From his restaurant in Cascais (Portugal), chef Gil Fernandes climbs down the cliffs to the rocks at high tide to harvest sea figs, which ‘are riper in summer’. One of his hallmarks is the use of local produce that the ‘industry’ cannot provide. He adds them to his menu as ingredients on one condition. ‘That it has flavour, for us that's the most important thing. Nothing without flavour is allowed in’, says Fernandes in the Madrid Fusión auditorium on the last day, this unusually snowy Wednesday. Other key aspects of his cuisine are tradition, because ‘we are proud Portuguese, and we want to explain how we eat and what dishes we have’; seasonality, because ‘we always look at the seasonality of each product. We must respect nature; we don't harvest before the season’, and the minimalist aesthetics of his dishes, which is ‘something very personal, but not the most important thing. Authenticity is not imposed, it is felt’.

In his enclave, thirteen minutes from Lisbon, he also has access to a wooded natural park, which provides him with the flavours he incorporates into his recipes, through ‘mushrooms, plants, flowers’. ‘We want to experiment more with new flavours’, says Fernandes. ‘It is essential to make more use of Cascais' diversity. I'm talking about wild products. For us, it's a point of differentiation. Our menu is different because we cook with ingredients that the industry cannot sell us. That philosophy sets us apart’.

For example, the juniper he harvests in October. Or the piño, a ‘sand plant’ with which he makes an ‘oil with cream and cream’. Or fennel, which in spring and winter is not sweet and has a strong smell, and from which he makes ‘a green sauce with garlic’. With the products of his land, he aims to ‘create memories from childhood, so that children know how we feel and how we make the recipes’.

He harvests throughout the four seasons. ‘Sea spaghetti seaweed, which chefs love for its crunchy texture, is at its best in summer. Harvesting is a time-consuming job. I learned from my grandmother, who was a botanist and loved herbs. She picked them to treat her illnesses. Since then, I have been in touch with nature. There is an element of wild nature in each of my dishes’.

Among these rebellious flavours of nature is a ‘curry plant with a yellow flower that has a very strong aroma at night. We had to do something with that flower because it smelled everywhere. We made a sorbet and the dish is called “Night Scents”. We also use sea fennel and elderflower, which are magical flowers in spring’. Fernandes' philosophy comes full circle with the planet in mind: ‘The world needs us to protect it, through local products and respect for nature’.