Spanish Gastronomy
A defining element of Spanish culture is their food! I've acquired recipes and tasted flavors I've never known existed. Here is a sample of my gastronomic experience:
The mediterranean "diet"
I learned soon after arriving here that the Mediterranean diet is well-known for its healthy focus on whole grains, vegetables, and olive oil. Apparently, dietitians sometimes prescribe people suffering from obesity to the Mediterranean "Diet." But in my experience in the Mediterranean, this "diet" isn't a weight loss plan, but a culture of eating- equipped with healthy ingredients but also deserts, refined carbs, and butters. Everything is good for you in moderation. The flavor of icecream, chocolate croissants, empanadas, in moderation fed my smile, not my dress size.
Tapas and bite-sized snacks
I arrived to Spain unfamiliar with the term "tapas." After two tapas and a lesson on tapas in conversation class, I learned that tapas are just small portions of bite sized food. A meal of tapas is like formal family style finger food.
Tapas can include small pieces of potato dressed in sauce, small fried pieces of fish or shrimp, authentic pizza (like California Pizza kitchen's pizzas, not like Papa John's or Pizza Hut) sliced into small squares, and other small bites of food.
Spaniards enjoy many small bites of food, including toast, pinchos, croquets, and empanadas.
Tapas can include small pieces of potato dressed in sauce, small fried pieces of fish or shrimp, authentic pizza (like California Pizza kitchen's pizzas, not like Papa John's or Pizza Hut) sliced into small squares, and other small bites of food.
Spaniards enjoy many small bites of food, including toast, pinchos, croquets, and empanadas.
PinchosPinchos are a small slice of bread with ingredients pinned atop, like an upgraded toast. These ingredients can include anything, from tortilla patatas, to seafood, to cheese. Here is a pincho with potato, ham, and octopus. I got it from Lizarran, a famous (though supposedly not high quality) tapas and pinchos bar.
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ToastToast in Spain isn't simply slices of sandwich bread left in a toaster for a few seconds. Toast is a slice of crispy french bread drizzled in olive oil or more light dressing, eaten mid-morning along side coffee. This is a toast I had during Hogueras.
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EmpanadasEmpanadas are pastries, classified under tapas. According to a tapas recipe, empanadas consist of a circular puff pastry folded over a mixture of olive oil, flavor, and meat, fish, or vegetables. They appear a little dumpling-esque, but taste more poignantly. Panderias (bakeries) and cafes sell boatloads of empanadas. They make a perfect 6 o'clock snack (since Spaniards dine between 8pm to 10pm).
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Raciones
While tapas are small portions of food, like appetizers, raciones are large portions, like a main entree. A meal can consist of several raciones in the center of a group, and divided among individuals (after they dine on some tapas). Also, an individual can order a single racion to serve as a filling lunch. Raciones can include paella, tortilla de patata, and soups such as puree vegetal and gazpacho.
Paella
Paella is rice fried with vegetables and seafood, then cooked in fish broth. According to interviews my conversation class classmates and I participated in, families cook paella once a week and generally Sundays during which families traditionally have lunch together at home. The first day I arrived, my host mom served a lunch of paella for me and her granddaughters. People also eat paella dabbing their fork (yes, they eat rice with a fork, not a spoon or chopsticks like I’m accustomed to) in aioli and then scooping some paella.
This is a paella I ate in Valencia. Valencia is the capital of paella. It is said that Valencia paella is paella and Alicante paella is rice.
This is a paella I ate in Valencia. Valencia is the capital of paella. It is said that Valencia paella is paella and Alicante paella is rice.
Tortilla de Patatas
Tortilla de patatas are one of my favorite dishes here. It is simply gently beaten eggs and bits of potato (with additional ingredients if desired) fried in vegetable oil. I’ve eaten these at any hour of the day- breakfast, lunch, dinner, and merienda (snack).
Because Spaniards are ingenious, tortillas always maintain a thick, round, unbroken shape. My host mom showed me the method to this: fill a small pan with the egg and potato mixture (instead of putting a tiny bit of egg in a large pan), fry until the bottom is solid, then cover the pan with a plate, hold the plate to the pan and flip the tortilla onto the plate, and slide the tortilla back onto the pan.
I took the photo above when during the program's tapas cooking lesson. (The tortilla is on the pan).
Because Spaniards are ingenious, tortillas always maintain a thick, round, unbroken shape. My host mom showed me the method to this: fill a small pan with the egg and potato mixture (instead of putting a tiny bit of egg in a large pan), fry until the bottom is solid, then cover the pan with a plate, hold the plate to the pan and flip the tortilla onto the plate, and slide the tortilla back onto the pan.
I took the photo above when during the program's tapas cooking lesson. (The tortilla is on the pan).
Puree vegetal |
Gazpacho |
Boiled vegetables and potato pureed. The trick is potato, which makes the texture of this puree special. We typically eat this warm, but I’ve skipped microwaving my puree a few times after walking home in humidity and heat.
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Gazpacho is a cold tomato and onion puree. It’s a popular Andalucian summer soup. We can eat gazpacho from a bowl with a spoon or from a cup. My host mom keeps a carton of gazpacho in the fridge. This is some gazpacho at a tapas café in Madrid:
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Salsas (Sauces)
AllioliAllioli is garlic and oil (al=garlic, i=and, oli=oil. Not sure which linguistic origin though). The ever-presence of allioli made me question the Mediterranean’s reputation of healthy gastronomy, but a tapas recipe says that allioli is made from olive oil instead of buttery saturated fats as I had assumed before. People dab a touch of allioli on toast, paella, tapas, croquets, and anything really.
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Olive OilEvery kitchen stores bottles of olive oil. Ordering a salad or toast entails a small bottle or package of olive oil to drizzle.
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TomateEvery café offers diced or pureed tomatoes mixed with olive oil as a side for toast.
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Bebidas
Coffee
Coffee and Espressos are one and the same in Spain. Caffeine addiction is universal and thus not noticed. Coffee is not a drug here, but a form of communion. When I study in a café midmorning, people have a coffee, toast, and some gentle conversation. There are at least a few coffee shops or café bars (coffee shop on one side, bar on the other) on each street and despite neighboring rivals, each café is highly populated. There is at least one coffee vending machines on each floor of university buildings and several outdoors by the cafeterias. Enter coins, select sugar amount, and choose from a wide array of caffeinated beverages. Café bonbon (coffee with a lump of sweetened condensed milk), café corto (an espresso shot) café largo (a tall cup of black espresso), café con leche (half espresso and half milk), leche manchada (translated as “stained milk,” consisting of milk with a bit of coffee). Making coffee by coffee machine is frowned upon. Instead, people boil a pot of coffee like soup.
Mineral Water
Maybe because of the drought, preference for coffee or wine, or mineral content, water in Spain is never free. I guess the Mediterranean also earns its reputation for healthiness since the water is always mineral water. Not only does a drink of water cost between .5 to 1.5 euros, it is also served rather elegantly:
Granizado |
Horchata |
A slushie. Crushed ice usually with lemonade, also with
other fruit flavors or coffee.
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Rice milk and sugar and/or flavor. It reminds me of a tea-less milktea. I ordered a sugar-free horchata because I like the taste of unsweetened non-dairy milk and the cashier questioned me- I hypothesize horchatas are traditionally a desert-like treat.
Photo courtesy of singerskitchen.com |
Tea
Sadly, tea in Spain does not equal in quality as in Asian or Asian-American cultures. Except for rooibos tea. Rooibos comes from Africa, which Spain neighbors, and is said to cure hangovers, which Spain houses plenty of. Waslala Teteria is a tea shop a short walk from my host home. It has some high-quality green teas and matcha teas, but the rooibos tea defines it from teashops in the US.
Here is a 4 euro tea pot of matcha tea. Notice the looming bottle of sugar- a sign we are clearly in Europe, not Asia.
Here is a 4 euro tea pot of matcha tea. Notice the looming bottle of sugar- a sign we are clearly in Europe, not Asia.
Alcohol
Alcohol is celebrated rather than feared here. Nobody checks for ID’s when people buy a bottle of sangria from the grocery store or orders a wine at a restaurant. Beer isn’t considered an alcoholic beverage since its alcohol content is less than 10%. Universities serve alcohol in their cafeterias. Foods and beverages with alcohol aren’t labeled with an obnoxious warning like the alcoholic icecream flavors at Amy’s Icecream. A café even serves bubble tea with alcohol. And alcohol poisoning and drunk driving isn’t an issue at all according to my professors.
I entered Spain completely intolerant of the taste of alcohol (since my family is from China which traditionally doesn’t prohibit underage alcohol consumption, my parents have put a glass of rice wine by my dinner more than once. I could never swallow more than a tiny sip). But after tasting sangria, then a bit of wine, I can now tolerate the bitterness and appreciate Spanish wineries’ artisanship. But I still don’t mind holding off on ordering wine until I’m 21 in two years.
I entered Spain completely intolerant of the taste of alcohol (since my family is from China which traditionally doesn’t prohibit underage alcohol consumption, my parents have put a glass of rice wine by my dinner more than once. I could never swallow more than a tiny sip). But after tasting sangria, then a bit of wine, I can now tolerate the bitterness and appreciate Spanish wineries’ artisanship. But I still don’t mind holding off on ordering wine until I’m 21 in two years.
SangriaFruit juice, sugar, and wine. The boat to Tabarca and our program’s cooking courses served sangria. The taste of alcohol was gentle and in my opinion resembled soda more than an alcohol beverage.
Photo courtesy of cherryvalleyvineyards.com |
VinoI attended a winery visit in hopes that I would learn not to be more open-minded about wine-drinking cultures unlike mine. But I still didn’t appreciate the taste and ensuing dizziness and tossed two of my three wine samples down the sink (remorsefully. I know making wine entails a lot of dedication and artisanship). I ordered a small glass of wine on the fourth of July alongside a plate of paella just to be especially Spanish on this American holiday. I couldn’t finish the entire cup, but the grape scent and warmth in my throat started overpowering the bitterness, and then and there, my disdain for Spanish people’s enthusiasm for wine began to dissolve.
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