By Katherine York
I’m a foodie, so coming to Spain was something very exciting for me. Tasting new flavors and trying different things is my favorite thing to do, and I couldn’t wait to see the differences between food in America and Spain. I took a weekend trip to France and spent some time thinking about (and tasting) comparisons between nationalities in the kitchen.
The nature of dining is different in the three places. Keeping an open mind when coming to a different country is key to having the most enjoyable experience. Ask the server for recommendations and don’t be scared to go out of your comfort zone! Some things might surprise you.
Spain
Expect a dinner in Spain to last at least two hours. The server will come just a couple of times throughout the entire meal. You never feel rushed so you really get to savor the taste and take in the atmosphere of your meal. Sharing courses is very common too in the form of tapas. Tapa comes from the word taper which means to cover and is also the word for a lid in Spanish. Bartenders would serve a drink with bread and slice of cheese on top to cover their drink from dust and bugs, so it really served the purpose of a lid.
This meal from Carlota in Madrid was a two-hour venture, featuring many shared dishes of Asian Fusion cuisine. You don't need to eat just Spanish food while you are here, there are some amazing other cuisines to try!
It’s common to eat tapas as a snack or enjoy several of these small plates as a full meal. Because people eat dinner around 9 or 10 pm, having one as a snack is something I’ve enjoyed.
The most common type of tapas is cured meats, olives, cheese, and dishes that require little preparation. Cooked dishes like patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy aioli), tortilla de patatas (omelet), and calamari are popular also.
Our UF group got to experience a hands-on cooking class at Cook and Taste with Carlos, where we learned traditional techniques while creating a delicious meal. 12 chefs helped chop, stir, blend, and brulée to create a cold tomato soup, similar to gazpacho, tortilla, pà amb tomàquet, chicken paella, and finished with Catalan cream.
A Spanish tortilla is actually an omelet, which pleasantly surprised me the first time I ordered it off a menu. Eating an omelet with a nighttime meal is a great bonus for any breakfast for dinner advocates!
Pà amb tomàquet (bread with tomato) has an interesting history. In 1884, it became a popular dish in Catalan peasant households. Families would use stale bread, rub it with tomato and olive oil. There are theories it originated in Murcia where construction workers made dry bread softer by rubbing it with tomato for lunch. Nevertheless, this dish is a great addition to any meal and will become a common snack for me when I come back to America.
Paella is another very common Spanish dish. We made the paella with chicken thighs, but seafood paella is also common. “Every household in Spain has a paella pan. Not everyone has one as big as this with its special burner but everyone knows someone with one,” said Daniel. It was originated as a simple lunch dish where you just throw rice and whatever ingredients you had on hand into a frying pan. Once wealthy Valencians who traveled to Spain got their first taste of the dish, it became well known and fancied with saffron and other special ingredients. Seafood paella was born when the dish was brought to the coast.
Catalan cream, as the name entails, was originated in this region and is a dish traditionally eaten the day of St. Joseph (March 19th, Father’s day). It has been documented in Catalan literature as early as the fourteenth century. It is an egg yolk based dish that is flavored with lemon peels and cinnamon sticks. You top it off with a layer of sugar and carmelize it, blow torch and all. In just a few seconds and some flames, you have a delicious layer of crunchy and smokey sugar.
The attention to detail could be tasted in each bite, you couldn’t even tell it was cooked by a group of amateurs. The cooking class is a great experience to taste and learn about Spanish culture in the form of cuisine. “We have classes that last a half-day where we take you to the market and you cook with what you bought,” he said. I highly recommend this to anyone visiting Spain and wanting to be fully immersed in the culture.
Images from different Markets in Spain. The first three pictures were taken in Madrid at Market de San Miguel and the last five pictures were in Barcelona at Mercat de la Boqueria.
France
France has similar dining customs as Spain. You aren’t rushed through dinners and they truly savor their food. Old French originated the word savorer, so it’s in the culture to do so with their meals. Meals are meant to be enjoyed slowly so wine is usually served to accompany the food, just like in Spain.
A few common French foods are soupe à l'oignon (French onion soup), salade Niçoise (a salad common to the city of Nice), foie gras (liver). On a trip to Nice, we did as the French would and savored a delicious meal of other traditional dishes like moules frites (mussels and fries) and escargot (snails). I’m an adventurous eater, so eating snails is something that I’ve done before and doesn’t scare me in the slightest. I think everyone should try escargot in their life. Using a metal pointed stick to scrape the snail out of the shell is the only unsettling part, the taste is impeccable.
Dinner from Rina in Nice that includes moules frites, escargot, wine and flatbread.
Bread is a bigger part of meals in France than in Spain. It’s estimated that 30 million baguettes are eaten daily in the country! Juli Ortiz is studying abroad in Cannes and has adjusted to the surplus of bread in her diet. “Breakfast is a croissant or some type of pastry. I’ve also had a small baguette with butter and jam before class if I have more time to prepare it at my dorm. My favorite lunch is a croque monsieur [hot ham and cheese sandwich] and dinner also has a bread basket with sliced French bread and butter.” She laughed, “They eat, sleep, and breathe bread.”
Some of the many croissants consumed on my trip in Europe.
America
In the US, it feels like you are rushed out the door in many cases. The waiter comes to the table an annoying amount of times in some cases, asking incessantly if the food is okay. They also bring the check when you are finishing up eating whereas in Spain you have to ask for the check. Fast food is much more common in the states too.
Our common dishes sound much less appetizing to me than some tasty tapas of good escargot. Traditional American foods include apple pie, hamburgers, bagels, deep-dish pizza, biscuits and gravy, and barbecue. Big restaurant chains are much more popular in America than Europe. We are also accustomed to almost disturbingly large portions. Being in countries like Spain and France, I’ve really learned to appreciate smaller portions where I can try lots of different things. I must say, going home after eating so well is going to be really difficult, but I’m blessed to live in a big city where I can find tastes of my month abroad. Nothing can compare to authentic French and Spanish food right from Europe, but I hope you seek out these cuisines and go out of your comfort zone back in the U.S.!
Images from Toulouse Cafe and Village Baking Co. in Dallas, where you can experience the most authentic French experience from across the world,
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