Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine consists of the traditions and practices of Spanish cooking. It features considerable regional diversity, with significant differences among the traditions of each of Spain's regional cuisines.
Olive oil is extensively used in Spanish cuisine. It forms the base of many vegetable sauces. Herbs most commonly used include parsley, oregano, rosemary and thyme. The use of garlic has been noted as common in Spanish cooking. The most-used meats in Spanish cuisine include chicken, pork, lamb and veal. Fish and seafood are also consumed on a regular basis. Tapas and pinchos are snacks and appetizers commonly served in bars and cafes.
History
Antiquity
Authors such as Strabo wrote about the aboriginal people of Spain using nuts and acorns as staple foods. The extension of vineyards along the Mediterranean seemed to be due to the colonization of Greeks and Phoenicians, who also introduced the production of olive oil. Spain became the largest producer of olive oil in the world. The growing of crops of the so-called tríada mediterránea underpinned the staple meal products for the inhabitants of the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the Roman Era.Middle Ages
The Visigoths' limited but lasting contributions to Spanish cuisine included the spread of the consumption of fermented milk and the preference for avoiding mixing water and wine.Rice was possibly introduced for the first time by Byzantines in the Iberian Peninsula by the 6th century. After the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century, Arabs expanded rice cultivation, bringing new irrigation techniques originally from the Indian subcontinent that also allowed for the cultivation of crops such as sugar cane, watermelon, lemon and oranges. Other ingredients possibly introduced in the Iberian Peninsula during the Hispano-Muslim period include sorghum, spinach, eggplant, peach, apricot and saffron. The most famous Spanish dish, paella, uses two ingredients that were probably popularized during the Al-Andalus period: rice and saffron.
File:Llibre-dels-Feyts-XXVIIr Sopar de Tarragona.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of the "Supper of Tarragona" of James I of Aragon in an edition of the Llibre dels fets, published in 1343.
Moors also developed the basis for the art of pastry-making and introduced escabeche, a food preservation technique relying on vinegar. Dishes like ajo blanco, alboronía, alajú, hallulla, albóndigas, mojama, arrope, were some of the many legacies of Moorish cuisine. Although Muslim religion did not allow alcoholic drinks, the consumption of wine was widespread as the Qur'anic precepts never got to overrule the preexisting traditions. There are many accounts of the "drinking chats" of Abd al-Rahman II, Abd al-Rahman III and Almanzor.
Observing the kashrut regulations, Jews and judaizantes opted for blood-drained meat without fat, outright rejecting bacon. Potajes were an important part of the Jewish cuisine in the Middle Ages, most notably adafina along with other Jewish culinary legacies in Spain. Almodrote was a Sephardic recipe in origin.
The history of cookbooks in Spain can be traced back to works such as the ' and Ruperto de Nola's ', both written in the Catalan language. Other of the earliest cooking books in pre-modern Iberia are the by Murcia-born Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī and the anonymous Kitāb al-Ṭabikh fī al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus fī ʽAṣr al-Muwaḥḥidīn, li-muʽallif majhūl, written in Arabic.
Modern era
The arrival of Europeans in the Americas in 1492 initiated the advent of new culinary elements, such as tomatoes, potatoes, maize, bell peppers, spicy peppers, paprika, vanilla and cocoa. Spain was where chocolate was first mixed with sugar to temper its natural bitterness. Other ingredients traveled to the Americas, such as rice, grapes, olives, and many types of cereals.Influenced by Arabic harisa, grain-based soups such as farinetes and, similarly, gachas were customary in Early Modern Spain.
Foreign visitors noted with disdain the Spaniards' use of olive oil and lard for cooking rather than their preferred butter. The latter was barely available and, according to the 17th-century account of Madame d'Aulnoy, on the rare occasions that it was, would come "from afar, preserved in pig's tripes and full of worms". Butter was only produced locally in places such as Galicia, Asturias and Soria, or was imported, preserved in potassium nitrate,.
By the 18th century, many American ingredients, such as peppers and tomatoes, had been fully incorporated into Spanish cuisine. Contemporary foreign visitors, such as French ambassador Jean-François de Bourgoing, judged negatively this change happening in Spain by the late part of the century: "Spanish cooking, which they have inherited, is not generally pleasing to foreigners. Spaniards like strong condiments such as pepper, tomato sauce, hot peppers and saffron, which color or infect nearly all their dishes."
Spain was the bridge for the Columbian exchange between the rest of Europe and the New World. Many traditional Spanish dishes such as tortilla de patata, would not be possible without the Columbian exchange. Gazpacho, salmorejo, and pan con tomate are made with tomatoes, which traveled from the New World to the Old World.
For most of the 19th century, the aristocracy consumed a set of dishes that was largely an imitation of French cuisine. That was the available cuisine at the time, together with the degeneration of regional cuisines. One positive foreign take on the Spanish dishes—opposing the largely negative views of other foreign commentators—was that of Richard Ford, who was fond of Spanish specialties such as sherry and ham.
File:Olla_podrida_Covarrubias_-_Santaorosia_Photographic_Colectivity.jpg|thumb|left|Traditional olla podrida from Covarrubias, Spain. A historic stew that blends Old World meats and legumes with New World ingredients like peppers, representing the culinary legacy of the Columbian Exchange and Spain’s evolving national cuisine.
Modern Spanish cuisine was gestated in the late-19th to early-20th century, with gastronomes and writers such as Mariano Pardo de Figueroa, José Castro y Serrano, Ángel Muro, Emilia Pardo Bazán, and Dionisio Pérez, some of whom put effort into developing the idea of a "national cuisine" recognisable by Spaniards as their own.
Keen on participating in the Spanish nation-building process, Dr. Thebussem, in an autochthonous example of culinary nationalism, proposed to the King's Chef that the olla podrida should be served at official banquets as a national dish. This could be considered an important step in the process of straying away from the French cooking paradigm, which was dominant in the 19th century in Europe. Olla podrida had been previously ridiculed in foreign satires.
Although the new foodscape built in opposition to the French centralist culinary model accounted for the awareness of the distinctive regional singularities, subsequent food writers in the country would continue to cope with the tension between the Spanish peripheral and centralist foodscapes.
The influential cooking book 1080 recetas de cocina by Simone Ortega became a hit in Spain, remaining as of 2019 the third best-selling book ever in the history of the country after Don Quixote and the Bible. This was not a book exclusively of Spanish traditional recipes, but also included French recipes, bringing an exotic penchant to Spanish homes.
Televised cooking shows started in the country in 1984 with Con las manos en la masa.
Meal routines
A continental-style breakfast may be eaten just after waking up, or before entering the workplace. Common breakfast items include coffee, milk, chocolate drink, biscuits, magdalenas, toast, and churros.Due to the large time span between breakfast and lunch, it is not uncommon to halt the working schedule to take a mid-morning snack.
Lunch, the large midday meal in Spain, contains several courses, especially in restaurants. In some regions of Spain, the word almuerzo refers to the mid-morning snack, instead of lunch. Lunch usually starts around 2:00–2:30 p.m. and finishes around 3:00–3:30 p.m., and is usually followed by sobremesa, which refers to the table talk that Spanish people undertake. Menus are organized according to these courses and include five or six choices in each course. At home, Spanish meals contain one or two courses and a dessert. The content of this meal is usually a soup dish, salad, a meat or a fish dish, and a dessert such as fruit, yoghurt or something sweet. Tapas may also be typically served before or during lunch.
According to a 2017 report, the Spanish government has taken steps to shorten the traditional long lunch break in an effort to end the workday earlier. Most businesses shut down for two or three hours for lunch, then resume the working day until dinner time in the evening.
La cena, meaning both dinner or supper, is taken between 8:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. It typically consists of one course and dessert. Due to the large time span between lunch and dinner, an afternoon snack, la merienda, equivalent to afternoon tea, may take place at about 6:00 p.m. At merienda, people typically drink coffee, eat something sweet, or eat a sandwich or a piece of fruit.
Some country-wide staple dishes common throughout Spain include croquetas, paella, ensaladilla rusa, gazpacho, and tortilla de patatas. There is a disagreement in Spanish society regarding onion as an ingredient in the Spanish omelette, often accompanied by highly opinionated views on either side.
Tapas, served before lunch or dinner, or during them, are common. It is also common for tapas to be provided as a complimentary appetizer in bars and cafes when ordering a drink. Other common tapas include mejillones en escabeche, gildas, albóndigas, callos, torreznos, or raxo de cerdo.