Spanish Gastronomy has become an Art divided between Traditional hearty cuisine and Modernist-experimental cuisine. Spanish agriculture produces fruits and vegetables - which are intrinsic to the Mediterranean Diet.
Gastronomy and the Spanish People
The Spanish are passionate and gregarious. They love to share life-experiences. Eating and drinking highlights any event: a wedding, a confirmation, an engagement, a divorce, a new baby, a funeral, an inauguration of a business. As a nation, the Spanish have refined gourmet taste-buds, preferring well prepared, fresh food opposed to Americanized fast food.
The Iberian Peninsula - over a long period of time - was transformed. A vast selection of new ingredients: plants, trees, livestock, spices or herbs, were carefully imported from other homelands for particular reasons: Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans and the Moors. Each civilization contributed towards the Art of Cooking, which amalgamated into becoming the unique Spanish Cuisine of Today. The Visigoths also inhabited Spain - but no-one documented any food culture, so we are left to guess...
The Coastline of the Iberian Peninsula Measures 3,313 km
Spain has a vast choice of Atlantic and Mediterranean fish: line-caught or net-caught is present in every Spanish cuisine
- Mediterranean coasts are 1,660 km
- Atlantic coasts are 1,653 km
Olive Trees
The Spanish climate suits olive tree cultivation. Crisscrossing Spain, you find major olive-growing areas. Andalusia produces over 83% of Spanish virgin olive oil.
Sun-ripened fruits and fresh vegetables abound.
The Wine Industry
Wine-growing and wine tourism is highly successful in Spain, producing, a sweeping selection of full-bodied wines. Cava, equally, a Spanish sparkling wine has a growing national and international market.
Inland Areas Produce an Excellent Variety of Meats
Pigs were native to Spanish soils. However, though the enormous success of the porcine industry (especially salted pork), dates back as far as the Romans, it was after the Reconquista was completed, when pork was became a point of culture. Religious converts Jews and Muslims were obliged to eat pork, in public, on their respective holy days. Happily, each person is free to celebrate their faith in peace today.
Many Iberian hams: Serrano, Iberico and their varied chacina cuts: chorizo, morcilla etc, evolved as emblematic elements of Andalusian and Spanish Gastronomy.
The Romans and their Daily Bread
The introduction of Roman ovens initiated Spain into becoming one of the best bread-producing countries in Europe. Cheese and bread were inseparable companions.
El Cafe y la Copa
Spanish culture is unsurpassed during "el cafe y la copa" (coffee and brandy). Coffee cultivation originated from Ethiopia. Coffee, traversing Africa, reached Arabia.
Coffee and coffee houses became very popular in Arabia. The Arabs tried to dominate coffee market by limiting its production... however, Turkish immigrants brought a few coffee beans (illicitly) to Spain.
The Nexus of Spanish Culture
Each city, town and pueblo has its cultural cafe. Historical coffee houses, such as the Cafe Gijón, in Madrid, were - and remain - best known for their patrons' tertulias: gatherings of artists, writers and politicians. This is Spain at its best - and very much a part of Spanish Food History.
