Food History

Today I was extraordinarily lucky. Thanks to the kindness of a friend, I helped celebrate Spain’s National Day. I live in a city full of embassies, so this ought to have been one of those Canberra receptions where you stick with the three people you know the whole time and gripe about the city. The Spanish Embassy was both clever and generous and the reception was after this. The concert sparked us all to meet new people and chat frenetically and generally enjoy ourselves far too much. Even the blasé locals stayed well past the half hour polite minimum. I got home at 10 pm and I wasn’t the last to leave. (The concert had been over for two hours by that time!)

Since this is a food history blog I can’t tell you just how exceptional the guitar part of the concert was, or just how warm and generous the Embassy staff were, but I can give you a bit of Spanish food history to help you share in the wonder that was this evening.

What can I tell you about the history of Spanish food? Perhaps that Spain has enough food history to fill at least twenty encyclopaedic volumes. Just thinking about the subject makes me wonder where I should start. Too many people think that the cuisines of Spain are tapas and paella and chorizo, so it’s about time I talked about them. This is the fewest words I can condense the last two thousand years of Spanish food into and still have it make even vague sense.

Two thousand years ago Spain was one of those regions that the Roman Empire farmed to feed its masses. Some of the irrigation systems from that time still survive. Even then, though, the peninsula wasn’t homogenous.

Take a look at a modern map of Spain and note all the major cities and most of the almost-major ones. Most of these places represent old population centres and often they also represent different climates and cultures. The climates changed over time (as climate does) and so what was grown in certain areas changed a bit, which is worth knowing.

What‘s even more worth knowing, however, is where Spain is located on a map. The Pyrenees usually protected Spain from France for large chunks of the last 2000 years (Charlemagne didn’t find them much of an obstacle, nor did Napoleon, so they weren’t impermeable), but it didn’t protect it from the folks who lived in or near the Pyrenees, from the folks who lived to the east, or from folks who lived to the south. In fact, Spain has been invaded a number of times. Each time has brought changes in the cuisine and the culture. Spain has done its share of invading, as well, and this has also brought changes in Spanish foodways. Not all of these invasions are traceable in terms of culinary history – and yes, I think that statement deserves a special post one day.

Spanish food of today now is descended from a vast number of movements of people and a vast number of influences from all the directions that Spaniards have traded or sailed or explored over the years. It has developed some strengths from its occasional isolation from other countries and others from its links with specific countries. It still has close links to local and regional agriculture. It’s regional and interesting and worth looking at much more closely.

I’ve just talked myself into it, haven’t I? I’ve already given you some information on Sephardic Jewish cuisine and have more planned. I will add to that and explore different places and times in Spain’s food history. Maybe I’ll also explore Spanish food exported to the new World and other places, too. Just keep an eye on this space and posts will appear.