The family tree of Ymelda Moreno de Arteaga (Madrid, 92 years old) is full of dukes, marquises and counts, but she earned the title of queen mother of food criticism all by herself. In 1968 she became a widow with five young children. Women at that time couldn’t even open a bank account in their own name without their husband’s permission, but Moreno decided she would become a journalist. He studied with Arturo Pérez-Reverte and Jesús Ortiz, father of Queen Letizia, and was part of the first class of Information Sciences. With her degree in hand, she began writing restaurant reviews under the male pseudonym Zenón. “I wanted to do things that until then only men had done,” she says, sitting on a sofa in her home, a majestic apartment in Chamartín. He achieved more than many men. She was president of the Confraternita della Buona Tavola, creator and coordinator of the Repsol Guide, director of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy and of the National Gastronomy Award.
Ask. What’s your Proust madeleine? What food reminds you of your childhood?
Answer. My madeleine is Teodoro Bardají’s (one of the most influential chefs of the 20th century) mashed potatoes. Teodoro was the head chef of my grandparents, the Dukes of Infantado. He spent many years at home. He was very affectionate and very cultured. He was like a grandfather to me. It was the post-World War II years and everything was missing. Teodoro couldn’t give us the opportunity to cook dessert every day. I took advantage of his nap to go into the kitchens and steal his chocolate. Instead of telling my parents or the mademoislle who took care of us, spoke to me. He said to me: “Ymelda, if you don’t steal chocolate anymore, I will make dessert one more day”. We get to a understand friendly.
Q. His father founded the Confraternity of Good Food, the embryo of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy. He said that there are only two important things in life: eating and dining. Do you agree?
R. My father died very young. He was 68 years old. At 68 I could have said the same thing. Now, at 92, I am more cautious. If I eat, I eat very little for dinner: some vegetables, soup or Danacol. The beauty of the table is not just eating. One of the great dishes on the table is company. Eating dinner alone is very boring.
Q. His childhood took place during the Civil War. Have you ever been hungry?
R. We spent the Civil War in the Lazcano palace, in the Basque Country. I don’t remember the hunger there because we had a garden. When we returned to Madrid I remember well the hunger and the rationing. The bread was yellow, yellow, yellow. We had a driver from Palencia who brought us flour with which we could make biscuits. And the grandparents had the hunting lodge in the castle of Viñuelas, where there were rabbits, hares and partridges.
Q. His grandfather, the Count of the Andes, was minister of Alfonso XIII several times. Did you eat well at court?
R. I never asked him. At my grandfather’s house we ate very well. I never saw my grandmother talking to the cook. My grandfather ate breakfast in his pajamas and chose the day’s menu together with the cook, a charming French Basque woman.
Q. Are Bourbons good to eat?
R. Not so much. King Juan Carlos, for example, really likes simple food. There were lots of eggs and potatoes. I only have a few years left. My grandfather and Don Juan met many times in Tangier. Sometimes I went with him. At the children’s table was Don Juan Carlos, my cousin and me. He was very kind. I was very happy to eat with an older girl. I’ll give him five years.
Q. Would you invite him to lunch now?
R. I? Happy. For me he was a great king.
Q. What would you prepare for him?
R. Seasonal cuisine. King Juan Carlos really likes meat and Queen Sofia likes fish. I’d make him some good fried eggs and potatoes and a steak.
Q. Do marquises cook?
R. The marquises cook, but I’m more of a food critic than a cook.
Q. His criticisms were signed with the pseudonym Zenón. If he had taken a woman’s name, would they have done the same thing to him?
R. So maybe not. There were no women working on this. So the woman dedicated herself to the house. But I wanted to do things that only men did back then.
Q. When did we start valorizing Spanish gastronomy?
R. I would say that it all began in 1973. In 1974 the National Gastronomy Awards were established and in 1980 the Academy was founded. Until then, good chefs were only French. Now we have excellent Spanish chefs.
Q. What is your favorite Spanish restaurant?
R. I love you all very much. I will say one of my favorites: La Tasquita de Enfrente, in Madrid, by Juanjo López. What I like most is their amazing market cuisine.
Q. Have you been to DiverXO?
R. I’ve been several times. I discovered DiverXO many years ago. I knew David Muñoz very well. I knew him so well that he invited me to his wedding, with his first wife. Unfortunately I couldn’t go.
Q. Restaurants now have two seats for lunch or dinner. Is this the end of after dinner?
R. The best is the enemy of the good. There is an explosion of gastronomy. There are many people who want to go to the same places. Going out to eat has become a hobby, like playing golf. And the restaurants can’t handle it. They have no choice but to do so. But yes, after dinner is on the verge of extinction… unless you choose the last shift.
Q. Now they are all food critics.
R. Well yes. People go places and learn.
Q. THE influencers have they replaced the critics?
R. Everything seems fine to me because I am very positive. Any contribution seems acceptable to me. Everyone can coexist. I, for example, am not very interested in social networks due to my age.
Q. What’s the worst mistake you can make at the dinner table?
R. The biggest mistake at the dinner table is talking on the phone. It’s a lack of education, unless you’re a doctor. At the table, like at the cinema or at mass, the phone must be turned off. I always say that the phone is very prying and very rude.
Q. Is there any restaurant you would like to return to before you die?
R. Arzak! I love Juan Mari very much. I have known him for many years. I would like to return to many: the Roca brothers, Ángel León…
Q. What do you think of Mercadona’s prepared dishes?
R. It hasn’t occurred to me to try them, but they are not sacrilege. I buy very good things from Mercadona. They have frozen turkey fillet and pork loin which are very good. But I usually don’t buy the pre-cooked one because I don’t need it. Now that you said it, I’ll try them.
