La Chanca Tienda y Museo. Museo solo bajo reserva — Attraction in Barbate

We were on our own at 11am, and the girl guide was excellent. Apologising for her English, unnecessarily, as she explained everything very well, we were led into the " underwater cavern" which depicted so much. I was too interested in the exhibits to take photos which I regret. Then we were shown a mockup model of the processing factory but the " piece de resistance" ( sorry I don't know the Spanish equivalent) was the finale! We sat on benches in front of a small glassed room with a sink, a huge plastic bin and what we thought was a huge plastic tuna lying on a table. They can weigh up to 300kgs! Others were lying under other tables...THEN, a man walks through holding a big knife wearing rubber apron over his clothes and boots! The girl started explaining as he started " filleting " the fish, firstly removing the head and then the entrails (thrown into the plastic bin behind which is for animal feed). He skillfully removed the desired pieces of tuna from the top of the head , highly prized for sushi and other delicious fare, tataki etc. And then turned to the main body slicing perfectly into even sized pieces, laying them out before us like a fishmarket stall! Absolutely amazing!! After it was completely done we were then asked to follow her to the shop and presented with a plate of all kinds of tuna plus a choice of drink, sodas, water or beer.. altogether the best value ticket (€8 pp) in town! Bravo, La Chanca company, and ...

l Museo del Atún es un espacio informativo creado por Salazones, Conservas y Ahumados LA CHANCA para dar a conocer al visitante toda la tradición ancestral que existe en toda esta parte de la costa gaditana en torno al mundo del atún: su captura y posterior transformación.

. Pasaremos a contemplar la recreación de una chanca (antigua sala de elaboración) donde los pescadores de Barbate, allá en los años 50, (década en la que se origina nuestra empresa), transformaban sus capturas. En esta zona queremos que el visitante interactue con nosotros (conozca la sal marina, partes del despiece del atún,...) es decir que reciba a través del tacto las sensaciones de sentirse trasladado a esa época.

Durante el recorrido podrás conocer como se captura esta joya del mar: el Atún Rojo desde hace más de 3000 años. Nuestra vista y oido se recrearán al entrar en un espacio que simula el fondo del mar, sirviendonos de sistemas audiovisuales donde parece tomar vida las replicas de ruinas, barcos hundidos, redes de almadraba hasta llegar al copo, lugar donde se realiza la "levantá" (Captura del atún).

.. ... Veremos la reproducción de nuestra fabrica en una maqueta gigante, en la que mostraremos la forma actual de la elaboración, combinando el proceso artesanal con los últimos avances tanto tecnológicos como en materia sanitaria: conociendo los detalles de las salazones, conservas y ahumados. Acto seguido veremos en vivo una demostración del despiece del atún conocido como Ronqueo, en el cual un especialista de LA CHANCA, a la vez que realiza dicho despiece va explicando...

It is a very interesting tour with good visual displays of the Barbate's tuna past and present, with a live demonstration of tuna filleting. Samples at the end in the shop, which is a fantastic sample of different parts of the fish. One recommendation is that it would be useful to have a leaflet in English for international visitors to cover the main facts during the tour. This is a must book event, so go to the company's website, which also has an an English option and makes...