Jordi Roca He has established himself in the culinary field as one of the most recognized chefs of recent times. He is considered the last Catalan par excellence and his career has earned him awards and renown such as ‘food hero’ given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), among many. others. Together with his two brothers, he founded the restaurant El Celler de Can Rocawhich has been classified as the best in the world for two consecutive years (2013 and 2014).
Jordi Roca at the presentation of the Rocambolesc restaurant in Madrid/Gtres
His relevance in the field reaches the point that he has visited, on numerous occasions, small screen programs to delight viewers with his knowledge in front of the stove. And this is exactly what happened last night, when the youngest of the Roca brothers attended, as a guest, the final of the eighth edition of MasterChef Celebrity. There their task was based on explaining the preparation of the dish that the finalists, Laura Londoño and Álvaro Muñoz Escassi, would have to recreate to win the prize. But, beyond participating as an expert on the subject, his presence caught the attention of more than one for his visible disease in the vocal cords.
“Don’t be sorry, I’m very proud of you” @jordirocasan #MCCelebrity pic.twitter.com/TwhP08y609
— MasterChef (@MasterChef_es) November 30, 2023
Jordi Roca was forced to whisper, both to the jury and to the candidates, the different steps that had to be followed to achieve the perfect result from the menu on display, due to the persistent hoarseness from which he has suffered for almost a decade. This inconvenience when speaking is linked to the cervical dystonia with which he was diagnosed years ago. It is a rare neurological disease that he himself began to explain on his social networks, which directly affects muscle toneespecially in the neck area.
«As many of you know, for 7 years I became totally dysphonic, I lost my voice completely. During that time I have had voice peaks that have come and gone, but each time I am a little better, I am improving my phonation, especially I have relearned to speak without effort», he explained on his official Instagram profile. Visibly moved, the chef assured that every effort has a reward and that he had worked hard to recover the sound of his voice: “Although it may seem like a lie, when something happens to you like what happened to me “It is very difficult to get back to the thread of the voice.”
What is cervical dystonia?
According to the definition offered by the ABC Medical Center, “cervical dystonia is a painful neurological disorder “which causes involuntary muscle contractions in the neck, causing the head to move forward or backward or turn to the sides.” In the case of Jordi Roca, this disease affected his vocal cords, which could not make the necessary movements to verbalize correctly.
Cervical dystonia is part of the group of “rare diseases” since it only It affects one in every 25,000 people. In fact, it is difficult to come up with a clear diagnosis at first, which is why it requires many medical tests until the result is found. According to several studies, it is more common to see male patients than female patients.
