Comida Comida
Hello! It's now December 1st, and since my last post Christmas has definitively come to Granada. They've been setting up lights in the city for weeks now, but they didn't officially turn on until Friday at 6:30 pm. A few friends and I gathered in a plaza near the Cathedral to see the giant light tree be lit, check out the temporary nativity scene market and wander throughout the streets to see the decorations hanging from the buildings. The next night, I did the same thing but with my host family. Now that it's officially the Month of Christmas, it's as if we've launched right into the holiday season; tonight our house was filled with family members, roasting chestnuts, decorations and lots of cheer. As someone who's spent the last few Decembers in a dorm room studying for finals, it's been so much fun.
Anyway, before Christmas is Thanksgiving, which ties in nicely to this post about food. As you may have noticed, I titled this entry "comida comida" because, as I learned recently in grammar class, repeating a word in Spanish is a way to say that something is really good. Food here is incredibly important, as are mealtime and the eating schedule. Our program directors have given us workshops on wine, bread and olive oil (the three staples of Spanish cuisine), we've visited a winery and I've taken the aforementioned cooking classes to learn recipes for paella, marzipan and more. One a daily basis, though, this is more like what food looks like for me:
Breakfast: 7:30 am
Spanish people just... don't eat breakfast. I'm 99% sure that my host mom only drinks coffee in the mornings, and while the kids eat cereal or toast before school, I've gotten the idea that breakfast is a very minor meal for most people. This is so mindboggling opposite than what I've always been taught, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that you need to have sufficient protein in order to concentrate on the day. It's also one of the hardest aspects of Spanish food culture for me to get used to.
Over the past several weeks, though, I've found a good rhythm. I tried my first persimmon here and really liked it, so when we have them in the house I'll eat one for breakfast, alongside a rice cake and either peanut butter or some kind of Nutella knock-off (peanut butter does exist here, but it's expensive and sometimes randomly disappears from the stores). Alternatively, I'll have a banana instead of a persimmon or just eat cornflakes. I've also found that black tea gives me the perfect amount of caffeine so that I don't fall asleep in class but don't suffer the anxiety-producing side effects of coffee. When I mentioned to my friend that I was eating persimmons and drinking black tea every morning, she laughed and said that it was the most cliché study abroad thing I could have said. But oh well, it tastes good.
Snack: 10:30 am
I get out of my first class at 10:30 and do homework in the computer lab until my 12:45 class, so this is usually when I have a snack. I've been told that it's not uncommon for Spanish adults to do this since they eat nothing for breakfast and are hungry after several hours at work, so that makes me feel less like a foreigner when I eat my chocolate rice cake or apple. We have a mountain of fruit to choose from in our kitchen, so it's easy to pick up snack foods for the day.
Comida: 2:30 - 3:00 pm
This is lunch, but since it's the most important meal of the day it's referred to as "comida" (which is "meal" in Spanish). Usually it's just my roommate, my host mom and me because the kids eat at school, but it's still a big meal even though there are fewer of us. We usually have some kind of rice or noodle dish with a source of protein, a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes and these awesome crackers that I love (most families eat a ton of bread, but my host mom has opted for crackers instead). When it was warmer we also drank gazpacho regularly, but now that it's winter we've been eating a lot of amazing soups, often with garbanzo beans, squash and different types of meat. I'm always impressed by my host mom's ability to whip up such flavorful dishes in such a short period of time.
Dinner: 8:30 -9:00 pm
My family actually eats early for a Spanish family, since we have small kids who need to be up for school in the morning - some of my friends don't eat until 9:30 or 10:00. Since lunch is the biggest meal of the day, dinner is much lighter and more casual. I've also noticed that while we eat a lot of fresh ingredients at lunch (garbanzo beans that were soaked in water overnight, whole squashes, fresh meats, etc.), we have more processed food for dinner, like sandwiches with packaged ham and cheese. Dinner is also a time to eat the leftovers that we inevitably couldn't eat at lunch because the meal is always so large. Again, I admire my host mom so much for her patience at this meal, because everyone eats something different: the little girl changes her mind daily (and sometimes while she's eating) about what she likes, the boy firmly will not eat vegetables and she doesn't eat a lot herself. I would say that it's the most entertaining meal of the day.
Tapas: 8:30 - probably 10:30
If you chose to eat "in the streets" as my host mom would say, rather than having dinner at the house, you can go get tapas with friends (it's definitely taboo to do it alone). Restaurants and bars don't open until 8:00 at the earliest, and the later you go the better. Granada is unique because tapas here are free - all you have to do is order a drink (alcoholic or not) and you'll get a small plate of food to go with it. The type of tapas depend on the restaurant or bar, but usually I'd say it's usually some sort of meat or potato. The trick is that the tapas get better as you order more drinks, so if you play your cards right you can have a full meal for a relatively low price since the drinks are generally pretty cheap. I honestly haven't been out for tapas that many times since being here; it was something we did at first when it was still warm out, but nowadays it's more of something that I observe other people doing.
Other random foods
There's gelato, which unfortunately isn't popular after September, and also the beautiful pastries that line all of the bakery windows. I haven't tried everything, but I have had a few of the Granada-specific desserts.
Thanksgiving
This past Saturday, my roommate and I prepared a Thanksgiving-style meal for my host family! It was a little tricky because we don't have an oven in the apartment, so I found a recipe for crock pot stuffing and made some cranberry sauce and gravy on the stove, while Rachel concocted an apple parfait dessert and mashed potatoes and our host mom prepared some chicken. She had advised us beforehand that the kids probably wouldn't eat what we made (not very surprising), so we made small portions of everything and she made extra chicken that she knew they would eat.
I was pretty nervous that our food wouldn't turn out well or that everyone would hate it, but it exceeded my expectations! My host mom also surprised us by making the meal extra special - we ate in the recently decorated living room with a tablecloth and the three of us drank sparkling wine while the kids ate breaded chicken pieces with ketchup. It was her first Thanksgiving dinner ever, and I think that she enjoyed it (I also think that we exceeded her expectations. There was one point that she walked in as I was toasting individual slices of bread to make them stale enough for stuffing and Rachel was trying to whip heavy cream by hand and her expression was amused at best). I'm incredibly grateful that I have a host family that allows us to share our experimental cooking with them, and will envelop us into their own holiday traditions and make us feel at home.
In summary: Spanish food is great! I've loved my host mom's cooking, exploring different types of tapas and pastries and trying Spanish classics like paella and tortilla de patatas. That being said, I'm definitely excited to be home again eating the salads that I'm used to, having eggs for breakfast (they're exclusively a lunch/dinner food here!), cooking in a kitchen that I'm familiar with and knowing where to find the things that I need in the grocery store.
Anyway, before Christmas is Thanksgiving, which ties in nicely to this post about food. As you may have noticed, I titled this entry "comida comida" because, as I learned recently in grammar class, repeating a word in Spanish is a way to say that something is really good. Food here is incredibly important, as are mealtime and the eating schedule. Our program directors have given us workshops on wine, bread and olive oil (the three staples of Spanish cuisine), we've visited a winery and I've taken the aforementioned cooking classes to learn recipes for paella, marzipan and more. One a daily basis, though, this is more like what food looks like for me:
Breakfast: 7:30 am
Spanish people just... don't eat breakfast. I'm 99% sure that my host mom only drinks coffee in the mornings, and while the kids eat cereal or toast before school, I've gotten the idea that breakfast is a very minor meal for most people. This is so mindboggling opposite than what I've always been taught, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that you need to have sufficient protein in order to concentrate on the day. It's also one of the hardest aspects of Spanish food culture for me to get used to.
Over the past several weeks, though, I've found a good rhythm. I tried my first persimmon here and really liked it, so when we have them in the house I'll eat one for breakfast, alongside a rice cake and either peanut butter or some kind of Nutella knock-off (peanut butter does exist here, but it's expensive and sometimes randomly disappears from the stores). Alternatively, I'll have a banana instead of a persimmon or just eat cornflakes. I've also found that black tea gives me the perfect amount of caffeine so that I don't fall asleep in class but don't suffer the anxiety-producing side effects of coffee. When I mentioned to my friend that I was eating persimmons and drinking black tea every morning, she laughed and said that it was the most cliché study abroad thing I could have said. But oh well, it tastes good.
Snack: 10:30 am
I get out of my first class at 10:30 and do homework in the computer lab until my 12:45 class, so this is usually when I have a snack. I've been told that it's not uncommon for Spanish adults to do this since they eat nothing for breakfast and are hungry after several hours at work, so that makes me feel less like a foreigner when I eat my chocolate rice cake or apple. We have a mountain of fruit to choose from in our kitchen, so it's easy to pick up snack foods for the day.
Comida: 2:30 - 3:00 pm
This is lunch, but since it's the most important meal of the day it's referred to as "comida" (which is "meal" in Spanish). Usually it's just my roommate, my host mom and me because the kids eat at school, but it's still a big meal even though there are fewer of us. We usually have some kind of rice or noodle dish with a source of protein, a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes and these awesome crackers that I love (most families eat a ton of bread, but my host mom has opted for crackers instead). When it was warmer we also drank gazpacho regularly, but now that it's winter we've been eating a lot of amazing soups, often with garbanzo beans, squash and different types of meat. I'm always impressed by my host mom's ability to whip up such flavorful dishes in such a short period of time.
Dinner: 8:30 -9:00 pm
My family actually eats early for a Spanish family, since we have small kids who need to be up for school in the morning - some of my friends don't eat until 9:30 or 10:00. Since lunch is the biggest meal of the day, dinner is much lighter and more casual. I've also noticed that while we eat a lot of fresh ingredients at lunch (garbanzo beans that were soaked in water overnight, whole squashes, fresh meats, etc.), we have more processed food for dinner, like sandwiches with packaged ham and cheese. Dinner is also a time to eat the leftovers that we inevitably couldn't eat at lunch because the meal is always so large. Again, I admire my host mom so much for her patience at this meal, because everyone eats something different: the little girl changes her mind daily (and sometimes while she's eating) about what she likes, the boy firmly will not eat vegetables and she doesn't eat a lot herself. I would say that it's the most entertaining meal of the day.
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| Tonight's dinner: spinach soup, tortilla de patatas and crackers |
If you chose to eat "in the streets" as my host mom would say, rather than having dinner at the house, you can go get tapas with friends (it's definitely taboo to do it alone). Restaurants and bars don't open until 8:00 at the earliest, and the later you go the better. Granada is unique because tapas here are free - all you have to do is order a drink (alcoholic or not) and you'll get a small plate of food to go with it. The type of tapas depend on the restaurant or bar, but usually I'd say it's usually some sort of meat or potato. The trick is that the tapas get better as you order more drinks, so if you play your cards right you can have a full meal for a relatively low price since the drinks are generally pretty cheap. I honestly haven't been out for tapas that many times since being here; it was something we did at first when it was still warm out, but nowadays it's more of something that I observe other people doing.
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| Tapas in Sevilla at a restaurant recommended by the wonderful Elena |
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| Vegetarian tapa at a bar near our school |
Other random foods
There's gelato, which unfortunately isn't popular after September, and also the beautiful pastries that line all of the bakery windows. I haven't tried everything, but I have had a few of the Granada-specific desserts.
 |
| Pinonos: tiny sweet pastries found mostly in Granada and sold everywhere you look (not my photo) |
 |
| Torta de la virgen: here, a torta is a sweet bread with a chocolate filling and a slight licorice flavor. We had a special torta for the Virgin Mary in September, during the week of the patron saint of Granada (at least that's my understanding of it). A lot of people don't like tortas but I find them really yummy (also not my photo). |
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Tostada: this isn't a dessert, but it's really popular here and I wanted to add it in. Basically, it's toast with tomato on it and that's it. It's also only one euro. There are also versions with ham on top of the tomato, which I have also tried and aren't that bad. I'm not a huge fan of the moist tomato bread that it inevitably becomes, but it's a great and inexpensive snack for studying (believe it or not, I did take this photo!).
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This past Saturday, my roommate and I prepared a Thanksgiving-style meal for my host family! It was a little tricky because we don't have an oven in the apartment, so I found a recipe for crock pot stuffing and made some cranberry sauce and gravy on the stove, while Rachel concocted an apple parfait dessert and mashed potatoes and our host mom prepared some chicken. She had advised us beforehand that the kids probably wouldn't eat what we made (not very surprising), so we made small portions of everything and she made extra chicken that she knew they would eat.
I was pretty nervous that our food wouldn't turn out well or that everyone would hate it, but it exceeded my expectations! My host mom also surprised us by making the meal extra special - we ate in the recently decorated living room with a tablecloth and the three of us drank sparkling wine while the kids ate breaded chicken pieces with ketchup. It was her first Thanksgiving dinner ever, and I think that she enjoyed it (I also think that we exceeded her expectations. There was one point that she walked in as I was toasting individual slices of bread to make them stale enough for stuffing and Rachel was trying to whip heavy cream by hand and her expression was amused at best). I'm incredibly grateful that I have a host family that allows us to share our experimental cooking with them, and will envelop us into their own holiday traditions and make us feel at home.
In summary: Spanish food is great! I've loved my host mom's cooking, exploring different types of tapas and pastries and trying Spanish classics like paella and tortilla de patatas. That being said, I'm definitely excited to be home again eating the salads that I'm used to, having eggs for breakfast (they're exclusively a lunch/dinner food here!), cooking in a kitchen that I'm familiar with and knowing where to find the things that I need in the grocery store.
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