Beautiful Emporda is situated right between the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean Sea, which gives it a unique richness of fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables grown in volcanic soil, fresh meat from livestock that roam the hilly pastures, mushrooms and cheese of the best quality. That’s why Emporda cuisine is called “sea and mountain” cooking. But the heritage of so many different cultures has also been essential for all the richness Emporda has to offer. The first inhabitants were the Iberians, then came the Greeks who settled in Empuries bringing the first wines, then the Romans with their finest cuisine (known for the Apicius recipes), then the Arabs who brought the sweet and salty balance, and recently of course, the French cuisine influence! Generally speaking chefs from this region are humble, generous and hard working. They are very traditional, they love their roots, but they are always open to use new ingredients.There is a strong influence of the roman recipes used which used fruit to cook with meat, "salt and sugar". One of the most famous chefs is Ferran Adria from El Bulli - rated the Number One restaurant in the world and Joan Roca whose restaurant in Girona has two Michelin stars and additionally in the area there are seven other one Michelin star restaurants to be found. The Chefs at this cooking school have learned from the methods and the recipes of the best, they keep a very good relationship with each other and often meet to share a meal together discussing their latest discoveries! This school works with several chefs, but the cooking classes are held by Chef Oriol Blanes and Chef Vicenç Fajardo. They studied together and have worked in various famous local restaurants, Oriol is now in charge of the cooking school and Vicenç teaches in his own restaurant La Plaça.