Traditional cuisine from across the globe – Spain
Jamon serrano
When you’re planning a trip abroad and you’re interested in making your trip as much a learning experience as it is a relaxing one, one of the best and easiest ways of immersing oneself in a place’s culture is by tasting the traditional food of the country and region that one is visiting.
You may be considering a visit to Spain for a plethora of reasons, whether it’s its history, culture, or great weather and beaches, but one thing that you won’t want to miss out on is sampling the traditional Spanish food.
It should be noted from the get-go that Spanish cuisine is not known for being pretentious, it has remained very honest and loyal to its regions, resisting the influences of nearby countries, especially those from France.
Spanish food is not known either for its elegance nor for its bakery or pastry goods, instead it is known for exuding a certain rustic passion for food, it could be considered that Spanish cuisine is much like an uncut gem, it is a bit rough around the edges but it does not wish to be anything more than that.
The traditional food of Spain consists of a variety of dishes, each of them featuring certain characteristics depending on the region that they are coming from. For instance, in coastal regions it should be expected for the cuisine to be heavily influenced by the abundant seafood while in the more mountainous regions, pork and other meats are preeminent.
Now pork has always been integral to Spanish gastronomy, this animal being central in the diet of families across the country’s entire span, but there is one special breed of pig, particular to this region of the world: the Iberian pig.
This Iberian pig is the source of the traditional Spanish country ham called “jamón serrano”, which was selected as “best ham in the world” both in 2007 and 2010.
While it is true that meat, in a variety of shapes, types, and preparation methods, takes priority in many Spanish dishes, it should be noted that Spanish foods are not devoid of vegetables, far from it actually, but whilst vegetables tend to be steamed or boiled in most other parts of Europe, Spain prefers its vegetables lightly sautéed and then adding a bit of water or broth in order to keep them from scorching. This is the ideal method, however most individuals prefer their vegetables very well done, which equals to overcooked if you’re more used to the French or Italian standards.
One more important thing that we should mention about Spanish food is that absolutely all food is well salted, there’s just no way to get around it, so make sure to keep well hydrated.
Speaking of drinking liquids, one cannot talk about Spanish cuisine and not mention the Spanish wine which is rather good and only recently has started being known around the world for how good it actually is. Spain is definitely a wine drinking culture but not a wine over-drinking culture, so that’s interesting as well.
This has been just a quick overview of what you should expect from traditional Spanish cuisine, and we haven’t even gotten into tapas and the many seafood variations that can be found in the country, one great way of experiencing as many of them as possible is with the help of some quality Spain car hire services which will allow you to travel from place to place and sample their local food.
