The Delights Spanish Food Right in Spain

The Spanish in at least one way, are like the Chinese - their experience of food is central to their culture, and to heir existence. And you'll see evidence of this everywhere you visit in Spain. There are restaurants here that answer to every description, to every taste, and that sample every part of the world; food spills out from the restaurants onto the streets with food carts and food vendors everywhere especially the inner part of the cities. As you leave the city, independent spirited inventive cooking appears at roadside restaurants at every stop along every highway. Perhaps you never associated Spanish cooking with it, but seafood essential to the fresh spirit of all Spanish food. Take in any food market in Spain, and you're certain to see half the market devoted to harvests of the sea.

So when you have this much choice in Spanish food, where exactly do you head for when you're in Spain? The country attracts a lot of tourists; and many restaurants in the downtown area serve Spanish food that's somewhat altered for foreign tastes. But the authentic taste of Spain can be a wonderful thing, and denying tourists the authenticity of the experience can be quite unfair. If you ask me, the best Spanish cooking you'll ever find in Spain will come from the restaurants that have no English or French to help the tourist with , and are unpretentious. I've had some of my best experiences with Spanish cooking at some of the most unpretentious roadside restaurants with their tables out on the sidewalk.

Not to deny the finer Spanish restaurants their due; if upscale puritan Spanish cuisine is what you'd like to experience at least once, make sure you make reservations well in advance at a place like the Casa Poco in Madrid. You'll need to call couple of days ahead to be seated, and when you get there, try their Iberica ham and steak. For the best gastronomical tour of Spain, try learning some of the terms you'll find on any Spanish food menu. Any time you encounter a word on a menu that's unfamiliar, look closely at the work to see what English word it might possibly resemble. Pescados, for instance, comes from Pisces, which you know from your time scouring the horoscopes, is fish; "mariscos" is ... doesn't it sound like "marine"? That's right, it means seafood. What if you saw the word "carne" on there? You've heard of "carnal" haven't you? It means "of the flesh" in English. And in Spanish, it's meat.

When you head in for your first encounter with Spanish food, you might be a little surprised at the customs they have at restaurants. The moment you step in, your waiter will greet you and find you a seat (no surprise there). If you're a little nervous about the price range they have, try asking him - cuanto cuesta? in Spanish. As soon as you are handed your menu, you're expected to order something to drink - a white wine or red wine is customary. The waiter brings you your drink, and sets the table by placing some Spanish bread directly your table with no plate. It could also come with a dish of butter or olive oil. And at the end, you ask for the bill - la cuenta, por favor.

For a quick introduction to Spanish food, make sure you try something with rice in it - paella is rice. Usually, it comes with seafood, rabbit meat or chicken. If you think that there is a certain Arab influence you see here and there in Spanish food, you wouldn't be wrong. North Africa isn't far away, and there is a certain Arabic touch to Spanish food.