, which lasts from the end of January well into Easter, owes its popularity to the fact that it isn't attached to any specific place: you can taste great calçots in Barcelona and in a small Catalan village by the French border alike.

Palafrugell, formerly one of the world's biggest exporters of cork and presently one of the biggest importers of tourists in the Costa Brava, loves its calçots too, but in January its affinities lie elsewhere. The main culinary attraction, first taking place here in 1992, is Garoinada. Its main protagonist is the unexpected and very exotic (at least to the European palate) type of seafood, namely the sea urchin.

Sea urchins' eggs, or roe, contain a lot of healthy amino acids, microelements, and vitamins essential to, yet not produced by, human bodies. Various sources assure that consuming urchin eggs can cure anything from impotence to cancer, but the exact quantity that needs to be eaten to reap the benefits remains unclear. Be that as it may, February and March are peak spawning times for sea urchins: each can typically carry up to 25% of its body weight in roe or milt, which is five times more than normal any other time of year.

Sea urchins have a long life expectancy, surviving for 25 years on average. They usually die not from old age but by accident: a sturdy shell and spines, even poisonous, cannot always protect the urchin from its numerous predators. Gruesome details alert: sea otters get to the delicate urchin flesh by beating it against the rocks, while many birds break the urchin shells by throwing the urchins onto the cliffs from up high. Never mind the crafty human, who has all other kinds of tools at her disposal.

Sea urchin is served with its shell cleaned out of all the contents except for the five gonads (the sex glands connected to the anal opening) that contain those valuable nutrients, proteins, and lipids.

Just like calçots, sea urchin is only the beginning of Garoinada. The traditional continuation of the meal is also fish or seafood: hake, cod, monkfish or calamari. Some restaurants, recognizing the light and not very filling nature of the first course, may serve another appetizer in addition to sea urchin, usually Catalan blood sausage with fresh bread.

The Garoinada campaign begins in mid-January and continues till mid-March. Participating restaurants all have winter business hours, so it makes sense to call ahead to ensure they are open for your visit.