¡Buen Provecho! Food in Spain

Hola amigos,

I’ve not been in Spain a week, yet I’ve already had some delicious and…well, muy interesante Spanish food. A vegetarian for six years, I’ve decided to try meat while I’m here to more fully experience the culture. While I’ve enjoyed what I’ve tasted (chicken, fish drowned in some kind of white wine sauce, shrimp, medium-rare pig sausage), I plan to continue my vegetarian diet once I return to the US.

Unfortunately for me, they do not eat much chocolate in Spain. My host mother Fuensanta asked me what we eat for dessert in the US, and she was very, very surprised when I told her that, in my house, we always eat chocolate. She told me that, in Spain, they usually eat chocolate only with other things, such as in bready pastries, and always for a snack, not for dessert. She does, however, love dipping churros (a fried breakfast pastry) in hot cocoa (which is much thicker in Spain than what we drink the US) when it’s very cold.

Chocolate withdrawal symptoms aside, I’ve eaten some very scrumptious food in Spain. My favorite foods thus far:

-Postres de manzana—delicious apple pastries

-Queso conafrutas (con marmalada de ciruela y moras)—an absolutely heavenly desert dish that consists of some kind of white cheese covered in prune or blackberry (or any other fruit!) marmalade

-El arroz gitano—“Gypsy Rice” My host father Federico made this dish with rice, chicken, shrimp, and vegetables. It was very delicious, but when I asked him why it was called “gypsy rice,” he said, “Because it is very poor, like a gypsy.” I don’t quite understand what he meant by poor because the dish está muy rico! I asked again but received the same answer. Will persist investigation and report back.

-Churros and porras, only in moderation! At the urging of my host family, I ate too many for breakfast before my trip to Madrid and felt a little queasy the whole bus ride there.

-Tortilla con cebolla—Spanish tortilla with onions on top are delicious!

-Ensalada con caramelized queso de cabra—salad with caramelized (¡no sé como se dice “caramelized” en español!) goat cheese. Perhaps the best salad I’ve had in my life!

-Las almendras (con sal y aceite)—In their home in the countryside, Fuensanta, Carmen, and I cracked open almonds with rocks. Then, we boiled them (the almonds, that is, not the rocks) a bit so the skin would fall off, and once they cooled a bit, we peeled off the skin, added salt and oil, and dug in! A delicious snack.

The stranger foods:

-Crema de calabacín—pureed zucchini cream. During our first dinner together, my family served me this dish in a tiny bowl, and I ate little spoonfuls (not wanting to offend my very first night!). Honestly, it tasted like vegetable oil. I think it would be better as a sauce for something, but certainly not as its own dish.

-Cereal y café con leche—cereal and coffee with milk. Perhaps I should elaborate. This morning, my Spanish sister Carmen warmed up my milk (because there’s no such thing as cold milk here) with hers. When she poured coffee into my milk, I thought, “Hmm, well I guess I’ll need another bowl for my cereal” (aside: they drink coffee out of small bowls, tazónes). But surprise, surprise, Carmen proceeded to pour Corn Flakes into my coffee. And it was her turn to be surprised when I told her it was my first time I’d had cereal in my coffee! ¡Qué curioso!

-Flan—tastes like eggs. And not in a good way. I didn’t like it even when it was drowned in chocolate with whipped cream on the side.

Etiquette:

-Keeping hands above the table! Unlike Americans, Spaniards eat almost with their elbows on the table. Each member of my family always has a little piece of bread in one hand and a fork in the other.

-Fighting over whose dishes are the best: “Yes, your rice is good, but not as good as my mother’s!” The best food is always the food made in the home, and you need to advertise it loudly, dammit.

-Cebollas—onions are muy importante in Spanish cooking. A funny saying in Spanish is, “Quitar el orgullo de la cebolla,” which literally means to rob the pride from the onion. In practice, it means to fry the onion a little bit.

-Corn is used in salads and some other dishes, but overall, corn is considered to be a food for cows and other cattle, not suitable for human consumption. When I brought my family traditional American candy corn, I had to explain, “Es dulces de maíz, pero no es de maíz; es de miel y azucar!”

Phew, after all this talk of food, tengo hambre. ¡Ciao! for now.