Traditional cuisine is disappearing and the language is becoming impoverished: “Everyone knows what ramen is, but not burballes.”

PalmLittle by little, without much noise, traditional cuisine of the Balearic Islands It's fading away. It's not happening for a single reason or overnight, but as a consequence of a profound change in how we live, eat, and relate to time. Globalization, the culture of immediacy, and a fast-paced diet have been displacing a cuisine that requires slow cooking, patience, and oral tradition. This has led to the disappearance of part of the culinary vocabulary and linguistic heritage that has defined the cultural identity of the Balearic Islands for centuries. Words that once circulated naturally in the islands' kitchens are increasingly unfamiliar to younger generations, reflecting how the disappearance of traditional dishes is accompanied by the loss of language and cultural knowledge.

José Maria Natta, PhD in Chemistry and president of the Balearic Islands' food journalists, warns that "the younger generations don't even know the basics of cooking, much less the traditional gastronomic vocabulary of the Balearic Islands," and that, in general, "they don't like gastronomy and aren't interested in learning about it." According to Natta, young people only know "globalized things, international brands, and foreign recipes." "They know nothing about the cuisine and gastronomic vocabulary here," he emphasizes, which has direct consequences for the transmission of culinary and cultural knowledge. As an example, he adds that nowadays "everyone knows ramen and wants to eat it, but almost no young person knows what burballes are." Thus, he stresses that "the cuisine and gastronomic vocabulary are in very bad shape; this looks very bad."

Today, it's increasingly common to rely on ready-made meals, takeout, or simplified recipes that stray far from the traditional dishes that have defined the islands' pantry for generations. The cooking of yesteryear—the kind that demanded patience, planning, and expertise—is giving way to a logic that prioritizes speed and convenience. above taste, quality and the community sense of foodNicolau Dolç, a philologist, recalls that "when activities disappear, in this case the recipes And with the type of cuisine, the specialized vocabulary also disappears." Dulce points out that this process is common throughout history, but explains that "this loss of traditional linguistic heritage is marked by modernization, not by social change, since it is now replaced by Anglicisms and words from Castilian Spanish." According to him, "modernization doesn't just come from 'modern,' it also comes from 'fashion,' and now the fashion is homogenization and everyone being the same in a global world. That's why we're seeing a trend where words from other languages ​​end up replacing traditional and historical terms in the Catalan language."

In this sense, he adds that the real problem arises when the word that replaces the traditional, now obsolete, word is replaced by one from another language: "this is where linguistic richness and heritage are lost." the vocabulary has been dynamic Words and concepts have appeared and disappeared, but until now they were replaced by Catalan words; currently, this is no longer always the case,” he states.

In this way, the change in the gastronomic habits of new generations not only has culinary consequences. It also affects a less visible but equally fragile heritage: language. These words have been kept alive in kitchens, around a pot of lard or a family table. When dishes disappear, so do the words that explain them, the ability to describe processes that are truly identity-related. traditional Balearic cuisine It's not just the loss of some dishes. It's also the loss of a way of conversing, of speaking, and of understanding the world. A heritage that is not included in restaurant menus It's not even in textbooks, but it has shaped the everyday identity of the Islands for centuries. And today, it is silently fading away, dish by dish, word by word.