Papa Serra

it wasn?t your typical saturday morning in barcelona. with weather that can only be described as apocalyptic (think leaden, laden skies, rain bouncing savagely off the ground, cantankerous catalans inadvertently impaling each other with barely used brollies), and a head cold to match, i ventured out to huddle beneath the entrance of the boqueria market. what had enticed me to get out of my bed on such a miserable saturday morning? in a word: food. i had a date with papa serra ? a new venture in barcelona that offers market tours, cooking classes and the promise of a good time to be had by all.to get us into the spirit of things, our host joel greets us at the boqueria entrance with a big antipodean smile and a bottle of chilled cava. amid the torrential rain, we?re grateful for both. there are six of signed up for today's class, and joel says he finds that groups of between four and eight are the ideal size for a papa serra adventure. hailing from all around the world, we toast each other and delve into the riot of colour and confusion that is the boqueria market.