In Gaudí's time, the Catalan day revolved around the esmorzar (often savory breakfast), the dinar (main midday meal), the berenar (afternoon snack), and the sopar (light evening supper). The popular base remained pa amb oli — bread rubbed and drizzled with olive oil — onto which everything else was added. Lean days (vigílies) and Lent imposed frugal meatless meals, while religious feasts (Sant Josep, Tots Sants, Nadal) called for their sweets and pot dishes. Gaudí, deeply devout and increasingly ascetic, lived mostly on vigília suppers and fasting.

Olive oil is the thread running through all Catalan cuisine — and literally Gaudí's favorite food, who drizzled his lettuce with a stream of oil. Alongside it, bacallà (salt cod), a pillar of lean days, embodies the man's devotion and frugality.