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......