Fina Puigdevall's cuisine is deeply rooted in the volcanic soil of La Garrotxa, the Girona region where Les Cols is located: "From here, but with the ability to open up to the world", her cuisine evokes an "esteem for the land". Everything, with less is more as a silent slogan, which is materialised in plates that, with few elements, treasure an endless number of emotions. Anima transmits it and invites you to enjoy it hand in hand with light, silence and the search for peace.

The book details the philosophy and creations of a magical restaurant where peace and tranquillity are savoured. Over 27 years, and together with her personal and professional partner Manel Puigvert, she has forged a restaurant that is unique in the world with two Michelin stars and in which every part of her soul is reflected. Now, the chef lays it bare in Anima, her first book.

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 culinary work: "The immutable cycle of the seasons".

The product, which, beyond being the object of homage, is shown as the recipient of a devotion and a deep love for the land, is the discreet and at the same time indisputable protagonist.

In addition, the work has the collaboration of 10 experts in contemporary art, culture, philosophy, and poetry, among other disciplines. Their texts open a window onto fundamental aspects of Puigdevall's cuisine. Among them, the representation of a landscape, the full awareness of the environment and the peace and tranquillity that can only be achieved when fullness arrives. All of them follow the same line as Fina's dishes, in which the superfluous is dispensed with in order to directly emphasise the elegance of the essential.

The circle of Anima closes with 84 famous and accurate reflections signed by inspirational sages from all historical periods and from every corner of the world, from Fray Luis de León to Oscar Wilde, via Rabindranath Tagore; and with the images of the photographer Mikel Ponce, which emanate the same values that guide the leisurely evolution of Les Cols. Sincerity, balance, naturalness, authenticity and emotion are among them.

"I try to relate each instant to beauty and live each moment with intensity," says Fina Puigdevall. "It is the little things that fill me with happiness and bring me closer to seasonality and to a life in plenitude.

Montagud Publisher

Binding: Hardcover

Number of pages: 384