Behind the dishes we remember most there aren’t just ingredients, there are stories. There’s laughter around a table, Sunday afternoons scented with the oven, secrets passed down from generation to generation without ever being measured in spoonfuls. That’s how Encuentros en la cocina was born, the first recipe book by Gloria Rodés, co-founder of enlagloria salad house, a project that from the start has championed cooking as a place of connection, memory and creativity.

Two years ago, Gloria began gathering family recipes with the aim of rescuing them from oblivion. What started as an intimate, almost personal archive ended up becoming a tribute to her roots and to the flavours that have shaped her story. Today, that exercise of memory and love for cooking comes to light in book form, with a selection of recipes that nourish not only the body, but also the soul.

“I grew up in a family where the kitchen was the heart of the home, the place where we didn’t just cook, but also talked, laughed and shared.”

For Gloria, the kitchen was never just a functional space. It was — and still is — a refuge, a stage for affection, creativity and connection. Her book holds inherited dishes, like her grandmother Isabel’s samfaina or her grandmother Gloria’s gratinated macaroni, woven together with her own recipes, born of curiosity, of playing with ingredients and of a passion for good food. Each page is a window into her personal story, but also an open invitation to readers to find in their own kitchens a place to create, remember and share.

Encuentros en la cocina is not a conventional cookbook. It’s a love letter to the small everyday rituals, a celebration of the simple, the authentic. Each recipe is written with the intention to connect, to open a space for conversation, for enjoyment, for pause. Because, as Gloria puts it so well, cooking isn’t just about following steps, but about giving yourself to the moment, listening to the ingredients, allowing yourself to make mistakes, and above all, sharing.

“Each recipe is an invitation to enjoy the process, to explore the senses and, above all, to share.”

In a fast-paced world, where we often eat without really looking at what’s in front of us, this book proposes a return to the essential: the kitchen as a space of connection, as a starting point for new memories. Gloria doesn’t just share her recipes; she shares a way of being in the world, a way of living with more presence, more gratitude, more flavour.

“I hope this book inspires you to make your kitchen a place of connection.”

You can find Encuentros en la cocina at the enlagloria salad house locations or through their online shop.

With this book, Gloria Rodés brings to the table not only the flavours of her story, but also a different way of understanding cooking: not as a chore, but as a territory of affection, discovery and community.