Spanish+Food


 * Spanish Food**

"A meal is a physical as well as a cultural event, one that is repeated tens of thousands of times in a lifetime. But is not a permenent cultural thing like Michelangelo's David." -Dennis Ray Wheaton, Chief Dining Critic, //Chicago Magazine// (__A New American Chef__)

The experience of eating in another country, or even in an authentic restaurant, is one never replaced nor repeatable in the same atmosphere. The palet's discovering of new flavors is how people come to appreciate classics as well as fusion food.
 * General Cuisine**

"A country's cuisine is its landscape in a cooking pot," said the Catalan writer Joseph Pla (1897-1981).

People's visions of the geography of the country is how we see the food in a set of often unrelated cliches. For example, look at Italy: vast countryside with rolling hills, amazing fruit trees, gardens full of basil and tomatoes, and not to mention the wine country. As a personal lover of fine Italian food, spaghetti is not always tradition in the native cuisine.

All food in a country, despite the 'classics', is fusion food. All countries have encountered foreigners as well as the foreigners differeing palate. Mexicans and Spaniards brought tomatoes to Italy and Spain brought the chilli to Asia and the Americas. Essentially, each country has it's own very unique style of cooking and ingredients that have not always been indigenous to the region; but the classic dishes, never the less, prevail.

Spain's fine cuisine is all about simplicity. Spaniards love the classic taste of their rich ingredients independent of the sauces and whatnot as United States and Mexico uses to decorate and flavor their foods. Meals in Spain are most commonly "faithful to these roots, relying on what the earth produces," (Culinaria Spain p. 9). Unfortunately, we all have our conceptions of classic Spanish food that usually consists of paella, octupus, red wine, and sangria. All of these dishes and ingredients are essential to the Spanish menu, but the diversity of the country really shows upon visiting the different regions and tasting the indigenous ingredients.
 * Introduction to Spain's Cuisine**

There were many peoples who had conqured parts of the Iberian Peninsula at some point and even today, you can trace the paths of cuisine throughout the country. The main influences on food were the Romans, Jews, Arabs, and those from the 'New World'. The diversity in Spanish food doesn't come from the people, but from the region. For example a goat farmer in the damp Northwest will need something robust and warms the body, while a plantation worker in the south needs something light and refreshing. There are searing summers and icy winters on the peninsula, hence the variation in cuisine.

Catalonia

The cuisine of Catalonia is amazingly diverse, as is the population. For centuries, Catalonia has been a place of settlement for many French and Italians and a place of migration for Andalusians, the people from the south. The poeple of Catalonia have embraced their diversity as almost a form of art, but still hold their old culture and especially their language in high regard. "//Mar i muntanya// (sea and mountain) is the Catalan phrase given to the remarkable combinations of fish and meat which illustrate so strikingly their talent for creating a blend of the diverse," (Culinaria Spain p.12).

Barcelona has what is considered by some to be the best market in the world: La Boqueria. The freshest seafood in the world as well as the best, and most rare ingredients are found at this market. Famous chefs like Jean-Louis Neichel only buy their ingredients from La Boqueria.

Some of the most famous Spanish sauces come from Catalonia: alioli, salsa espanola, romesco, and sofrito. Along with being one of the most rare and famous fine-dining ingredients, the subterranean truffle (trufa) is used almost exclusively in catalonian dishes when speaking of Spanish cuisine (the French, however, consume more than half of the world's harvest of truffles). Another ingredient found only in Catalonia is mushrooms. There are over twelve types of edible, rare, wild mushrooms that grow in this region and are an absolute staple in any Catalonians diet. One of the tasiest, in my opinion, ingredients from Catalonia is the curd goat cheese (mato). The delicately bitter flavor is often used with fresh fruit as a digestant or dessert. The most widely famous culinary item from Catalonia is sparkling wine (Cava). Fermenting of wine in the bottle was a widely-used method, but the underground cellars are what make this item so special. Everything is made and packaged by hand in the centuries-old wineries.


 * Balearic Islands (Islas Baleares)**

Vegetables are one of the most important ingredients of this region. There are, of course, vegetables on the mainland, but the locals believe there is something different about their soil that makes island-grown so much better: lime. One of the 'tastiest' according to chefs are the small purple artichokes, but the vegetable grown in abundance there is the tomato. An interesting cultural fact about vegetables and the Balearic Islands is about cucumbers: the British ruled over Minorca for a time and introduced the cucumber to the region. Often on the island of Majorca, they shun the cucmber and some people won't even sit at a table where it's being served (Culinaria Spain p.55).

Pigs are an absolute necesity in the diet of this population. They have ships and export them and some of the richest people on the island are the pig farmers. The most famous piece of pork from these islands is the sobrasada (sobrassada). The humid climate doesn't allow drying of meats, but allows the uniquely textured sausage to be preserved; it's often eated uncooked on bread.

Although the ingredients are rich and islanders say they have all they ever need, a lot of the cuisine is imported from the mainland. They eat a lot of quail and lamb as well as their native pork and tomatoes.

**
 * Aragon

This region is best known for it's tapas:

Pain and Destruction //(Huelos y Quebrantos//)//:// eggs and brain, now usually made with eggs and bacon Flat (//Boletos//): fried mushrooms with garlic Braised Loin (//lomo en adobo//): pork loin marinated in olive oil, wine and vinegar Vegetable Salad (//Escalivada//): fried eggplant, red capsicum, and marinated onions Giant Snail (//Busano//): prickly variety of snail steamed with lemon Fried Anchovies (//boquerones fritos//) Deep Fried Calimari (//chipirones fritos//): served with lemon, and most used in tapas bars //Tortillas//: the Spanish variety is made with potato Beef/Pork Tongue in Tomato Sauce //(lengua con salsa de tomate//): most popular braised dish Hard -shell Clams with Fava Beans (//almejas con habas//): blend of land and sea

One of the most striking climate features of this region is the winters. There is a lot of famine among the natives; the way to deal with famine is dried foods and high calorie olive oil. All Spaniards have a sweet tooth, so the Aragonese made famous dried, candied, (and often covered in chocolate) fruit. The Pyrenees mountains are in this region; hunting is really the only way to survive without living in the city. Much of the cuisine of this region contains things like wild boar, lamb, game sausage, rabbit, and red deer. Another ingredient used in rich sauces and soups is snails; they eat these usually with a spicy-sweet dish like saffron and paprika.


 * Galicia**


 * Castilla y Leon

Madrid

Valencia

Andalusia (Andalucia)**