Why is the Spanish food culture so different from the rest of Europe?
This Mediterranean diet is full of so-called good fats from olive oil, nuts, and fish, and rich in fiber as a result of the high consumption of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Due to these factors, the diet reduces the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes — just a small part of its many researched benefits.
“Life without tapas, is like a heart without love”
Typical Spanish Dishes
It would be impossible to list all the tasty dishes from the rich Spanish food culture, but here I name some food which are very good:
- All different kind of tapas, from jamón Iberico/serrano to patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce), to mini “vega” hamburgers, to whatever what is a small portion. We love to share the food in the middle of the table.
- Salmorejo, in Andalusia it’s called “Porra“. It’s a thick traditional cold tomato soup. They make it with of course tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, white bread, and salt. On top of it most likely they put tuna, ham or egg, or all 3.
- Grandmothers croquettes. Fish/ham or spinach.
- Ajoblanco, traditional cold almond soup.
- Sopa de lentejas, warm lentil soup.
- Tortilla de patatas, Spanish omelet. Bread with the tortilla is also very good.
- Paella, rice with vegetables, meat and/or fish.
- Gamba’s al ajillo. Gambas simply cooked with olive oil, garlic, parsley, chili, and salt. Also nice to dip in your bread.
- Ensaladilla Rusa, potato salad with mayonnaise and tuna
- And there is so much more… And all these dishes makes you want to move to Spain
Where To Get Free Spanish Tapas
In Granada, a city in Andalusia, they will serve automatically a tapa with your drink when you’re sitting on the terrace. It’s kind of cheap here in Spain. Well for European people it’s cheap. I’m already used to these prices. You’ll have a caña, which is a small beer, with a tapa for if you are lucky €1,50, and otherwise €2 or €2,50.
For the people who likes fish, they are on the right place in the Costa del Sol. You have different types of boulevards next to the beach where they put the fish right away from the sea on the BBQ.
It’s Sweet o Clock
I also noticed that in the Spanish food culture, people love to eat sweets. They have breakfast with coffee and “churros con chocolate”, or around 6 pm they’ll eat a piece of cake, brownie or a “palmera”(giant chocolate cookie with different kinds of filling… By the way, you can wake me up for that) so they can have dinner later around 22:30.
It was actually funny when I moved to Spain, I always wanted to eat churros around 14:00. But you can only eat churros in the morning until 12:00 or 13:00, and later from about 17:00 again.
