Claudia Roden - The Food of Spain

CLAUDIA RODEN was born and brought up in Cairo. She finished her education in Paris and later studied art in London. She now lives in London. Roden writes about food with a special interest in the social and historical background of cooking. Her books include The Book of Jewish Food , which won eight international awards, as well as The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, Arabesque, Coffee: A Connoisseurs Companion, The Food of Italy: Region by Region, Everything Tastes Better Outdoors, and Mediterranean Cookery . In 1989 she won Italys two most prestigious food prizes, the Premio Orio Vergani and the Premio Maria Luigia, Duchessa di Parma. She has also won six Glenfiddich awards.

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Much of what is in this book fills me with nostalgia about people.

I asked everybody I met in Spain during the five years I took to research this book to tell me about their favorite dishes. Some gave recipes; some spent hours, even days, talking to me about food and life, about the history of their country, and about the produce. Friends cooked for me and took me to restaurants and on tapas crawls; many were always available to answer questions by telephone or e-mail; colleagues gave me their books and sent me recipes; and mentors made contacts for me in different regions.

So many people helped me that I cannot thank them all, but I do remember them allevery recipe reminds me of somebody. I am immensely grateful to the following: Alicia Ros, Pepa Aymami, Rosa Tovar, Gaspar Rey, Angelita Garca de Paredes Barreda, Pepe Iglesias, Jos Mara Conde de Ybarra, Lourdes March, Cuqui Gonzles, Lol Flores, Jos Luis Alexanco, Andres Bertomeu, Manolo Ruiz Lpez, Michael Jacobs, Ana Lorente, Luis Bertran Bittini Martinez, Jaime Rodrguez, Sister Inmaculada Romero, and Carolina Zendrera. I have written about them in the book. I am much indebted to Simon Cohen and Vicky Hayward, to food historians Xavier Medina and Antoni Riera Melis, to Josep Lladonosa and the architect Miquel Espinet who is president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Jose Alba Mendoza of the Instituto de la Grasa de Sevilla (Institute of Fats); and I owe special thanks to Rosa Mara Esteva Grewe, Martine Beaulieu Gracia, Marion Maitlis, and Mara Rosa Menocal; to Hilary Pomeroy and Edith Grossman, Elena Santonja, Encarna Vicente, and Sonia Ortega.

I thank my publisher and editor, Daniel Halpern, a poet and a true gourmet, who initiated the book and gave his enthusiastic support and valuable advice throughout. I am grateful to Judith Sutton for her intelligent and painstaking editing; to Jason Lowe for the splendid photographs; and to my agent, Lizzy Kremmer, for her unceasing encouragement.

Mediterranean Cookery

Coffee

Everything Tastes Better Outdoors

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York

Tamarind and Saffron: Favorite Recipes from the Middle East

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food

Picnics and Other Outdoor Feasts

Claudia Rodens Invitation to Mediterranean Cooking

The Food of Italy: Region by Region

Foolproof Mediterranean Cookery

Arabesque

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I have consulted a large number of old and new regional Spanish cookbooks. Among the books in English that I have consulted are those of writers Colman Andrews, Teresa Barrenechea, Penelope Casas, Sam and Sam Clark, Don Harris, Clarissa Hyman, Elizabeth Luard, Janet Mendel, Marimar Torres, and Steve Winston. I have learned much about Spanish culinary history from El Libro de la Cocina EspaolaGastronoma e Historia by Nstor Lujn and Juan Perucho (Ediciones Danae, 1970); El Buen Gusto de Espaa edited by Ana Letamendia and Lourdes Plana for the Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentation (1991); Sabores de Espaa by Ismael Diaz Yubero (Pirmide, 1998); Xavier Medinas Food Culture in Spain (Greenwood, 2005); and Spain Gourmetour, the food, wine, and travel quarterly magazine published by ICEX in Madrid.

Of the general books about the history of Spain not mentioned in the text, the following have been especially helpful:

Bolens, Lucie. La Cuisine Andalouse, un Art de Vivre, XIeXIIIe Sicles. Albin Michel, 1981.

Braudel, Fernand. La Mditerrane et le Monde Mditerranen lpoque de Philippe II. 1949.

Carr, Raymond, editor. Spain: A History. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Casey, James. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. Routledge, 1999.

Kamen, Henry. Spain in the Later Seventeenth Century, 16651700. Longman, 1980.

. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 14921763. HarperCollins, 2003.

Kedourie, Elie. Spain and the Jews: The Sephardi Experience, 1492 and After. Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Marin, Manuela, editor. The Formation of Al-Andalus. Part 1. History and Society. Ashgate Variorium, 1998.

Medina, F. Xavier. Food Culture in Spain. (Food Culture Around the World series.) Greenwood Press, 2005.

Menocal, Mara Rosa. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. Back Bay Books, 2003.

Meyerson, Mark D., and Edward D. Meyerson, editors. Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval and Early Modern Spain: Interaction and Cultural Exchange. University of Notre Dame Press, 2000.

Morris, Jan. Spain. Faber and Faber, 1964.

Read, Jan. The Catalans. Faber and Faber, 1978.

Ruiz, Teofilo. Spanish Society, 14001600. Longman, 2001.

Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire. Reprint, Random House, 2003.

Contents

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THE FOOD OF SPAIN.

Copyright 2011 by Claudia Roden.

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FIRST EDITION

Designed by Level, Calistoga, CA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-06-196962-1

EPub Edition JUNE 2011 ISBN: 9780062091680

11 12 13 14 15 OV/LEO 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover design by Allison Saltzman
Front cover photograph by Anita Calero/trunkarchive.com

For my children, Simon, Nadia, and Anna;
my grandchildren, Cesar, Peter, Sarah, Ruby, Nell, and Lily;
and also for Clive and Ros

YOU WILL RETURN TO MY ORCHARD
AND ITS FIG TREE:
IN THE ALTITUDE OF BLOSSOMS YOUR SOUL
WILL FLOAT ON WINGS, COLLECTING
THE HONEY AND WAX OF THE ANGELIC HIVES.

MIGUEL HERNNDEZ
from Elegy