Ruminations on Food and Culture

     

In the 5 months that we have been in Zaragoza I have become familiar with the everyday staples eaten by general public. 

1. Tortilla - Basically and egg and potato frittata. Students take it to school wrapped in paper and foil, Parents do the same when they go to work. We have seen families bring wrapped slices to eat at half time at futbol games. Most corner stores and cafe's sell a slice for just a few euros with a cup of coffee. We tend to add additional vegies when we make ours at home.
2. Bocadillo de Jamon (Ham on a Baguette) - These are usually available in multiple varieties of ham. These get the same treatment as the tortilla above. They are everywhere.
3. Patatas Bravas - Seasoned potato chunks served with Ketchup and Mayo, or special sauce of choice of the cafe/bar. Shareable platter for friends and family under 5 Euros.
4. Arroz - A saffron Rice cooked with proteins and veg. The American idea is paella but almost every family in Spain makes a version (or multiple versions) of arroz. I began to really grasp this when watching the cooking shows. The have a show that goes to towns all over Spain and follows random grannies making a family favorite dish. The dish is frequently arroz and during the interview portion of the show, if the grandmother is not cooking arroz that day someone inevitably talks about how good her arroz is.

    I do not live in a traditional Spanish household and am not party to all of the foods consumed daily by your average Spaniard. I can say that all of these things are cheap and filling. I know that tons of fresh produce is consumed based on the amount of fruitarias and the overloaded grocery carts with fresh fruit and veg spilling out that I spy all over town. It all speaks to a culture that has survived hard times. The food in Guatemala was similar in hardiness. The people of Spain survived WW1, WW2 and a civil war that devastated this part of Spain all in a 100 year span. The economic hardships of the early 2000's were sever for Spain. 

Does food define the culture or does culture define the food we eat? A friend of mine was talking about their time as an exchange student and how their host family thought it was strange that they ate all kinds of food. But it is the American way. It really is a cultural blender. Lots of different flavors to try and styles of food. When I look at what our family eats, it huge cultural mix of the places we have lived and "foreign" foods with lots of fruit, veg, and beans. As a family we tend to be as adventurous in our food choices as we are in our travels. 

Paprika is the flavor I have adopted the most here along with an uptick in saffron. We have 3 types in our currently meager spice cabinet: Spicy, Smoky, & Sweet. I also recently discovered that I was growing saffron in Louisville. I planted crocuses all over our yard. Aragon TV had a great news segment on the saffron harvest. The random non-spanish thing I have taken to cooking on a regular rotation here is Shrimp and Vegie Coconut Curry. It is more of a British thing but the fresh produce is so great here and I find it a good way to use up all our left over veg in the fridge. Like these amazing broad beans that are in season right now.

We are constantly on the look out for new flavors so we watch cooking shows and listen to cooking podcast. Milk Street Radio had an interesting segment on "National" dishes and discussed the likely origin of the ham culture in Spain. Spoilers: it has to do with the inquisition. Milk Street Radio  (The link should take you to the podcast episode.) By eating ham or pork in general it was easy to "prove" your Christianity and not be expelled.

Spain's economy has rebounded and is strong. There is a great foodie scene with truly hip places to eat. Like the Ramen place pictured below. We also recently ate at a sushi place that had robots along with the floor staff serving the orders. Burgers are big. There are a ton of Doner Kebab places to grab a whole chicken or gyro. I was initially disturbed by the Doner (think the Donner pass) but I looked it up and it is Turkish for rotisserie meat. The multicultural flavors do tend to be Asian and African more than from the Americas. Italian food appears to be a thing here as well but we have not explored that yet.

Like every where I have lived there are ingredients I can get here that were not available other places and things that I cannot get here. Good wine sells for 2-3 Euros. Nuts are relatively inexpensive. So my internal cookbook is in flux and we are blending in the local flavors and staples into our repertoire. I am interested to see where it goes.  We are currently trying all the amazing (and some not so amazing) holiday treats. Current favorite is the dark chocolate covered dried orange slices. They are bitter sweet and made here in Spain. Feel free to share ideas of things that you love to eat.