La Boqueria market celebrates its 180th anniversary this year with an extensive program of events and initiatives. On March 19, 1840, the first stone of La Boqueria market was laid, present in Barcelona since the 13th century. This space on the Rambla was designed by the architect Josep Mas i Vila.

In the presentation of the program of activities, the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, explained that La Boqueria “has been and is a benchmark of our markets, an international example of a public network that looks for healthy food from the citizenship”. The president of the Merchants Association of La Boqueria Market, Salvador Capdevila, said that “there have been 180 years of constant evolution, with new products, new commercial formulas and new ways of relating to customers and neighbors.”

The program of activities to celebrate the anniversary of the market turns around three main axes: food, gastronomy and product, with cooking workshops and talks, since the basis of the market is human relations.

It will feature chefs, restaurateurs, gourmets, researchers, academics, journalists and influencers, with such prominent names as Carme Ruscalleda, the Torres Brothers, Nandu Jubany, Toni Massanés and Núria Bàguena, Carlos Zanón, Toni Iturbe, Tana Collados or Inés Butrón, among much others. At the same time, there will be bars and restaurants such as the Boadas cocktail bar, Marsella, Thonet, Muy Buenas and Casa Almirall bars, Bodega Sepúlveda and Bar Leopoldo restaurants, Escribà pastry shop and Rocambolesc ice cream shop.

Serial and timely activities will focus on cooking and conversation, with chefs such as Isma Prados, Marc Ribas, Albert Raurich, Rafa Zafra, Germán Espinosa or Romain Fornell, and with the cycle of talks “180 years feeding Barcelona” to explain what we ate when the market opened and what we eat today. There will also be La Blogueria, quarterly conversations between bloggers who will review gastronomy, home cooking and the market as an institution. And around the product there will be Boqueliciosa cycle, which wants to turn La Boqueria into the showcase to Barcelona of the product of the Catalan territory and its cuisine.

Among the specific activities there are Boqueria Negra, the incorporation of the market into the programming of the BCNegra 2020, 180 candles, a popular anniversary party, Primera Plana, a round table with journalists or the GastroBoqueria gastronomic fair within the framework of Mercè.

Finally, among the activities with partners, joint actions will be carried out with entities and citizen organizations such as La Virreina, the Maritime Museum, Ateneu Barcelonès, Palau Güell, MACBA, Sidecar, Castellers of Barcelona, ​​Teatre Goya, Liceu or the schools of the Raval neighborhood, among others.