Spanish cuisine

The form of its amazing food „offer” was shaped by the Fenicians, Greeks, Romans, Cartaginians and Arabs. The reflection of the regional difersification of Spain may be found in its cuisine. The most famous ones are Baskian, Galician, Catalonian, Valentian, Estremaduran and cuisines of both Castillas. The country of corrida and flamenco, sun and sandy beaches, the taste of olive and saffron, oranges and wine, is inhabited by 17 nationalities. Foreign visitors are most surprised with the differences between its regions – in language, culture, artistic traditions, landscape and politics.

 

 

According to this culture, the Spaniards spend a great majority of their time outside their homes. For this reason they also eat out a lot, in restaurants or cafeterias. The habit of eating breakfast in a bar is common. Such a bar plays the role of a coffee place, a pub and a restaurant and depending on the time of the day it serves adequate dishes. Until twelve they serve breakfast, as a rule sweet, but you can ask the waiter to bring you a cheese or ham sandwich. From noon ‘till four p.m. the kitchen serves hot dishes. After four the kitchen is closed until evening when they start to serve supper. For desert, besides season fruit and ice-cream, customers are served puddings and cakes. What’s interesting, the Spaniards consider coffee to be a desert, too – the coffee prepared here tastes wonderful. Lovers of tea will be upset hearing that it is hardly ever served here.

Spanish dishes are simple and - thanks to flavorful herbs such as saffron – have a rich sophisticated taste.

Culinary travel in the regions of Spain

Whilst seafood predominates in the south, in the central part of the country there reign vegetables and various kinds of meat; and in the mountains – lamb meat and leguminous plants. For Asturia a typical dish are beans with pork meat stewed in tomato sauce – a so-called fabada asturiana. The visiting card of upland Castylia is roasted veal and lamb meat as well as dry hams (the most famous one is serrano); also hot pork sausages chorizo. Catalonia eats fish prepared in many different ways with vegetables (fresh, cooked or marinated), in Galicia they serve zarzuela de maricos – pieces of fried fish, stewed in hot sauce made of tomatos, onion, garlic, olive oil and wine. Valencia is the country of paelli – the most famous Spanish dish made of rice stewed on a huge iron pan together with vegetables, chunks of chicken meat or seafood.

In entire Spain vegetable soups served cold enjoy unchanging popularity - ajo blanco (the white kind) and gazpacho (the red kind). Their genesis reaches back to the Roman times, when it was a statutory daily food portion of every Roman legionary, stationing on the territories of today’s Andalusia. The other soupd typical for Spain are: puchero – made with beef and ham, sausage, boiled dumplings, parsley and garlic and a thick olla podrida, whose main ingredients are: mutton, veal shank, beef taili, ham, smoked sausage, peas and vegetables. After the meat is cooked, it is served chopped in soup seasoned with garlic and aromatic herbs. In all the country tortillas are extremely popular – fried omelette, served both cold and hot.

Seafood and fish dishes are on the lead in the coastal region. Huge fish markets are a tourist attraction for any seaside town. They are a place to go for mackerel, tuna fish, prawns, octopus, mules and lobster