I’ve been yesterday to a calçotada with my company. A calçotada is Catalan tradition that takes place in spring, usually between January and April, during the calçot season where people eat calçot and drink wine from a special porrón pitcher. Drinking and eating competitions are quite common at these events.

Calçot is a type of onion that grows in these parts and it’s usually consumed grilled on an open fire and dipped in a special sauce during a calçotada. The sauce has a reddish appearance and – from what I could tell – it’s a mixture of tomatoes, garlic and spices. Quite good actually, even when served with bread. In order to eat calçot, you have to peel its outer layers that were burned by the heat, dip it in the sauce and eat it carefully, in order not to spill the sauce on yourself or on the people nearby. Everything is done outdoors. Obviously, given the mess the inexperienced eaters might create. And it’s a stand up thing. No chairs.

The porrón wine pitcher looks more like something you’d expect to find in a chemistry lab rather than in a wine shop. With it, one can drink wine while pouring wine into one’s mouth from distance, without ever touching the recipient to the lips. The further you keep the porrón from your mouth, the better drinker you are. It’s quite messy and the inexperienced drinker will surely spill wine all over his clothes. In order to prevent getting stained, people usually put bibs around their necks. Drinking without a bib around your neck is another sign of porrón mastery. Or drunkenness. Depending on whether you spill or not.

A piece of advice: don’t engage in porrón drinking contests against catalans. You’re going to lose. Bad!