On December 13, 2025, the streets of the Madrid neighborhood of Delicias became the scene of an unexpected procession. Groups of neighbors watched with curiosity the passage of a contemporary pilgrimage that advanced along the Paseo de las Delicias. At the head of the procession, Sant Stomak, patron saint of metabolic balance, agrobiodiversity, food and conviviality, appeared as a living device for collective reflection. The action culminated in Infinito Delicias, where the play was installed and activated until January 28, open to public participation.

This pilgrimage was the result of a long process that connects artistic practices, popular rituals and critical thinking around food. At this crossroads is the work of the artist Antoni Miralda (Terrassa, 1942), selected in the first call of our Art to Come programme, which supports artistic initiatives committed to social transformation, food culture and collaborative processes.

A saint invented to talk about the real

Sant Stomak is not a saint in the traditional sense but, in Miralda’s words, “an icon, an invention, a cupboard for receiving offerings”. A device that serves to open complex conversations about food and everything that goes through it: “nutrition and metabolism, need and desire, hunger and violence, consumerism and capitalism, celebration and ritual”. The figure of the saint functions as a symbolic catalyst that allows us to talk about what is usually fragmented or invisible in public debate.

In the installation that could be seen at Infinito Delicias until January 28, the public was invited to actively participate by leaving offerings in the niche that contains the relic-stomach: messages, recipes, kitchen objects, food or other elements loaded with personal meaning. Each gesture was added to a collective archive that made visible the diverse relationships that human beings establish with food, understood not only as sustenance, but as a cultural, political and social fact.

The Manto-Mantel: process, collaboration and social fabric

One of the central elements of this activation was the Manto-Mantel, a collective textile work that surrounds Sant Stomak and which, for the first time, accompanied the saint in a procession. Conceived as a patchwork collage, the Manto-Mantel was made from tablecloths donated by residents of Delicias, as well as by people close to the project. This gesture directly materialized the connection between table, ritual and conviviality. For Miralda, the table is a fundamental space for relationships: “around it there is dialogue, discussion, parties, intimate stories are shared or even conflicts are expressed”. The Manto-Mantel is not only an aesthetic piece, but the result of a process of listening, exchange and co-authorship: “without the people, without the neighbourhood, without the human contexts, Sant Stomak would not exist; it would be an empty cupboard,” explains Miralda.

Sant Stomak in Time: A History of Activations

The origin of the history of Sant Stomak dates back to 2008, when the FoodCultura Foundation, devised by Antoni Miralda and Montse Guillén, began to celebrate its festivity every October 16, coinciding with World Food Day promoted by the FAO. Since then, this commemoration has become a symbolic platform to join the global debate on food, focusing on its paradoxes and inequalities.

In 2015, Miralda, together with the architectural firm Flores & Prats, designed a cabinet-reliquary in wood and gold leaf, inspired by a Neapolitan votive offering made of brass. This object embodies the figure of the lay saint and functions as a mobile altar, adaptable to different contexts. Since then, Sant Stomak has multiplied its appearances in new carvings and images in Barcelona, Cádiz, Santander, Naples, elBullifoundation and now Madrid, within the central courtyard of the Infinito Delicias space.