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Valls, From pineapple to calçot

The fire of the calçotada and the pineapple that supports the human towers.

Valls has two prides that are best understood by living them: the fire of the calçotada and the pineapple that supports the human towers. Here culture is not looked at from afar, it is shared, celebrated and puts you inside from the first minute.

Calçotada is much more than eating calçots. It is a social ritual that fills long tables, patios, embers and conversation. And the world of human towers is pure emotion, with its kilometer zero in Valls and an internationally recognized tradition.

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The party that is eaten with your hands From the burnt bud to the shared table A passion that arises in community

The party that is eaten with your hands

Market, competitions and grilling

The Great Calçotada Festival transforms the city at the end of January or beginning of February: the atmosphere starts with the Calçotada Market and continues with competitions that are part of the show, such as those of growers, sauces or calçot eaters.

The calçots arrive very toasted on a tile, peeled with your fingers, soaked in romesco sauce and eaten by raising your arm, without complexes. And when you are already in the ritual, the one that finishes the experience arrives: grilled, country bread and aioli, with the taste of the grill setting the pace.

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From the burnt bud to the shared table

The origin and the sauce that signs it

The calçotada was born in Valls between legend and land. It is said that a farmer discovered by accident how sweet the inside of some onion sprouts passed through the fire was. The municipal archive confirms the calçots in Valls at the beginning of the twentieth century, and their origin is well understood: they come from the late white onion, replanted in winter and 'calçada' with soil so that it grows more tender and longer.

The signature flavour is the sauce: romesco or, for calçots, its variant called salvitxada, made with chilli. There is also another close cousin, that of xató, usually with tomato.

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A passion that arises in community

The Casteller Museum and km 0

To understand what a human tower is without staying on the surface, the Human Towers Museum of Catalonia is the ideal gateway. The visit is planned as a journey that begins with the explanation and ends with the emotion.

Human towers do not exist without human towers: people who train, coordinate and trust each other to build a human tower. When you want to see it live, Valls plays at home. In the Plaça del Blat you will find the plaque of the 'Km 0 of the world of human towers'.

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