Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has revealed during a recent interview with the newspaper El Faro de Vigo and the magazine Lecturas his particular weakness for Spanish cuisine, especially one of the most emblematic products of the Balearics.
During his last visit to Menorca in June 2024, the star of Wall Street enjoyed the local cuisine at the renowned restaurant Can Jaume in Ciutadella, where he was accompanied by his daughter Carys Douglas. The establishment, known for its traditional Menorcan cuisine, witnessed the actor's enthusiasm for local products.
Douglas' relationship with Mallorcan sobrasada goes back a long way. The actor, who has had a home on the north coast of Mallorca for over 30 years, has often expressed his passion for Balearic cuisine. ‘When I'm not careful, I get addicted to sobrasada,’ he confessed with a laugh during the interview, highlighting the unique flavour of this traditional sausage.
The Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Sobrasada de Mallorca was quick to react to the actor's statements, sharing the news on its Instagram stories and taking advantage of the actor's popularity to promote this traditional island product.
Michael Douglas's connection to Mallorca dates back to 1989, when he purchased the S'Estaca estate in the town of Valldemossa. Since then, the actor has been an informal ambassador for the island and its culture, expressing his love for the local cuisine, landscape and traditions on numerous occasions.
Sobrasada, the emblem of Balearic cuisine, is a cured sausage made from selected pork, paprika, salt and other spices. Its production has been regulated by the PGI since 1993, guaranteeing the quality and authenticity of the product that has so captivated the American actor.
After centuries of Muslim rule of the Iberian Peninsula, pork consumption returned to the region in the Middle Ages. Paprika was added after the spice was brought back from the Americas in the 15th century. Sobrassada is thought to have originated and expanded, as a culinary concept, in the Crown of Aragon-controlled Western Mediterranean (Sicily, Balearic Islands, Sardinia) after the 14th century, as similar sausages are still made in this region.
In a traditional Mediterranean diet, containing little meat, as Mallorca had until the 1950s, sobrassada and related pork sausages were the main and sometimes only sources of pork for Mallorcans. Larger meat cuts such as pork or lamb roasts, pork steaks or beef cuts were largely festive dishes, or restricted to the well-off. Even today dishes such as porcella rostida, a whole roasted suckling pig, are only served on special occasions.