Cocido is a traditional stew of Madrid’s gastronomy. Although its elaboration within the kitchen is quite simple and tedious, the large number of ingredients involved unfolds a series of intricate processes of systematic nature. This is a good example of a recipe whose complexity lies in the process rather than in the preparation. But even so, every time we eat a cocido madrileño, we ignore the phenomena through which the ingredients have passed until they are served on our plate. In each spoonful there is not only broth, chickpeas and pieces of meat; we also ingest markets, spaces of distribution, territories and a bit of tradition. This is not only true for cocido madrileño, the act of eating is trans-scalar and interdependent, yet we often overlook how inherent it is to the architectural, urban and landscape processes that shape our built environment every day and have a direct impact on the health of people, the environment and the Earth’s resources.

The research focuses on the spatial dimension of this recipe with an identity character in the region of Madrid, and particularly on revealing what is not seen behind the spoon. To this end, a study of cocido madrileño is proposed at three interrelated scales: the home, the city and the territory. A spatial retrospection is traced from the moment in which we take a spoonful of cocido madrileño to the moment in which that meal was complete units, and even more so, animals and plants. To do this, it is essential to try to construct a meta-recipe that is capable of delving into both the ingredients in their different states and the logistical dynamics that allow them to be prepared at different scales depending on the spaces that make up the system in each one. It begins with a typological analysis of the kitchen according to the ingredients of the stew, then it examines urban spaces from an infrastructural perspective according to the food units, and it ends with a cartographic exploration of the landscapes according to crops and breeding.

On the first scale, once we have studied the transformations of the kitchen since the end of the 19^th century, three examples of contemporary kitchens in different contexts are analysed. The parameters are related to the steps of the recipe, so they are studied based on the routes, the actions, the time inside the kitchen and its relationship with the rest of the dwelling.  At the urban scale, we study the great international hegemonic system and its consequences on the commercialisation and distribution of cocido in the city of Madrid. In this context, it explores the possibility of a zero-kilometre cocido madrileño in conjunction with municipal initiatives that are committed to urban agriculture and local distribution channels. In the territory, it is first necessary to understand the qualitative situation of agriculture and livestock farming in the region, in relation to the cocido, and then to cross it with two initiatives of the administration, the Bosque Metropolitano and the Arco Verde, which emerge as spaces of opportunity to value the productive character that nature has historically had and that continues to be key not only in terms of sustainability but also in terms of identity and culture.

The work critically discusses topics that commonly appear to be established, and yet become erroneous, such as the region’s capacity to provide ingredients in a more sustainable way, the possibility of building kitchens adapted to contemporary life in the metropolis, or the gradual increase in municipal interest in food dynamics that result in new spaces of distribution and consumption, among others. In short, the research proposes new readings from the field of architecture that renew the cultural imaginary of a recipe with deep roots in the capital and that make the population aware of, and ultimately involved in, its food dynamics.