Jorge González (El Caladero Gastrobar), from studying podiatry to betting on local produce

The young entrepreneur from Lanzarote, Jorge González, owner of El Caladero Gastrobar located in Arrecife, talks on the radio show Más de Uno Gourmet on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero about his beginnings and what people can find in this establishment characterized by homemade and Mediterranean cuisine based on high-quality local ingredients.

I come from studies that have nothing to do with the world of gastronomy or hospitality, but gastronomy itself is a world that is very attractive once you understand it because it's not just about eating, but ultimately about enjoying, sharing. I see eating as an act to share moments with the people you love. I'm from Lanzarote, I've lived here all my life, and at 18 I went to Madrid to study podiatry.

I started my career with great enthusiasm, but it's true that I had always felt a very strong pull towards the world of cooking. In fact, until I was 15 or 16, I wanted to go study at Basque Culinary, but life happened, family members told me I'd be smelling of food all day with bad hours, and I put that idea out of my head. However, I was lucky that thanks to the Cabildo de Lanzarote and different institutions on the island, during my student period in Madrid, I was able to collaborate, participate, and work at different gastronomic fairs, such as Madrid Fusión, Madrid Gourmet, or tourism fairs.

Yes, totally. The truth is that I think it's a very good dynamic because in this case, it has given me a professional future and reconnected me with the world of gastronomy and hospitality, all of this that we have in Lanzarote which has so much value.

But not only for that reason, in my case it might be a bit more exceptional, but it's extremely beneficial for everyone, even more so when you're studying. Some extra cash and meeting people from the island's business community, which ultimately broadens your mind a bit and prepares you more for the working world. We know that Lanzarote is a very small island, and the more people you know, the more interested you are in everything, and the more you know about what we have on the island, the better you'll do.

Totally and more so when Lanzarote is an island where an immense number of new companies in the primary sector, in the food processing sector, are emerging day by day. We have brutal gastronomy, but then Lanzarote is an island of entrepreneurs and ventures emerge here day after day. So, of course you learn things every day when you participate in these types of events.

I already came with a passion for this world, but when you dedicate yourself to what you like, you put in 100% effort and bring out everything you have inside. I remember the first fairs with Turismo Lanzarote, I was the new guy and the one who wanted to conquer the world and had ten people at the stand at the same time explaining things because I dedicated a lot of time to them.

I understand that perhaps exhibitors who are more professional have another level when it comes to attending to people and putting passion into it because it is evident that when you have been doing something for thirty or forty years, the enthusiasm goes down. I came with a lot of enthusiasm and, of course, I saw that people felt attended to and that I transmitted that passion for the island of Lanzarote to them. With all that enthusiasm and the drive I put into my work, I have managed to meet different entrepreneurs on the island, collaborate with them, and the truth is that all that experience has given me a lot.

Yes, I had one subject that was quite stuck and it took me two years to finish it, so I returned to Lanzarote and started working in the family business of sculptures, souvenirs, and so on. And the first six months I was already fed up and decided I wanted to get out of here. I have to finish my degree, but I'm going to look for another source of income, so I started doing the simplest thing, but within the world of hospitality I was connected, and that is setting up stalls at the different festivals in Lanzarote.

I started down that path, I also got a little involved in the events sector until last December 5th I opened El Caladero Gastrobar with the idea of defending the island's product, putting all my passion into it, and developing myself in this sector.

We are located, in my opinion, on the gastronomic street of Arrecife, which is Ginés de Castro y Álvarez street.

Yes, because in the end, the more knowledge you have, the more you value what you have in front of you. I understand that a 15-year-old person, to whom no one has spoken about local produce, if you put a tomato from Morocco and another from here, they will go for the one that is cheaper, but when you know the farmer and the chefs who work with that produce and you learn to appreciate it and so on, you say: it's an abysmal difference.

Totally, not only to defend the primary sector, but because in the end, for many years, tourism has been extractive on the island of Lanzarote. The large international chains came here, built their hotels, their apartments, and all that money did have an impact on the island's salaries, but all that profit went to those companies from other parts of the world, and in the end, if we support local companies, the money stays here, the island grows, and we all end up benefiting from that economy.

Caladero because on my mother's side, I come from a family that was historically linked to the island's sector. My grandfather Juan Betancor Borges was a shipowner from the port of Arrecife, and it's something that my mother instilled in us, and we feel very connected to that project. When one feels part of the island, they value that primary sector so much, and furthermore, they have that family history, so we wanted to pay a small tribute to our family and especially to our grandfather Juan.

What I was clear about was that I wanted simple, Mediterranean-style food, although we do include some dishes from other cuisines, but based above all on local produce. If possible, seafood, one of the dishes that sells the most are anchovy sardines. The sardine played a super important role in Lanzarote's economy during the sixties, seventies, and eighties. We have a type of sardine that we cure in Janubio salt and marinate in olive oil, making those preserves that were a large part of our economy here.

I personally designed the dishes and worked on different products, seeing what the public ultimately likes, and the menu has changed a lot since we opened last December 5th.

Yes, in the end it's the first foray into opening a restaurant and the customer is ultimately the one who is right, so you have to listen to them and make small changes as much as possible.

We open on Thursdays from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, we reopen at 7:00 PM and close at 11:00 or 11:30 PM. On Fridays and Saturdays we open from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM, from 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM, and on Sundays we open at midday from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM.

Short and to the point. From time to time, every week, we try to offer a special dish off the menu to give a little more variety to repeat customers.

At El Caladero, we have a capacity of about 60 or 70 people, more or less. It's a small place. We recommend making a reservation and you can contact us by phone, which appears on Google, or via Instagram, any means you have to contact us from our website or our contact information.

Currently, we have three lines of business. El Caladero as a calling card, El Caladero Gastrobar, and then we also have the aspect of institutional events for the promotion of local gastronomy and the catering version as well.

Today, the closest projects we have are Al Grano Fest, which is a zero-kilometer paella festival where we will have five restaurants from the island preparing their rice dishes with local produce, and there will be a jury, we will announce who they are later, but honestly, it will have a lot of prestige and quality. It will be held in the Plaza de los Lones in Teguise on October 18th.

After this competition, we will have live music with local bands and groups. The different restaurants will be able to sell their gastronomic offerings. For the Christmas campaign, we have a collaboration with Marina Lanzarote, with Karma in this case, where we wanted to give a second brand to their terrace overlooking the marina, which will be called Salaos, and we are going to start using this space for gastronomic events, company dinners, institutional presentations, etc.

One possibility would have been for me to be a podiatrist, but honestly, as I return to the beginning of our conversation, after having lived the experience of working at the fairs with the Cabildo, with Saborea Lanzarote, Turismo Lanzarote and others, my world was already completely linked to the sector of promoting local produce, of the island's tourism, a respectable tourism.

I do not contemplate another way of life. Since you immerse yourself in that ecosystem, you begin to know how to value 100% what the island of Lanzarote is and what it means to be from here, and I do not see my life detached from the promotion and defense of what we have.

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Jorge González (El Caladero Gastrobar), from studying podiatry to betting on local produce

The young man from Lanzarote tells in an interview on 'Más de Uno Gourmet' how he went from studying podiatry in Madrid to becoming a passionate ambassador for Lanzarote's gastronomy.