Everyone is as excited as they are amazed to see how a current of solidarity and empathy has spontaneously emerged, the likes of which had not been remembered since other catastrophes years ago. It is the response of a very affected society and with a heavy heart due to the tragedy suffered in the southern regions of Valencia.
A group that has revolted over its misfortune and is reacting in an exemplary way is that of the hospitality industry. Given the destruction of some 1,000 establishments among bars, cafes and restaurants, which is said to be soon, according to data from the Valencia Hospitality Federation, there are also hundreds of colleagues of those affected and thousands of users, who are devoting themselves to helping them, generating an unprecedented mobilization , an exemplary and moving fraternity. Ordinary hoteliers raise money, bring prepared food and sandwiches to those establishments that still do not have a proper kitchen, give away cold rooms, ovens, furniture… bars are twinning proclaiming each other’s godfathers… and solidarity menus are prepared, the entire proceeds of which go to help small bankrupt businesses.
Two in the afternoon one day this week. We headed to Bar Júcar, an establishment in front of the El Cabanyal Market, on Pintor Vilar street in Valencia.
It is a very popular bar for its cuisine, led by Pepa, a woman who has been in the kitchen all her life; It is also because of its lunches every morning, because it has many market vendors among its clientele and because of a 60-year tradition in the same premises, which gives Júcar an extra bit of historical antiquity. Today Pepa is stewing in several saucepans a «arròs amb fesols i naps»a typical dish precisely from the Valencian Huerta. It smells very tasty.
On the street terrace, spending time under the awnings on a sunny day, people arrive and greet the current owner, Geovani Graciano, a hotelier of Brazilian origin. Men and women, young and old, arrive and almost all of them know each other. With beers and soft drinks in hand, there are “bareros”, like José Llorens, from the Llorens bar-restaurant, in Benissanó, formerly El Pouetand others from Valencia and outside. There is a bar owner who has bought 20 menus for 12 and a half euros, but without taking them or revealing his identity. There are people with their own tragedy and others who do not come but have paid for the menu. Neighbors from the neighborhood take it in lunch boxes… And there are the organizers of these initiatives, the “lunch eaters” those groups of friends who go out as soon as they can. «fer comboi» and discover new bars to carry out that Valencian ritual such as lunch, with baked bread, wine with soda, peanuts and olives, strong mixtures, “cremaets” and hunting.
This was what had been done both in neighborhood bars and in industrial estates and in nearby towns, until bloody October 29. A before and after with serious consequences.
Today, at Bar Júcar, everything raised with the menus, dish by dish, menu by menu, in the zero lines and through donations, will go to two devastated and well-known establishments in Algemesí: “Ca Ximo” and “Anem al lío”.
The intention is to help them overcome their ruin, in the words of Antonio Flores, a senior executive with thousands of workers under his supervision who, however, is waiting for the weekend to go to lunch with his wife Isabel and his group, one of the best known and with the most followers: “the magnificent four.”
“Many of the bars we usually go to have lost everything, but we are not going to leave them alone,” says Antonio, “not now.” «“We are all looking for more affected establishments to provide our help.”
At the table, between some 30 diners present there are other groups represented with the same intentions.
Classic lunch bars such as La Nueva Terraza, in San Antonio de Benagéber, Casa Quitín, in Burjassot, La Cantina de Ruzafa… join the wave of solidarity and embrace their battered colleagues, such as Els Arcs, in L’Alcúdia, winners of the Puchero contest and “lunch eaters” temple, which have already opened, overcoming the flood that took everything away.
The flow of brotherhood continues and there are and will be many more gestures that will emerge spontaneously and sincerely from the standing lunch bars, to the touched lunch bars, with another flood but this one, absolutely positive and full of affection and empathy.
Bars save bars.