About Conservas Lou written by Ana and Marta

In 1940 a Galician man named Manuel Escurís López (our grandfather) decided to open a canning factory. A man eager for curiosity and adventurous, he, accompanied by his son Luis (our father, 1930-2020), built one of the most important canning factories in Galicia and linked our family name to the canning industry for three generations. Just as my grandfather did for him, my father taught us to love and respect the sea, to instil in us a curiosity to seek out new presentations and recipes, and to develop new ways of doing things in a process of constant improvement and learning. Following in his footsteps and inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit, we decided to preserve part of the industry's history, preserving a small, traditional canning factory with over 100 years of history.

In its beginnings, Conservas y Ahumados Lou was a small sardine salting and conger eel drying factory founded in 1880 (Sons of Tomás Martínez). Sardines, conger eels, and octopus were shipped to markets as diverse as Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and France. In 1896, it presented its products at the Lugo Regional Exhibition, where it won a Gold Medal, and its second Gold Medal in 1909 at the Santiago de Compostela Regional Exhibition. The company was headed for immediate closure due to the lack of successors to continue the long journey begun at the end of the 19th century. So, during one of our visits and long conversations in March 2021, and after having rejected offers to convert this iconic company into a tourist and leisure destination, we decided to buy the company and take over the project in honor of our parents. And not to see the closure of a factory that provided employment and sustenance to this small fishing village for so many years. 

GASTRONOMY IN GALICIA The main characteristic of our cuisine is its simplicity. Raw materials are consumed almost unchanged, given their high quality, thus preserving their natural intensity. Our cuisine has been known for over 2,000 years, recipes that have remained unchanged throughout this time. Galician cuisine is a symbol of hospitality; when we gather with family and friends, we display all the richness of our pantry. Both land and sea products are recognized for their quality worldwide. The vast biological wealth of our estuaries is combined with the immense quality of our livestock and agriculture. The most important events in Galician gastronomy were the discovery of America, which introduced foods such as potatoes, corn, and peppers to our kitchens, and the Industrial Revolution, which led the canning industry to introduce new species to preserve and new traditional recipes to offer. All of this explains the importance of traditional recipes to us, and our continued effort to offer raw materials of such high quality that their flavor doesn't need to be masked, so that their very intensity is what captivates palates around the world.