learning through food—experiencing spanish culture through a home-cooked meal

i believe that you can learn more about one's culture by spending a day with people who grew up with it rather than travelling to the country for a week.

and so, being around two girls from spain last year, i believed i picked up a bit of this and that from them even though i had never been to spain. but spending a few hours having a big lunch with Andrea and her housemate today was a whole new experience of spanish culture.

experience through a shared, home cooked meal.

it all started with a one of the most enjoyable (yet stressful) art project i have ever done. making a set of ceramic tableware for a specific meal within two weeks.

for me, all i have been wanted to do was inviting myself to people's meal, not for the sake of free food, but to experience and learn about different cuisines (and cultures) from all over the world with having to physically travel there. but of course, that wasn't something normal people do.

which was where ceramics came in and played its role, as the invitation to the meal.

how about you cook, and i'll contribute to the meal, not by bringing food (obviously, i would be there to experience the regional and authentic food after all) but bring something to eat the food from, my pottery specifically made for the meal!

now that would sound more attractive (and less weird) for my potential host.

and then Andrea jumped in with enthusiasm, offering to cook me a spanish (valencian) meal.

which, of course, i accepted her offer with an equally high level of excitement.

as we cooked (or rather, Andrea cooked and i looked), she showed me a few spanish ingredients she has in the kitchen, everything seemed to be traditionally made in this household that i could feel their love for spanish food. even the salted cod in Borreta was brought all the way from Spain by her housemate's family who came to visit last week. how very honoured of me to be here!

at noon, i stepped into their cosy cozy dining/living room. Borreta, regional 'grandma' soup with salted cod and spinach was already simmering in a big saucepan. we started making tortilla espanola, allioli (garlic 'mayo') and poached egg to serve with the soup.

everything about home-cooked spanish food was new to me. even with the tortilla, i had zero idea how it would be made. so it was interesting for me to see the sliced potatoes being fried in (lots and lots of) oil first (which i didn't expect), then with them in (lots and lots of) eggs (2 for a big potato) and then cooked into the omelette.

Andrea hadn't made this dish for quite a while, saying that it wasn't very healthy with loads of oil and eggs. also, it's often eaten as a side dish, just a few bites each, so it wouldn't be a good idea to make it for one or two people.

we talked about spanish food culture, how spanish people often have big meal for lunch in the afternoon, and then have dinner a bit later, unlike the brits who would have their tea at five.

and she shared story of her not-so-impressive experience of eating out at las iguanas for the sake of her english friend's birthday. that on top of bad quality food, a group of twenty people decided to order everything on the menu, one dish each, and complaining that they didn't get to try some of the dishes.

how could you possibly share a plate of calamari among ten (or twenty) people?

the way the spaniards would do is to agree on several dishes they wanted to eat, and then order those dishes time 2 or 3 so that everybody would get to have a bit of everything.

move on to allioli, which was something a bit more than just garlic mayo.

traditional allioli would be made without egg and using a mortar by hand, which i imagined not only the person must be skilled, but also have enough patience to spend a good half an hour or so doing it as well. and not a lot of people do that anymore.

in fact, Andrea cheated a little and put a few pieces of boiled potatoes in the sauce to make it creamy without having to add tons of oil. and her grandma did that to so it was an acceptable thing to do.

i think it's proven that no matter where you come from, your grandmas can never be wrong, at least not in the kitchen.

now that everything was ready, the eggs were poached and our tummies were rumbling, it was time to tuck in.

Borreta, our main course today consisted of salted cod fish, spinach, tomato, onion, potato, carrot, garlic, pepper and nora (dried cherry pepper), served with poached egg and allioli.

this soup wasn't only new to me, but also to Andrea's housemate from catalan. i loved how this dish was so regional that some spanish people wouldn't have even heard of. it wouldn't be very easy to find in restaurants as well, even if you're in spain.

it was freezing cold outside, and this delicious soup warmed us up very nicely. and the tortilla with allioli was pretty amazing.

a few hours i spent in this welcoming house, i felt like i was teleported to spain.

and i must say that this quote i found on huffpost, which i used as a part of my project, was just so true.

In the same vein, it's easy to find a bulleted list of the top foods of a country, but a shared meal is more than individual ingredients and tastes, it's an all senses experience, tying together culture and friendship, breaking down barriers; a catalyst for connection.

—Anna Brones