ETXETIK

Together with Chroma Studio, we created a collection of four illustrated children’s books and a family recipe bok designed to inspire cooking and exporation of Basque Cuisine.

Each illustrated book invites families on a journe, from the vegatable garden and the farm, the buzzing world of pollination or the adventures waiting beneath the sea. This collection invites families to cook, explore, and share the joy of Basque cuisine together.

A project developed for the BCC Basque Culinary Center and Mantala Basque Gastronomy.

The ETXETIK book collection was created with the purpose of reconnecting children and families with the origin of food and with the trades that sustain Basque gastronomy. At a time when screens and the pace of daily life are reducing shared spaces, the project seeks to recover curiosity, humor, and conversation through stories that show that cooking begins in the land, in the sea, in beehives, and on farms, and that cooking as a family can be an act of bonding and transmission.

Driven by Mantala, a collaborative initiative between the Department of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government and the Basque Culinary Center, the collection is made up of four illustrated stories that invite readers to discover, through the perspective of friendly and fun characters, what happens in the vegetable garden, at sea, in the beehive, and on the farm. To these is added a fifth book, a family recipe book with simple proposals made using local produce, designed so that cooking together once again becomes a space for complicity and shared learning.

Each story offers a small adventure that reveals an essential aspect of the Basque region. The final recipe book connects all these worlds by proposing recipes that allow families and children to put into practice, in a simple and playful way, what they have learned through the stories.

Tomatetxo explores the vegetable garden and discovers the diversity of vegetables and the rhythm of the seasons.

BARATZEKO LAGUNAK
25 pags - 61 x 23 cm
Mantala Basque Gastronomy Publishing House
Basque Ed.

Erletxo experiences the outside world beyond the swarm for the first time, understanding how flowers turn into fruit and how pollination works, while her sisters and brothers make honey at home.

Antxoa ventures into the sea to carry out the mission of returning a fisherman's handkerchief to port and to meet different species that live beneath the waves.

Txita, newly born on the farm, learns the value of each animal by discovering that not all are born from an egg, and discovers milk, cheese, and how the natural cycle that will nourish the land is completed, beginning with manure.

Each workshop brought families into one of the universes present in the collection. In the vegetable garden area, Ane Zeberio (Arriatzu Barazkiak) and chef Javi Rivero (AMA) guided attendees through the seasonality and diversity of vegetables.

The space dedicated to the sea featured the experience of Lidia Olaizola (Kaia Kaipe), Pili Manterola (Iribar), and Marian, a net maker, focusing on the work linked to fishing and the repair of nets. In the beehive workshop, Inaxio Arin (Balerdipeko Erleak) and Armintz Gorrotxategi (Rafa Gorrotxategi) showed how the work of bees and pollination are ultimately transformed into honey and sweets. Finally, in the farm setting, Ion Areitio (Mugarrieta Ganadutegia) and Beñat San Sebastian (Errioguarda Enea) offered a demonstration on livestock care and the construction of a belarmeta.

The activity was completed with the preparation of a simple recipe in each workshop, in which children and family members collaborated alongside the participating chefs.

For his part, Joxe Mari Aizega, General Director of the Basque Culinary Center, has emphasized that “these books make up a very special project to which we have devoted a great deal of care and enthusiasm. They are more than just an educational tool; they are a vehicle to spark curiosity and interest in cooking among children and their families. They open up an opportunity to understand gastronomy as a space for learning, creativity, and culture.”