was translated into Spanish with the title “Libro de los guisados, manjares y potajes” (the oldest edition in Spanish dates from 1525) 10. Ultimately, this is a demonstration of concern for a sector that, at that time, understandably, was accessible to very few people. The majority of the population couldn’t afford to eat anything other than what they produced themselves, and although there were more popular recipes and dishes, their cooking really depended on their purchasing power, which, I repeat, was very low. However, as I just mentioned, there was a concern on the part of the fledgling State to control, in some way, not so much the quality of the dishes that could be served in inns and taverns, but rather to guarantee a minimum level of healthiness in what was offered. 2.3. The gastronomic offer as another tourist resource Cuisine is undoubtedly a part of tourism, as LUJÁN stated when he said: “There is no doubt that, as a social fact, catering is understood to be a part of tourism11.” It can’t be any other way if we want to offer tourists a comprehensive service that meets all their possible needs. However, I’m referring to something else here. Gastronomy, not as just another tourism subsector, but as a true tourist attraction or resource, that is, as a circumstance that motivates the trip, that constitutes the fundamental reason for the trip. In this sense, I believe that the public administration must intervene, considering the economic impact that tourism represents for our country 12. But the question is: What kind of intervention? A stricter one, where market access is strictly controlled, or, on the contrary, a more lenient one, allowing the market to set its own limits? The answer to this question is precisely what this work attempts to answer, and I believe, as I will try to explain in the following lines, that, as in almost everything, virtue lies in the middle ground. I will address this in the next section. I now simply want to highlight how some restaurants have managed to become 10 LUJÁN, N., (2019), Historia de la Gastronomía, Debate, [LUJÁN, N., (2019), History of Gastronomy, Debate]. 11 RAZQUIN LIZARRAGA, M. Mª., (1999), “El marco jurídico de la restauración”, en TUDELA ARANDA, J., El régimen jurídico de los recursos turísticos, Revista Aragonesa de Administración Pública, Monografía III, Zaragoza, 1999, [RAZQUIN LIZARRAGA, M. Mª., (1999), “The legal framework of restoration”, in TUDELA ARANDA, J., The legal regime of tourist resources, Aragonese Journal of Public Administration, Monograph III, Zaragoza, 1999]. 12 Tourism activity reached €184.002 billion in 2023, representing 12.3% of GDP and 0.9 percentage points higher than in 2022. Tourism’s main branches generated more than 2.5 million jobs, or 11.6% of total employment, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (Spanish Tourism Satellite Account), dated December 26, 2024. 6 ALEJANDRO CORRAL SASTRE
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