Food Time

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love food and being in Europe I am being exposed to the best of the best in food. Food in Europe is a culture. It is more about the joy of eating rather than the need to eat and the quality of food as opposed to the quantity.

Here in Spain the food culture is amazing and considering that I have been somewhat deprived of good food having just spent the last year in South Africa where the culture behind food was born of necessity to eat rather than enjoyment and love of flavour, I am soaking up Spanish food and the Spanish way of eating.

Here food is about flavour, about people coming together and also very much about moderation. There are 3 main meals a day;

Breakfast which usually consists of breads and cheese and coffee. Because of the new working culture where people start work at maybe 8am people first just have coffee before work and then have second breakfast at around 11am which consists of coffee and perhaps a croissant or small sandwiches.

Lunch which is the biggest meal of the day and starts at 2pm and can go till 5pm.

Dinner which is usually a small, light meal and often eaten around 9-10pm

In between these meals people eat small appetizer sized snacks called tapas and they drink coffee so at no point is anyone going hungry.

Back in the day the Spaniards would not start work until around 9am. They would work until 2pm taking a small break at 11am. At 2pm everything would close as people went home to have siesta, eat and sleep, before opening up again at 5pm and working till 8pm. They would get home and eat dinner at around 9.30pm before starting their social events for the evening. From 10pm until maybe 1 or 2am people were out visiting their friends or going to bars. They would come home, sleep and again only wake up at around 8am to start work. Although the work schedule has changed, much of the eating culture and social culture is still based around this pattern.

The next thing about food culture that stands out for me in Spain is doggy bags which I do not think exist. If you don't finish your food then you let the food go. People have not adopted a culture of taking left over restaurant food home no matter how much they leave on their plate. Another big thing is that if food does not taste good you don't eat it. It doesn't matter how much you have paid for a meal, if you are not enjoying your food you don't eat. Also no one eats to the point where they have to start undoing pants buttons or belts, if you are full you don't eat.

This is a bit of a contrast to the "Finish your food as there are children starving in Africa" mentality that many of us were raised with. The Spanish know good food and they have very high standards.

Here are some Spanish foods that I have eaten so far


Torrejas

Torrejas (pronounced Torekhas) are a Spanish Easter desert. They are something like French toast in that it is bread soaked in milk and egg which is fried. The exterior is bread but the interior is soft and fluffy and sweet. It is then served in a plate and either covered in milk or with sugar.

Paella

Paella (pronounced Pa-eh-ya) is a Spanish rice dish cooked with either meat or seafood or a mix of both and it tastes so good.

Churros

This is a Spanish food that has crept into much of the world, churros are a fried pastry of some sort which you can either have with sugar or dipped in chocolate. I eat mine with sugar as I don't like chocolate. Today we had this for breakfast.

I will continue putting up different Spanish foods that I have eaten as I eat them so that you can all be jealous.