Spain ~ Spreading the Joy of Food

This month I decided to head back to Europe to a country that is not often featured in the food history world, Spain. If you are like me, I lumped Spain in my mind with other Mediterranean countries like Italy and Greece and assumed that their food was pretty much the same. Very not true 🙂

Spain does have some similarities with other Mediterranean countries but it also has very unique culinary traditions for its culture. And though it also shares its language with Mexico and parts of South America across the Atlantic, the food is vastly different.

A lot of this has to do with Spain’s special geographic features. A country that juts out into the Atlantic, it shares borders with only France and Portugal. Acting as the gatekeeper of the Mediterranean, one must pass through the Straits of Gibraltar in order to explore the wider world. Hence, Spain has a long history of exploration and sending explorers out into all parts of the earth. It’s climate is also very warm as opposed to some European countries, making it easier to grow more fruits and vegetables for longer.

The Spanish diet reflects this. The Spanish people not only explored the world, they spread their love of good food to anywhere they went. And they brought home many of the products they enjoyed from other countries.

The Spanish diet is very much Mediterranean in its feel. Lots of olive oil, tomatoes, fresh herbs, cheese, peppers and grapes are used. The Spanish prefer potatoes, rice and corn as their grains of choice. Soups and stews are local specialties often served with bread. Seafood is immensely popular seeing as the country is surrounded by the ocean on almost all sides.

With France as its northern neighbor, the Spanish are fond of good pastries and chocolate. But fresh fruit is a popular dessert as are cookies and dairy desserts. The famous Seville orange, or bitter orange, grown still in Andalucia use to be the most in demand orange for making marmalade because of its thick skin.

One of the truly unique features of Spanish culinary practice is its meal times. Spanish people enjoy their breakfast early like most of the world, but their unique work practices mean that their lunch breaks often do not happen until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Snacks and tea time are regularly enjoyed throughout the day which means Spanish dinner time does not usually take place until after 8 pm and some times as late as 11 pm.