¡Buen aproveche!

Would you all like to know one of my favorite things in the whole world?

Food.

Food is a significant part of every culture in the world.  Food here in Spain is delicious!  Also, there are very specific foods that are a part of my everyday life and that will always remind me of my time here.

My absolute favorite part of my breakfast is my fresh squeezed orange juice every morning! I am going to miss it so much when I return to the United States.  My host mom has a little fruit-juicer that I use to make the juice.

It’s super easy! The entire process takes no longer than five minutes and the natural flavor of the fruit is incredible.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is very popular here in Seville.  You can buy it in almost any cafe and my school cafeteria even sells it! Yum!

Another part of my scrumptious breakfast is my toast.  Toast is a very typical breakfast food here in Spain.  I personally love my two pieces of whole grain toast with butter and strawberry jam every morning! However, because I don’t eat very much for breakfast I’m hungry an hour or two later.

Time for my merienda!

Snacks in Spain are a must with the different eating schedule.  I have become very fond of the three snacks that my host mom always buys; I eat at least two of the three every day:

1.  Fruit. My host mom usually stocks up on oranges, bananas, apples, and some weeks, pears! I have at least 2-4 pieces of fruit a day.

2.  Mini-muffins. These are little, light, fluffy clouds of goodness. They are small muffins that taste like pieces of white cake; my favorite type of cake!

3. Digestive Cookies. Digestive cookies are super popular here in Spain.  They come in all shapes and sizes and are sold in all of the supermarkets!  My host mom gets a particular brand called Maria (her name is Maria, too!).  They are round, crunchy and taste very similar to graham crackers.  I love these throughout the day!

Lunch is always the biggest meal and the food varies.  Sometimes we have soup or pasta, other times we have croquettes or fish.  Regardless of the main dish, two things are always on the table: bread and olive oil.

Bread is a part of many meals throughout all of Europe, but especially in Spain.  It is normal for people to buy food daily here so the bread is always fresh and, of course, delicious!

Olive oil is also a very typical food here in España.  Spain’s climate is perfect for growing olive trees so Spain grows tasty olives and produces wonderful olive oil.  The Spanish people use olive oil in everything they cook, but they also add it to bread and salad as well.  I have yet to encounter a different type of salad dressing here.  Even the salads at fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King, only sell olive oil as a dressing.

Now we move on to the last meal of the day: dinner.  Dinner is always smaller and served later in the evening.  I eat dinner around 9:30-10 pm every night.  Our host mom will normally make us an omelet, a quesadilla, or a typical Spanish dish called tortilla de patata.

Tortilla de patata is quite different from the Mexican tortilla I was familiar with before I arrived in Spain.  It is sort of an omelet with potatoes and onions.  Some people add other ingredients like sausage or green pepper, but tortilla de patata is always made from eggs, potatoes, and onions.  ¡Buenísima!

Finally comes the best part of the day…dessert!  Normally dessert here is a cookie or a yogurt, but I’ve learned about one dessert in particular that I absolutely adore.

Oranges with cinnamon and sugar.

I am going to give you all the step by step recipe to make this yummy dessert.

Step 1. Peel an orange.

Step 2.  Separate the orange into slices.

Step 3. Sprinkle sugar over the slices.

Step 4. Sprinkle cinnamon over the slices.

Step 5. Enjoy!

I’ve definitely been enjoying this dessert myself!

Breck Scarnavack
Classmates Connecting Cultures
Sevilla, Spain
Spring 2012