I can’t stop surprising myself. Yesterday, I prepared some seafood with vegetables and then some rice. Let me tell you something else important – seafood just loves chilled white wine! They get along so well together!
It was in the 2002 when I first started working with Spaniards.
In the beginning was “cultura de la comida” or “culture of food”. Yeah, it sounds really strange, especially on working days, when we normally have 30-45 minutes for lunch, but not in Spain. This wonderful, exotic and yet so traditional country actually treats food with the respect it deserves.
There are a lot of jokes, like:
- Who is the fastest person on Earth?
- The Spanish civil servant. Because they leave work at 15:00 and at 14:00 they are already having lunch at home.
No, don’t pay attention to the hint of laziness, pay attention to the food!
In Bulgaria there’s another joke:
- The party in Spain ends when the food is over.
- The party in Bulgaria ends when the alcohol is over.
All my life, I thought that grabbing something fast for lunch and going back to work so I can finish earlier, is by far the best that I can do. The thing is that this is not good for my health and if it’s not good for me, it can’t be good for my employer. So, think twice, before you go and shamelessly harm your employer’s interests by munching a sandwich during your lunch-break.
Time went on and “cultura de la comida” found a new fan – me! As our relationship developed, I gradually started discovering new wonders of the Spanish culinary art. Nevertheless, there it went again and surprised me with “tapas”!
Ask an Englishman if he gets the tapas! No way. A friend of mine, after visiting a Spanish restaurant and having tapas and drinks the whole evening, concluded that a Chinese restaurant would have been much better. Not because he didn’t like the tapas, but when you get served 15 plates with 1 spoon of food in them, at the end you can’t be certain whether you actually had dinner or not. Yeah, in this aspect, I have to admit - Chinese restaurants don’t let you doubt. You know, oh, you know so well!
Tapas are something additional that you get when you ask for a drink. The variety is endless! It can be from a little plate with green olives, to a bowl of soup and a slice of bread with cheese or ham.
Anyways, food is something that should be enjoyed! It’s not just filling your stomach, it fills your senses, it provokes your imagination, it can bring up memories from your past (let’s hope that good ones), it accompanies you in the most happy moments with your loved ones and above all, food can be your best medicine.
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