The Story of MaTaMaLa (and the Event That Made it the Most Famous Village in Spain)

Once upon a time, the protagonists of this story…

On the one hand, an English man named Thomas, a French woman named Marie and a Spanish man named Carlos. They wanted to find a project that would give meaning to their lives making people happy, and on the other hand a small village called Matamala whose inhabitants didn’t have good mental health and always lived with negative feelings.

Our protagonists had an important mission: to elaborate delicious cakes to combat negative emotions—fear, anxiety, anguish and sadness—and make people happier. Each one had to contribute with their knowledge, professional experience but mainly with their personal experience in life.

At the beginning of the spring of 2021, when the pandemic was still present in the cities, they travelled to the village and got to work on in an old bread oven that they restored in order to start with the wonderful project.

Marie, the pastry chef, made cakes by hand and selected the best ingredients to please the palate and strengthen the positive feelings of the customers. Thomas with his knowledge of decorative design, shaped each of the cakes, as well as decorating them with a special message.

Carlos the reporter, who was giving visibility to this project over the world, created the web page and published it on social networks. The first cake was taken by Mrs. Angustias, but it didn’t take a long time for Mrs. Dolores, Mrs.Amargura and Mr. Tristan to arrive. Carlos made a TikTok video for each of the people who bought cakes and made them read the special message that the cakes carried.

So Mrs. Angustias’s dark chocolate and strawberry cake had the message, “don’t anticipate problems and don’t worry about what could happen. Stay in the sunlight.”

For Mrs. Amargura in her apple pie with puff pastry and a touch of cinnamon, carried the message, “fill your heart with good things and transform your wounds into wisdom.”

Mrs. Dolores, who loved mango cheesecake had the message, “life is not for waiting, it is for living and making the most of it until the end.”

And Mr. Tristan’s rice with milk and chocolate cake had the message, “smile each day, live each moment, love each hour and enjoy each second.”

These TikTok videos went viral all over the world and very soon the village was an attraction for visitors. Quickly they had to expand their facilities and hired new staff for working with Thomas, Marie and Carlos.

In a short time, the webpage was filled with a lot of orders and the village was visited by popular personalities to buy the wonderful cakes with messages of positive feelings.

Politicians, singers, and sportspeople had made of Matamala, the most famous village in Spain and without doubt a sweet stop that everyone should try.