She cooked up four dishes, all of them with technique and also a message, the most important part, but the finale of the talk by Galician chef Lucía Freitas, who runs A Tafona* (Santiago de Compostela), came at the end, when she brought on stage some 25 Galician women, artisans, cooks, barnacle gatherers, shellfish gatherers, artisans, pensioners ... "The people really behind the food at my restaurant and everybody's restaurant. The real Michelin stars. The women behind gastronomy in this country". The auditorium caved in.

The Galician chef's talk showed gratitude to the primary and female sector (her restaurant is mostly staffed by women), "a mission we also have as chefs. We're in the limelight, and we have to find how to move around to give visibility to those who need it and genuinely deserve it". And it was them, and their faces were full of happiness. And Freitas applauded. As did the entire auditorium at the Kursaal. “They deserve it”.

In this connection, she cooked four recipes, all of which were related to the professions she had been praising. The first was a liquid "empanada" pastie with cockles and maize foam and cod crumbs, a classic at A Tafona which began in a glass, and following a trip to India, was finally presented in a panipuri. “A recipe in honour of shellfish gatherers. A fun way to serve up avant-garde cuisine from a traditional recipe".

The second offering was from the plantation: “My tribute to female farmers and the women working in the food market in Santiago”, cold roasted beetroot, pickled red cabbage and salted ice cream", a frozen cream that can be used as a dressing below zero". The third was "an exciting dish where I go back to my childhood, with the bread and cream I used to eat as a little girl". Her version was with cream produced by cows grazing in Ribeira Sacra, with ethereal bread crust and bread ice cream. “A dessert with zero sugar added, but just as sweet. By way of a tribute to women who produce milk”.

And finally, homage to Rosalía de Castro, the “universal Galician”. In one of her poems, explained the chef, "De Castro mentioned the glorious local stock made in times of scarcity. The chef's version was in two phases, a "bolo do pote", a typical recipe associated with Galicia's "caldo gallego" stew, and a “Millo Corvo” maize stew, "transparent but heavily-flavoured stock". Barnacle hunters, farmers, producers, poetesses - also artisans, shellfish gatherers, hospital cooks ... “To the women. Thank you".