Anima, Fina Puigdevall

Fina Puigdevall, who has run Les Cols since 1990, bares her soul in her first book. The book details the philosophy and creations of a magical restaurant where peace and serenity can be savoured. Its 384 pages radiate an intimate and didactic beauty. In 1990, a young Fina Puigdevall opened the doors of Les Cols (Olot, Girona) in the farmhouse where she was born. Over 27 years, together with her personal and professional partner Manel Puigvert, she has forged a unique restaurant in the world that holds two Michelin stars and reflects every part of her soul. Now, the chef bares it in Anima, her first book.

The book, published by Montagud Editores, offers an intimate portrait of the restaurant. Each of the 384 pages of Anima radiates didactic spirit, beauty, reflection and contemplation in equal measure. They do so, for example, through Fina Puigdevall's 82 most significant creations. All of them take the form of an offering to the diner, while at the same time reflecting with exquisite fidelity one of the transversal axes of her cuisine: "The immutable cycle of the seasons". The product, which beyond being an object of homage is shown as the recipient of devotion and a deep love for the land, is the discreet yet undisputed main protagonist. In addition, the book features the collaboration of 10 experts in contemporary art, culture, philosophy and poetry, among other disciplines. Their texts open a window to fundamental aspects for understanding Puigdevall's cuisine. Among them, the representation of a landscape, a full awareness of the environment, and the peace and serenity that can only be achieved when plenitude arrives. All of them follow the same line as Fina's dishes, in which the superfluous is dispensed with to directly emphasize the elegance of the essential.

The circle of Anima closes with 84 famous and accurate reflections signed by inspiring sages from all historical eras and every corner of the world, from Fray Luis de León to Oscar Wilde, passing through Rabindranath Tagore; and with the images of photographer Mikel Ponce, which emanate the same values that guide the unhurried progress of Les Cols. Sincerity, balance, naturalness, authenticity and emotion are among them. "I try to relate every moment to beauty and live each moment intensely," says Fina Puigdevall. "It's the little things that fill me with happiness and bring me closer to seasonality and a full life." "Editing this beautiful work has been an exercise in reflection for which we are grateful," adds Jãvi Antoja de La Rosa, director of the book and of Montagud Editores' publishing projects. "We have embraced the ideology of Les Cols as our own, whereby the most intimate part of the being is presented as an offering to the client with a contemporary language."