Spanish Food Education 101

The other day Inma asked me, “Vamos a comer caracoles, vale?” To me, this meant, “Let’s go eat some caracoles, okay?” I didn’t know what caracoles were, but I went along with it because that’s what I always do. Caracoles are sold at outdoor stands or tents in the spring. It’s a unique tradition to Andalucía. Anyway, we left the house, approached the caracoles stand, and ordered two cups. I still had no idea what caracoles were, so I had to conceal my surprise when we received two small cups of snails, floating nicely in chicken broth. Inma quickly demonstrated how to probe inside the shell of the snail with a toothpick and extract the meat. Still laughing to myself that this sophisticated culture eats snails, I grasped my toothpick and took the position. But just as I was about to probe the snail, I noticed its little head with two little antennae sticking out at me, and I thought, “Hmm, this is interesting.” But not wanting to offend, I went for it, and ate my first caracol. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t really good either. Anyway, Inma informed me that there was also another way to prepare the snails that I might like to try another time. So, a few days later when I went out with my friend, Susy, I tried the “gordos y picantes” the spicy, fat snails. I actually liked them; they were pretty good. Anyway, I keep laughing about it just given the refined nature of the Spanish culture, and my surprise at finding out what caracoles were. Living in a foreign country never ceases to surprise me; I keep learning and experiencing new things – I love it!

Here is a caracoles stand:


Here I am eating the "gordos y picantes" - the spicy, fat ones!

C A R A C O L E S......

Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) has certainly been a week full of intrigue. The Spanish have some fascinating traditions during this week – many of which still remain a mystery to me even after researching them. The most notable among these traditions are the Holy Week processions. The processions are like parades through the streets of Spain consisting of: 100-200 people in robes and capirotes (pointed hats), followed by a float that depicts a scene from the final week of Christ’s life, followed by a full band, and more people in robes and capirotes (even children). The tradition is based in Catholicism, and everyone involved in the parade is decked-out in Catholic robes and garb. Also walking among the parade are altar boys who wave balls of burning incense up and down the streets, filling the air with its mystical scent. Now, allow me to explain to you the little I know about these fascinating traditions! The floats are intricately detailed, life-size scenes from the final week of Jesus’ life. They are inlaid with gold, and covered with hundreds of white roses, lilies, and other flowers. These floats can weigh up to 7,000 pounds, but here’s the clincher – they are carried on the backs of people rather than pulled on wheels! The carriers of the floats practice for weeks before the Semana Santa celebrations, and take the job incredibly seriously. Some people even carry the floats barefoot as a form of penance. But possibly a thing of even more mystery and intrigue are the capirotes – the tall, pointed hats worn by hundreds of people in the procession. I researched this tradition and it appears that very little is known about its origin and history. What I did learn is that historically, the hats were used during capital punishment in Spain. They were also used during the inquisition, and the condemned person would be forced to wear a capirote as a form of public humiliation. Today, it is used in the processions as a sign of mourning the death of Christ. On Easter Sunday the hats are taken off in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. What you also have probably noticed is that this type of hat was adopted by the detestable Ku Klux Klan. There is no relation, however, between the two groups and it is not understood why the KKK chose to adopt this particular type of outfit; except that it was a way of disguising themselves, and that the white color of the outfits may have represented their racist, white supremacist ideology. Here are some pictures of the Semana Santa processions!


Here are the scary-looking capirote wearers! There are usually 100-200 of them!

This is at a different procession. These people wore blue hats.
This is one of the floats - check out all that gold - it's real! As Susy, my Dominican friend said, "It's all the gold they stole from my country!"

Underneath all that gold there are people carrying the float - here's a picture of their feet:

This is Torrija - a typical Spanish treat at Easter. It's like a really decadant form of French toast.

The Spanish Siesta

Three to five in the afternoon is my favorite time of day in Spain: la siesta. The siesta starts out with lunch. But this is not lunch as you know it. Lunch in Spain is known as la comida – “the meal” because it’s the largest meal of the day, and we usually eat a lot. Additionally, lunch is not eaten on rigid, posture-enhancing chairs, but rather on couches with sufficient numbers of cojines – small, throw pillows. After we’re finished eating, we pull the table-cloth over our laps like a blanket, and cozy up to the brasero (the heater under the table). We turn the television to our favorite lunchtime entertainment – Saber y Ganar – which is Spain’s form of Jeopardy, and incidentally has possibly the most hilarious, quintessential game-show host in the world. Jordi charms us every time with his flashy white smile, and infallible camera-flirting tactics! Then, as we begin to settle into the couch and feel quite comfortable, Saber y Ganar finishes and Spain’s version of The Discovery Channel comes on. Just as we’re being informed about the mating habits of bottle-nosed dolphins, we are lulled to sleep by the narrator’s soothing, monotone voice. We usually drift into about a 20-minute nap, and wake up feeling quite refreshed. I’ve often said that my body was made for the Spanish life-style. My ACCION co-workers may remember my becoming sleepy every day around 3:00 in the afternoon, and wishing badly for a quick nap (hopefully they don’t remember, actually. I generally tried not to advertise this fact).
These two beautiful hours known as "the siesta" are the best hours of the day, and will be the most missed Spanish tradition of mine. In my last two months here, I’m going to savor every moment of the siesta more than ever. :)

Every Spanish home has a brasero under the table:

Here's Inma demonstrating the siesta: