A Girls Gotta Eat...even in Madrid
After just four days here, I must proclaim that Madrid is fantastic. I have much to share, but I’ve decided that from now on I will just tackle one topic a day, so I will start with a topic dear to my heart: FOOD.
MY NEW D.I.E.T.
Before arriving, I didn’t really know much about Spanish cuisine but I was looking forward to eating a more European diet-—emphasizing freshness and quality over large portion sizes (a la Why French Women Don’t Get Fat.) The reality has turned out to be a bit different. Rather than a European diet, I find myself on a Euro diet—my own personalized “holy cow, I can’t afford to eat anything on the menu” diet. It didn’t take long for me to determine that big city prices + a weak US dollar = lots of self-catering for Betsy!
VIVE JAMON!
I’m really not much of a meat eater, and I am now in a meat-and-potatoes country. Or, more correctly, a ham-and-potatoes country. As my guidebook puts it, “the Spanish diet [is] heavy on ham, deep-fried foods, more ham, weird seafood, and ham again.” Over the last few days I’ve have a chance to sample a bit of the local jamon, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I presently don’t like ham because I’ve never really had ham. That pinky, molded, grainy stuff that is called ham at Wal-Mart… Well golly, it looks and tastes nothing like the ham they have here. This is good stuff.
My first meal in Madrid was at a store called Museo de Jamon—which translates to Museum of Ham—where I had two small but delicious and fresh ham sandwiches. No mayo, no frills, just ham and bread. That other ‘stuff’ isn’t needed when the ingredients are this good!
At this point, I have just dipped my toe in the world of Spanish jamon, so I will stop my discussion here. But stay tuned, I’m guessing I’ll have more to say on the subject.
THE SPANISH EATING SCHEDULE
In addition to being much more expensive than I anticipated, the Spanish eating schedule is also very different than in the States. Spaniards eat a very light breakfast, then a big feast at lunch—the biggest meal of the day. Lunch is eaten from 1-4pm in order to coincide with the “siesta”, when stores close, businesses and schools let out, and people gather with friends and family for good food and good conversation. The restaurants are PACKED at this time, and it looks like a lot of fun! I wish we had a similar schedule back home. Although, as a solo traveler, I did feel a bit lonely seeing all those happy groups, smiling and laughing and feasting on delicious food and taunting me from their restaurant windows: “Look at the poor lonely girl. Why are you alone? Don’t you have any friends?” (Okay, just kidding at the end there, but truthfully it did make me feel kinda lonely.)
But moving on…After such a big feast at lunch, dinner is eaten late and is light. Most Spaniards work until 7:30pm, so dinner is usually served at about 9 or 10pm. And, since few people want a heavy meal that late, dinner is usually made up of small appetizer portions called tapas. (More on that later.)
So, in the spirit of when in Rome, I don’t plan to buck this system. Lunch is now my favorite time of day.
SO PRETTY!
Nothing to say here except: Look...the food es so preeeety.
SERVICE SIN SMILE
One last major point of departure: Eating establishments in Spain are an entirely different scene than your average American TGI Fridays. They are not necessarily unfriendly. It’s just muy serio…very serious! It’s proficiency over perkiness. There’s no “Hi, I’m Suzie. What can I get you folks this evening?” Instead, it’s usually “Dime” (Spanish for “tell me.”). Wait staff are not sporting 14 items of flair on their suspenders (a little something for all you Office Space fans). Instead, in Madrid it’s usually white shirts and bow ties.
Again, they're not rude…just proficient. And, for me, a bit intimidating.
MYSTERY SPREADS
Wow, I'm really going on and on here. Okay, one more thing to add: When I travel abroad, I really try to seek out new foods to try, so this Euro-barrier had me a bit bummed at first. But I have since discovered some new (odd) food items that are cheap enough to sample during my smaller, dinner meal: the dizzying array of sandwich spreads. Americans stopped at egg, tuna, and chicken salad mixes for sandwiches, but apparently we were just being lazy because the Spaniards have dozens more such concoctions, and they all kind of resemble ice cream. There's a cheese-and-anchovies spread, a salami spread, a foiegras spread... Quite a selection. I like to imagine a little American kid shopping here, ordering up his favorite strawberry sherbet, only to get a mouthful of salami spread. Yummm!
At my local Rodilla restaurant, I have already tried the curry-chicken-on-poppy-bread sandwich (YUM!), the vegadilla sandwich (good, but kinda confusing...tastes like chicken), and some very odd bacon spread (ick!) I especially like how they cut off the crusts, like a PB&J for a 5 year old. :)
Okay, enough on food...for now.
MY NEW D.I.E.T.
Before arriving, I didn’t really know much about Spanish cuisine but I was looking forward to eating a more European diet-—emphasizing freshness and quality over large portion sizes (a la Why French Women Don’t Get Fat.) The reality has turned out to be a bit different. Rather than a European diet, I find myself on a Euro diet—my own personalized “holy cow, I can’t afford to eat anything on the menu” diet. It didn’t take long for me to determine that big city prices + a weak US dollar = lots of self-catering for Betsy!
VIVE JAMON!I’m really not much of a meat eater, and I am now in a meat-and-potatoes country. Or, more correctly, a ham-and-potatoes country. As my guidebook puts it, “the Spanish diet [is] heavy on ham, deep-fried foods, more ham, weird seafood, and ham again.” Over the last few days I’ve have a chance to sample a bit of the local jamon, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I presently don’t like ham because I’ve never really had ham. That pinky, molded, grainy stuff that is called ham at Wal-Mart… Well golly, it looks and tastes nothing like the ham they have here. This is good stuff.
My first meal in Madrid was at a store called Museo de Jamon—which translates to Museum of Ham—where I had two small but delicious and fresh ham sandwiches. No mayo, no frills, just ham and bread. That other ‘stuff’ isn’t needed when the ingredients are this good!
At this point, I have just dipped my toe in the world of Spanish jamon, so I will stop my discussion here. But stay tuned, I’m guessing I’ll have more to say on the subject. THE SPANISH EATING SCHEDULE
In addition to being much more expensive than I anticipated, the Spanish eating schedule is also very different than in the States. Spaniards eat a very light breakfast, then a big feast at lunch—the biggest meal of the day. Lunch is eaten from 1-4pm in order to coincide with the “siesta”, when stores close, businesses and schools let out, and people gather with friends and family for good food and good conversation. The restaurants are PACKED at this time, and it looks like a lot of fun! I wish we had a similar schedule back home. Although, as a solo traveler, I did feel a bit lonely seeing all those happy groups, smiling and laughing and feasting on delicious food and taunting me from their restaurant windows: “Look at the poor lonely girl. Why are you alone? Don’t you have any friends?” (Okay, just kidding at the end there, but truthfully it did make me feel kinda lonely.)
But moving on…After such a big feast at lunch, dinner is eaten late and is light. Most Spaniards work until 7:30pm, so dinner is usually served at about 9 or 10pm. And, since few people want a heavy meal that late, dinner is usually made up of small appetizer portions called tapas. (More on that later.)
So, in the spirit of when in Rome, I don’t plan to buck this system. Lunch is now my favorite time of day.
SO PRETTY!
Nothing to say here except: Look...the food es so preeeety.
SERVICE SIN SMILE
One last major point of departure: Eating establishments in Spain are an entirely different scene than your average American TGI Fridays. They are not necessarily unfriendly. It’s just muy serio…very serious! It’s proficiency over perkiness. There’s no “Hi, I’m Suzie. What can I get you folks this evening?” Instead, it’s usually “Dime” (Spanish for “tell me.”). Wait staff are not sporting 14 items of flair on their suspenders (a little something for all you Office Space fans). Instead, in Madrid it’s usually white shirts and bow ties.
Again, they're not rude…just proficient. And, for me, a bit intimidating.
MYSTERY SPREADS
Wow, I'm really going on and on here. Okay, one more thing to add: When I travel abroad, I really try to seek out new foods to try, so this Euro-barrier had me a bit bummed at first. But I have since discovered some new (odd) food items that are cheap enough to sample during my smaller, dinner meal: the dizzying array of sandwich spreads. Americans stopped at egg, tuna, and chicken salad mixes for sandwiches, but apparently we were just being lazy because the Spaniards have dozens more such concoctions, and they all kind of resemble ice cream. There's a cheese-and-anchovies spread, a salami spread, a foiegras spread... Quite a selection. I like to imagine a little American kid shopping here, ordering up his favorite strawberry sherbet, only to get a mouthful of salami spread. Yummm!
At my local Rodilla restaurant, I have already tried the curry-chicken-on-poppy-bread sandwich (YUM!), the vegadilla sandwich (good, but kinda confusing...tastes like chicken), and some very odd bacon spread (ick!) I especially like how they cut off the crusts, like a PB&J for a 5 year old. :)Okay, enough on food...for now.