Spanish cuisine (part 1)

According to popular beliefs, the cuisine of Spain is a “Mediterranean diet” with cooking based on fruits, vegetables, legumes, rice, seafood, cereals and greens. However, in reality, in Spanish cuisine more meat dishes than, for example, fish. The national Spanish dish is ham ham, not just paella. The consumption of fruits and vegetables by the average Spaniard is also far from the five diets prescribed by the Mediterranean diet. Five diets for fruit is about two and a half glasses of juice or two, say, apples a day. For greens-two and a half cups of finely chopped vegetables, that is, two plates of fresh salad a day.

The use of olive oil for cooking is now ubiquitous in Spanish cuisine, but until the early twentieth century, the most common fats in Spanish cuisine were animals. Continue reading →