The biography of the woman who revolutionized Spanish cuisine: María Mestayer de Echagüe. A portrait of a pioneer in her field and the founder of one of Madrid’s most iconic restaurants—Parabere. A journey through flavor and history, led by an emancipated woman who made her passion her legacy. Above all, a phenomenal story of taste.
Bilbao, 1877. María Mestayer de Echagüe is born into a privileged family: the daughter of a diplomat, precociously multilingual, brilliant, curious. What no one suspects is that this girl will one day change the course of Spanish culinary history. Known to posterity as “the Marquise of Parabere,” she was far more than a title—she was a visionary who transformed cooking into an art form, a discipline, and a form of resistance in a country scarred by war, exile, and repression.
From a young age, María tastes the world: Viennese tartlets, lobster à l’américaine in Paris, exotic spices in Istanbul. She travels, writes, experiments, and educates herself through books, kitchens, and letters exchanged with the great chefs of her time. She quickly realizes that most cookbooks are inaccessible to ordinary readers—technical manuals written for professionals. So she finds her mission: to translate elite gastronomy into the language of everyday people. Her culinary books become bibles, still reprinted to this day.
Married to a lawyer from San Sebastián and mother of eight, María could have settled into a conventional life. But she dreams bigger. She leaves Bilbao and opens her own restaurant in Madrid: Parabere. In the heart of the Belle Époque, it becomes a landmark of refinement, technique, and pleasure. Its clientele includes Hemingway, María Teresa León, Prieto, Buffalo Bill, Marcel Proust, Chaves Nogales… Even during the Civil War, Parabere endures—as a refuge of excellence and memory.
But it wasn’t just about food. Within its walls, intrigues unfolded, impossible loves were born, and lives marked by conflict intersected. After the war, the restaurant is forcibly closed, only to reopen under a new name: Casa Jacinto, in honor of a waiter murdered by Franco’s police. The name pays tribute to the silenced dead. Yet the soul of the place remains: that of a woman who forged her destiny with fire and flavor.
RELEVANT INFORMATION: Andrea Cabrera Kñallinski (Buenos Aires, 1973) is a journalist who has worked with Canarias 7 and contributed to various outlets including La Vanguardia and La Razón de Buenos Aires. She made her literary debut in 2023.
Aldo García Arias (Madrid, 1973) worked with the publisher Visor Dis and has managed the Machado bookstores in Madrid since 2001. He is a member of the board of the Madrid Booksellers’ Guild.
Parabere, their first co-written novel, was a finalist for the 2024 Café Gijón Novel Prize. This biographical novel retraces the vibrant and challenging life of María Mestayer—from gastronome to wife, mother, businesswoman, and dreamer. The narrative is rich, well-structured, and emotionally resonant, weaving together personal drama with a sweeping portrait of Spanish society grappling with its past and the scars of war.
Told in short, dynamic chapters, Parabere is a literary and culinary gem: a story that blends history, family saga, and social chronicle. Real-life figures—aristocrats, intellectuals, politicians, writers—add depth and detail to the vivid narrative.
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish
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