The varied, the Mallorcan dish that has won all modern snacks

PalmThe varied menu, one of the most typical dishes of traditional Mallorcan cuisine, has managed to survive and overcome all trends (the latest being avocado toast) and is one of the most requested and beloved snacks on the island. Meatballs, Russian salad, cuttlefish appetizers, and loin in sauce, all in the same dish, an impossible combination that is not easy for a foreigner to understand. Where it is increasingly difficult to find this emblematic delicacy, which combines different tapas all in a single dish to the surprise of visitors, is in Palma, especially in the city center. The surge of establishments with a modern air to attract tourists, who roam the streets of the capital by the thousands, has been pushing aside traditional bars, where it was unthinkable not to be able to eat varied food. However, the varied menu is still holding strong in the rest of the municipalities, and also in the outskirts of the capital. This weekend Palma will host the And a variety fair to promote it and also as a show of strength of this recipe.

The keys to a varied menu are clear: traditional recipes, traditional cuisine, and Russian salad to mix with all the sauces. This is how Pilar Maria Calvo, one of the managers of Bar Mavi, a landmark on Palma's Calle del 31 de Diciembre, explains: "What people like most and what makes the varied menu different from other dishes and recipes is the combination of sauces with the Russian salad." For his part, Biel Roca, owner and founder of Ca'n Biel Felip, believes the key to a varied menu is the nibbling. "It's the part that makes the variety what it is; with the Russian salad, they are the two key elements, which can never be missing," he asserts.

According to Ca'n Biel owner Felip, the origin of the varia goes back more than 70 years, when bars offered a plate with anchovies, stuffed olives, and olive oil biscuits as a mid-morning snack to their customers. "At that time, it wasn't called varia, but that's where the idea came from." Little by little, this concept of mixing different things on a plate grew and evolved until it became what it is today. The first boom The first example of this traditional recipe from Mallorcan cuisine was when people, after leaving mass, would meet up with friends or the person they were celebrating with and share a varied dish. More than 50 years later, the varied dish is still enjoying a golden moment.

The clientele that orders varied dishes in bars has changed over its long history. Both Calvo and Roca acknowledge that for a time, the varied dish became a dish that only older people ordered, but this has now changed. "We have customers of all ages; among the young, there has been a boom And now variety is a passion, many people come with friends to eat a variety," explains the owner of Ca'n Biel Felip. For her part, the manager of Bar Mavi, who assures that what Roca explains is an "undeniable" fact, adds a differentiating point: "Older people eat a variety in the morning, but young people now eat at all hours.

In this sense, both Roca and Calvo explain that the variety has become much more than a snack. "People come, as always, to eat it in the morning, but we now offer it at all hours of the day, for lunch and even for dinner," says the manager of Bar Mavi. "It's a very complete and filling dish. If you don't come first thing in the morning, you often don't eat, and that's something we see more and more, people who come almost at noon and already eats the variety"When we started, people would come for a snack and order a variety of dishes, but it wasn't considered a meal as such," notes the owner of Ca'n Biel, Felip.

Variety vs. avocado toast, the last great battle

Throughout its long history, avocado toast has had to contend with several fads to remain one of the quintessential snacks. The latest battle has been against avocado toast. "There was a time when everyone ordered these toasts, but now the avocado toast has regained ground and even surpassed it. Before, it seemed that if you didn't have avocado toasts, you had nothing; now we barely serve them at all; what's triumphing are the avocado toasts," recalls Pilar Maria Calvo. Roca, on the other hand, goes beyond avocado toast and proudly asserts that "no fad or recipe has been able to kill the avocado toast, and I hope it continues to do so because it's one of the great representatives of traditional Mallorcan cuisine."

The manager of Bar Mavi acknowledges that there was a point where they were forced to include avocado snacks on the menu, but that they never gave up on having mixed dishes as the star item. Currently, at Mavi, 70% of the dishes they sell are mixed, while at Ca'n Biel Felip the figure exceeds 60%. To put these figures into context, Mavi makes 30 kilos of appetizers every day, and at Ca'n Biel Felip, 40 kilos of tripe, and at the end of the day there's nothing left over.

Tourists, surprised by the mixed dishes

When tourists, whether foreign or state-owned, visit a bar where they are heldvariedWe were surprised. They were familiar with some of the elements included in the assortment, such as Russian salad, croquettes, and tripe, but what they didn't understand was how they decided to mix it all up. In this sense, Pilar Maria Calvo, manager of Bar Mavi, explains that when they see it, "it resonates with them, shocks them, and some are reluctant to eat it, but once they try it, they fall in love and dip the bread and mix the sauces like a Mallorcan."

Neither establishment will be participating in the 1st Variety Fair this weekend, but both agree that "any promotion and publicity is good, but we can't send half the staff to the fair and continue with the bar open." Biel Roca adds that "no one has invited them," although she admits that it's most likely they wouldn't have been able to attend either.