The Camino Made Me Eat That

[Militiachelle]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Pig's ears. Veal feet and head.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year: https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/ What are your horror (or not) stories?

OM... When I read the title of your thread, I thought : American (sorry...) . But no, you're Canadian. So let me try to help you.

1. Spain is the land of protein, animal protein: Paleo' dieters' heaven. Can you say chorizo & jamon serrano? It's all you need to know.
2. It's also the land of canned seafood (canned 'cos were walking and don't have the facilities to cook with frozen seefood, or fresh seafood): high protein, low fat, or at least conserved in olive oil. But if you make it to Muxia and Fisterra, have percebes: as ugly as can be, as delicious as can be. What about the boiled octopus seasoned with olive oil and paprika? Paleo heaven again!
3. It's the land of olive oil. Need we say more? Healthy oils. Oh so easy to get your daily ration.
4. Spain is the land of Rioja and other glorious wines: your heart will thank you for providing it with tannins.
5. Spain is the land of athleetes: Barca, Real Madrid, Aranxa, Nadal. And even if he doesn't move while performing, it's the land of Alonso. And what about Indurain - this world has yet to see another athlete of this caliber.

So, what did I have to eat on the Camino that was ... different? Unfortunately nothing, especially on the CF because the "pilgrim menu" is just a tourist trap with generic food. Blood pudding sandwich is San Juan de Ortaga: ditch the stale bread and enjoy the blood sausage. Fried sardines in San Vincente de la Barquera: just don't look them in the eye.

Yes, fresh fruit and veggies are expensive, especially when locally grown. There is something very wrong with that. But there's lots of canned asparagus and red peppers.

And after all it's only 2-6 weeks of your life. And if you are not celiac you can have that weat, those potatoes, those beans. Just enjoy them, train your palet, it will thank you for it.

And then go back to whatever the trend of the day is back home. Remember when eggs would kill you if you had more than 2 a day? What about avocados? Surely they were sending you to an early grave for having so much fat. Nuts? Are you nuts? No, never. Oh, the fat in them! Shall I go on ;0)

Just let go, live in the moment. Because, afterall, Spain may steal your heart and you'll never go back to the land of Whole Foods ;0)

 

[Icacos]

I saw lots that made me glad I don't eat meat. But I enjoyed the seafood .... not the pulpo tho' but that's another story.

 

[ebrandt]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

So we stopped just before Sarria for an afternoon cervesa. The bar had empanadas that looked really great and contained what we thought was chicken. We hadn't eaten much lunch we were hungry so we each ordered one.. First we noticed that the meat had not been deboned which seemed odd. Then we commented that the bones seemed to be from a pretty small chicken. Then my husband pulled out a bone and said -- "I don't think chicken have teeth!" It was a jaw bone. We were with a couple of friends who were amused at my discomfort and immediately started speculating on what sort of meat we had just eaten! Finally one of them took pity and, speaking much more fluent Spanish than we spoke, was able to discover that we were eating rabbit. While this was probably the best of the possibilities that were being tossed about, I was pretty chagrined. I know lots of people enjoy rabbit, but I have never been able to bring myself to eat Peter.....

 

[jeffnd]

The Good:
1. Chorizo. My favorite lunch was a chorizo sandwich, made right on the trail. It got even better when I bought a bottle of mustard!
2. Aquarius Limón. Nectar of the gods!
3. KitKats. I don't know what it is, but KitKats tasted different in Spain.
4. At the Albergue in Arre, I loved the fact that I could get both peanut M&M's and beer from one machine.

5. Sopa de Ajo

The Bad:
1. That awful, terrible, unholy substance that can sit in a box for months and is somehow allowed to be called "milk."
2. Un-shelled, un-veined shrimp for tapas. In case you didn't know, the "vein" found in shrimp isn't actually a vein, it's the digestive tract and that brown stuff isn't blood, it's... well it's the same thing that's in your digestive tract. And I'm pretty sure it's impossible to look dignified while trying to remove the edible bits of shrimp from the shell.
3. I found the pilgrim menu to be overpriced in most places. I had trouble justifying paying $12 euros or more for over-cooked pasta with ketchup, a piece of meat that had to be sliced with a razor, and a pudding cup. Others though, were quite excellent, such as Ave Fenix in Villafranca and the Albergue Verde in Hospital de Orbigo.
4. Sardines. I bought a can of sardines my second day. I was going to save them for when I really needed them. That time turned out to be on the long, empty stretch after Carrion. Worst sardines I've ever had.

The Strange:
1. In Burgos, I stopped at a store and bought my usual bread and Chorizo for sandwiches. The lady at the counter says, "No, no, no! Picante! No, no!" Now, it took me a minute to realize she was trying to warn me that said Chorizo was supposed to be very spicy and was to get the "regular" kind. This was the same kind of Chorizo I had been buying since day 1. Now it's tasty as all get out, but spicy? I've had rice crispies spicier than that.

2. After coming down from the Cruz de Ferro, I stopped in a bar and checked out their sandwich selection. I'd been having ham sandwiches most of the way and I saw they offered either Spanish or York ham. York ham? What's that? Well, well, let's give it a shot! To my disappointment, York ham turned out to be something on par with sliced "ham" luncheon meat from Oscar Mayer.

3. I got pretty good kick out of how Europeans thought Doritos qualified as Mexican food! Actually, I was surprised at the lack of familiarity of Mexican cuisine among Europeans. I met many "foodies" over there, and it seemed like they were familiar with every style of cooking from every part of the globe, but they had never had a taco before.

4. One the third day, my friend and I went out for dinner. I was looking at their pizza menu and saw "Hawaiian", which had "jamon and ananas." Now, I know very few words in Spanish, so when I saw "ananas," I thought that was just the Spanish spelling of bananas. I thought it was an odd combination, but I thought, hey, that might actually be good. I mentioned to my friend that in America, a Hawaiian pizza came with ham and pineapple. He informed me that ananas is pineapple. In fact, that's what most of the world calls pineapple. I thought about that for moment. "So why isn't it called a ananas colada?" He had no response. I still have yet to try bananas on pizza.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I'm an American "foodie" who has lived several years on the Meseta in Spain. It's always fun to read my (North American) compatriots' takes on camino cuisine. You have it right when it comes to the Pilgrim Menu. I NEVER order those, I ask if there is a "menu del dia," and if there is none, I either switch eateries or order a la carte. Pilgrim menus are the cheapest food the proprietor can get away with serving. This can be wonderful home made "poor-people food" like beans and greens, or awful pre-packaged dreck. You don't know til it arrives and it's too late.
It pays to ask if the food is "de casero," "home-cooked." Sometimes they'll tell you which items are best, if you're polite to the waiter and you look him in the eye.
The people warning you about piquancy or "you won't like that" are operating out of experience. Most Spaniards hate food that's spicy. Most of the cooks assume that foreigners want pasty "Jamon York" and processed cheese sandwiches on Wonder bread, because they've seen so many foreigners leave the superior local product uneaten on their plates. They are trying to please you. If the question arises, tell them "Quiero lo que tu preparas por sus ninos." : "I want what you fix for your own children." (And hope the children have not seen too many ads on TV for crap food!)

"Ananas" is a South American spanish term. In Spain, a pineapple is a "pina," with the wavy thing over the n. "Peen-ya."
Bananas are "pla'tanos." If you want really good ones, ask for "platanos de las canarias, buen maduros."
Edible pizza is very very rare. You can get it sometimes in big cities, (Pizzeria La Competencia in Leon and Oviedo) but most rural bars only offer flash-frozen horror.
There is wonderful food to be had on the camino, but you have to take a couple of extra steps to get it.

 

[Mark Lee]

Having grown up in the New Orleans area and having lived several years in south Texas, none of the local dishes in Spain I found to be unusual.
Their bread reminded me of the French bread we have here in New Orleans. Really, it's not designed with nutrition in mind, but is basically a carrier for the meat, cheese, etc you put on it.
The cafe con leche is a lot like the cafe au lait we have in New Orleans, except we drink it with coffee and chicory.
Paella rocks, especially when you got it homemade. Several kinds in Spain, but all are similar to the jambalaya we have in Louisiana and is the same concept.
I gotta say I didn't really care for the Spanish (or French) concept of breakfast. A cup of coffee with some type of pastry or bread and jam don't really cut it. Not much fuel there for the morning's walk. I need more complex carbs and protein and would look forward to getting to the first cafe in the morning where I could buy a tortilla or a bocadillo. Most of the time I bought fresh fruit and dark chocolate the night before to help me in that first stretch of the Camino in the morning.
The pilgrim's menus were hit and miss. Some were good, other's lame. As an unashamed carnivore I would often order a sort of steak and eggs combo instead. Not much of a price difference between that and the pilgrim's menu, and you didn't get vino with it, but a cold San Miguel was a nice substitute.
I didn't like the amount of french fries served with meals. I almost never eat them in the US, but I guess they are a cheap starch for the restaurant to include with the meal.
Loved the chorizo in Spain. Again my Louisiana and Texas roots come out there. I stayed in one albergue that was actually the hospitalero and his wife's residence. I was the first one to check in that day and they were in the kitchen having a meal and the guy shared some of his homemade venison chorizo and wine from a bota with me. That was pretty damn cool. Little bit of a method and finesse to properly drink the wine out of he bota without missing your mouth, ha ha.
Loved the wine and beer in Spain. Can't say I had a bad bottle of either. Liked the seafood. Tapas were okay. Not much of a finger-food kind of guy, but I get the concept of socializing and meals. It's nice.
On both Caminos, buy the time reached Santiago I was about 10 kilos lighter despite eating like a horse the entire Way. Seemed like I couldn't eat enough but still lost weight.

 

[Icacos]

It was Melide and we wanted something other than a bocadillo for lunch. We went off the beaten track, selected a bar - filled with locals - that advertised made-to-order pizzas, and put in our request. There ensued a holy row between the two cooks/servers working behind the counter, none of which argument we understood. Were they out of an ingredient that was supposed to have been on our pizza? Who knows? Eventually a pizza was put before us.

All in a day's walk.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Burger King in Santiago.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

OK, if that did not put you off your feed, foreign food is not for you!

Start in Lyon for some taste treats:

Traditional Lyonnais Food
A traditional Lyonnais menu centers around meat, particularly offal. Typical foods include andouille (grilled chitterlings sausage), tripe (pig or cow’s stomach), or boudin noir (blood sausage). Other common dishes include, chicken liver salad, cerverlas, (raw pork sausages), quenelles (flour, egg and cream dumplings), or Cervelle de canut, (which means “brains of the silk-weaver” and consists of cream cheese mixed with garlic and chives.) Some contemporary bouchons serve more upscale French cuisine, such as fois gras and truffles, but for many Lyonnais, true bouchons only offer foods that are distinctly unpretentious.

Paul Bocuse and Nouvelle Cuisine
Lyon’s favored son, chef Paul Bocuse brought worldwide glory to Lyon with his innovative cooking. Described as the father of nouvelle cuisine, Chef Bocuse changed centuries of traditional French cooking by drastically cutting down on the use of heavy cream and butter and by relying on the taste of fresh ingredients. His namesake restaurant in Lyon has had three Michelin stars since 1965 and he owns several other highly-rated restaurants in the region, including the four brasseries, Le Nord, Le Sud, L’Est and L’Ouest, each of which have notably different styles.

Paul Bocuse's restaurant prix fixe is about 250E. You have to reserve about three months in advance. Three stars to not come cheap!

 

[Pelegrin]

Militiachelle, you say on your blog that vegetables are scarce in menus. I don't think that is true in Galicia, where frequently you have Caldo Galego with the very healthy cruciferous berza and grelo.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

frequently you have Caldo Galego

Usually in a pig broth!

Ingredients
For genuine broth:

• 100 g of dried white beans
• 1 knob of grease
• 1 medium turnip greens washed and sliced bunch (can also be used in the absence of turnip cabbage)
• 2 potatoes peeled and helmets
• Salt to taste

For the broth luxury we add:

• 2 beef marrow bones
• 1 piece of pork
• 2 Galician smoked sausages

 

[Pelegrin]

Yes there is some pig in Caldo, but I hope grelos and berzas don't lose all their properties because that. Grelo and Berza are bitter and need some pig fat .
For grelo lovers like me I recommend "lacon con grelos".

 

[waveprof]

It's funny, being from New Orleans almost all of the things listed on this thread are things we eat in our usual diet at home, at least on occasion. Oxtail, veal, pork cheeks, seafood, rabbit, chicken livers.... these are all normal dishes where I come from.

Meanwhile I think Spain (not pilgrim's meals mind you) is one of, if not the, best cuisines in the world, so I didn't find much that was "weird" to me.

The closest I can come to answering that would be either
1) my wife and I became obsessed with morcillia, which I'd never had and she'd only had once.........but while it was new to us, not so radically. In Louisiana we have Boudin, also a blood sausage, which we eat a few times a year (though it isn't as good as morcilla)
2) The look on other peregrino's faces when our fourteen month old was wolfing down pulpo in Galicia. They thought he was a real trooper, but the real truth is he'd had squid pasta at home several times before we left......so it wasn't "new" to him. They didn't know that though, and the looks on their faces were priceless lol

 

[Maya2]

OM... When I read the title of your thread, I thought : American (sorry...) . But no, you're Canadian. So let me try to help you.

Just let go, live in the moment. Because, afterall, Spain may steal your heart and you'll never go back to the land of Whole Foods ;0)

Are you sure you know Americans? They eat "calf fries" rattlesnake, blood pudding and cacti. I'm not a Whole Foods fan preferring to support local farmers.

Right now, I'm enjoying Mexican food in Mexico. Stereotypes never die.

 

[waveprof]

Are you sure you know Americans? They eat "calf fries" rattlesnake, blood pudding and cacti. I'm not a Whole Foods fan preferring to support local farmers.

Right now, I'm enjoying Mexican food in Mexico. Stereotypes never die.

+1. I've had as many harsh comments about my own nationality/culture as anyone, but to apply discussions about larger cultures to individuals is always short-sighted. I've met people of most every nationality with the food habits of the OP

Meanwhile, why the need to be so judgmental of the OP's eating habits? 1) it is her business 2) If the issue is that she doesn't push herself or buys into what Anemone del Camino thinks is an "image" of eating well......then read her actual blog post......and see how she actually tried a LOT of things she hadn't been previously comfortable with and learned from that. Based on Anemone del Camino's expressed views, it would seems Anemone del Camino would be "happy" about that

 

[george.g]

Kebab and Coke in Leon.
Sometimes its just got to be junk food!
Regards
George

 

[Mark Lee]

Are you sure you know Americans? They eat "calf fries" rattlesnake, blood pudding and cacti. I'm not a Whole Foods fan preferring to support local farmers.

Right now, I'm enjoying Mexican food in Mexico. Stereotypes never die.

Ha ha....true dat.
I guess I wasn't eating "American" when I had fried rattlesnake in Freer, Texas or alligator sauce piquante in Houma, Louisiana. Not to mention squirrel and dumplings in southern Arkansas.

Don't remember the last time I shopped at Whole Foods, ha ha.

 

[Hal]

Thanks for posting this, Militiachelle! So funny. Love your blog, too.

I haven't been on the Camino, but I am afraid that there will be no tortilla at breakfast for me. I am insensitive to cooked egg yolk, so I'll have to get creative.

My mother comes from the hungriest region of the world, but as an Australian with a reasonable income, I am fortunate that my eating choices (the ones that aren't based on allergens) can be made based on my emotions/ideals, and my eating choices are choices indeed because of my privilege. Grass-fed, free-range meat, line-caught fish and in-season vegetables are if not abundant then available.

Travel always takes my blinders off.

In my late teens, my mother took me on a 3 week tour to Italy on the Christmas break. I don't think I have come across less fresh fruit or vegetables at any place in my life. In Italy! Our group was at half east Asian and we all very sad when faced with receiving our Vitamin C quota from stewed apricots at breakfast and steamed frozen broccoli at dinner. Being in old city centres or rural touristic spots there were few markets to buy produce or cafes apart from tourist traps. Upon stopping at a petrol station where a man was juicing lovely overripe oranges, I bought 3 glorious cups and but crashed after the sugar high.

With all the plentiful biscuits, potatoes and bread on the go (which I don't love a great deal to begin with, plus I become fatter on bread than I do on fat, go figure) I always miss green veggies and fresh protein. I can do quite well with nuts, yoghurt and olives (drain jar and place in zip-lock bag), and if I get ham and cheese on a sandwich I buy 2 or 3 (piglet!) and give the bread to someone else. I also have a taste for tinned mussells. Must be the heavy metals. The most sick I have ever been was in Jordan and Syria (not their fault, I had a vaccination shot the day before leaving that left me recovering for a week). A sweet, concerned boy at the post office near our hotel in Petra rang his sister in a convenience store around the way, had her come over and take me there to sit down next to the counter, and offered me tea and baklava. I'm not gonna lie - the baklava was amazing and quite cured my digestion!

 

[Former member 42123]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

As a "veggie" my problem was explaining I did not expect to find pork in my garlic soup,tuna in my mixed salad and that in my opinion chicken is meat.I gave up on 'pilgrim menu meals' in favour of pot luck,which meant that coupled with the physical demands of thecamino,in just over a month I lost close to 23 pounds.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The Bad - The Strange: York ham. York ham? 3. Europeans had never had a taco before & "jamon and ananas." I thought it was an odd combination, but I thought, hey, that might actually be good. I mentioned to my friend that in America, a Hawaiian pizza came with ham and pineapple. He informed me that ananas is pineapple. In fact, that's what most of the world calls pineapple. I thought about that for moment. "So why isn't it called a ananas colada?" He had no response. I still have yet to try bananas on pizza.

Yes,

Their bread, not designed with nutrition in mind, but is basically a carrier for the meat, cheese, etc you put on it. The cafe con leche is a lot like the cafe au lait we have in New Orleans, except we drink it with coffee and chicory. Paella ... similar to the jambalaya we have in Louisiana and is the same concept.
I gotta say I didn't really care for the Spanish (or French) concept of breakfast. A cup of coffee with some type of pastry or bread and jam don't really cut it. Not much fuel there for the morning's walk. I need more complex carbs and protein and would look forward to getting to the first cafe in the morning where I could buy a tortilla or a bocadillo. Most of the time I bought fresh fruit and dark chocolate the night before to help me in that first stretch of the Camino in the morning.
The pilgrim's menus were hit and miss. Some were good, other's lame. As an unashamed carnivore I would often order a sort of steak and eggs combo instead. Not much of a price difference between that and the pilgrim's menu, and you didn't get vino with it, but a cold San Miguel was a nice substitute.
I didn't like the amount of french fries served with meals. I almost never eat them in the US, but I guess they are a cheap starch for the restaurant to include with the meal.
Loved the chorizo in Spain. Again my Louisiana and Texas roots come out there. I stayed in one albergue that was actually the hospitalero and his wife's residence. I was the first one to check in that day and they were in the kitchen having a meal and the guy shared some of his homemade venison chorizo and wine from a bota with me. That was pretty damn cool. Little bit of a method and finesse to properly drink the wine out of he bota without missing your mouth, ha ha.
Loved the wine and beer in Spain. Can't say I had a bad bottle of either. Liked the seafood. Tapas were okay. Not much of a finger-food kind of guy, but I get the concept of socializing and meals. It's nice.
On both Caminos, buy the time reached Santiago I was about 10 kilos lighter despite eating like a horse the entire Way. Seemed like I couldn't eat enough but still lost weight.

 

[normandog]

Ha ha....true dat.
I guess I wasn't eating "American" when I had fried rattlesnake in Freer, Texas or alligator sauce piquante in Houma, Louisiana. Not to mention squirrel dumplings in southern Arkansas.

Don't remember the last time I shopped at Whole Foods, ha ha.

did the squirrel dumplings come with hair on or hair off? I am getting a bit quivery imagining the answer!

 

[Castilian]

I stopped at a store and bought my usual bread and Chorizo for sandwiches. The lady at the counter says, "No, no, no! Picante! No, no!" Now, it took me a minute to realize she was trying to warn me that said Chorizo was supposed to be very spicy and was to get the "regular" kind.

One of the main ingredients of Chorizo is pimentón (Spanish paprika). There are two types of pimentón the picante (spicy) and the dulce (sweet) and depending on which one is used the chorizo is (a bit) spicy or not. As not everyone likes chorizo picante (maybe the lady herself didn't like it), she thought the other chorizo would be a safest bet for you...

"Ananas" is a South American spanish term. In Spain, a pineapple is a "pina," with the wavy thing over the n. "Peen-ya."

Yes and no. It's true that piña is the term used in Castilian Spanish for pineapple but it's also true that ananás is the term used in Galician for pineapple what makes me fairly certain that jeffnd ate his Hawaiian pizza in Galicia.

Bananas are "pla'tanos."

Spaniards usually/many times call plátanos to those of the Canary Islands (smallers and sweeter than bananas and with black specks on the yellow skin) and bananas to those of the Americas (biggers and without specks on their skin).

 

[Mark Lee]

did the squirrel dumplings come with hair on or hair off? I am getting a bit quivery imagining the answer!

Ha ha....no nothing like that. It's skinned, cleaned and quartered. Same as you would do with chicken and (forgot that conjunction in my post ) dumplings. The dumplings are round balls of dough you cook up in the stew with the meat. The meat is a lot like rabbit.

 

[kellyz]

Kebab and Coke in Leon.
Sometimes its just got to be junk food!
Regards
George

I love Spanish food but decided it was time for a departure when I came across the kebab in Leon. But that particular kebab might have been my worst meal in Spain. Picked the wrong place, I guess! I ate a lot of new things that I liked (pig ears, morcilla, pulpo, percebes, razor clams) but in the spirit of mentioning what the Camino made me eat, which I would not otherwise eat? That would be enormous amounts of bread.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Picked the wrong place, I guess!

There may not be a right place for the kebab!!

 

[SYates]

The Camino made me eat - eggs

At home I only buy eggs from happy free range chicken and, when going out, normally don't choose a dish that contains unhappy eggs.

On the Camino? Frankly, Spanish cuisine seems to be egg based more than anything else. Tortialla, Sopa Castillana, desserts, hard to find anything without egg in it. I quickly gave up on my 'I don't eat eggs that come from unhappy chicken' attitude - I needed to eat something occasionally ;-)

SY

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The Camino made me eat - eggs

They need to be cooked. I know two pilgrims who were projectile vomiting within a half hour of eating under cooked eggs! Those great looking sunny side up eggs might be dangerous.

 

[november_moon]

Yeah, the main problem with squirrel is that they are just so darned small - a lot of work for not much meat. You pretty much have to put them in a stew or dumplings to make anything out of them.

 

[jeffnd]

Yes and no. It's true that piña is the term used in Castilian Spanish for pineapple but it's also true that ananás is the term used in Galician for pineapple what makes me fairly certain that jeffnd ate his Hawaiian pizza in Galicia.

Spaniards usually/many times call plátanos to those of the Canary Islands (smallers and sweeter than bananas and with black specks on the yellow skin) and bananas to those of the Americas (biggers and without specks on their skin).

It was actually in a restaurant in Zubiri where I encountered the Hawaiian pizza. I don't recall seeing a Hawaiian pizza offered anywhere else so I'm not sure what other places called it. Conversations about words and translations were some of the most interesting of my Camino, so when I got home, I looked up this whole ananas thing and came across this article, with a handy map!

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/nov/14/pain-in-the-ananas-etymology-maps

 

[Castilian]

It was actually in a restaurant in Zubiri where I encountered the Hawaiian pizza.

Zubiri is in the Basque speaking area of Navarre and pineapple in Basque is anana... Maybe you mixed anana with ananás?

I don't recall seeing a Hawaiian pizza offered anywhere else so I'm not sure what other places called it.

In Spanish (the one(s) spoken in Spain): piña
In Basque: anana
In Galician: ananás
In Catalan: pinya

BTW, Hawaiian pizza is offered by popular (in Spain) chains of pizza restaurants like Telepizza, Domino's Pizza or Pizza Hut.

 

[jeffnd]

Zubiri is in the Basque speaking area of Navarre and pineapple in Basque is anana... Maybe you mixed anana with ananás?



In Spanish (the one(s) spoken in Spain): piña
In Basque: anana
In Galician: ananás
In Catalan: pinya

It could have been ananás, my Spanish is terrible and my Basque is even worse! So I could have confused ananás for anana. Not mention, I was very worn out from the walk that day!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Paul Bocuse and Nouvelle Cuisine

Falcon, I need to ask: what were you wearing when you went into Bocuse's restaurant? Pilgrim wear must have gotten you a lot of attention ;0)

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Pina, ananas, anana , pinya ...

20 years ago I worked in Ukraine for a year, in a million plus population city, a city that used to be one of the USSR's most polluted cities due to its industries. When I got there most plants were closed and pollution rare. One day or spring, at the private market, an elderly lady asked me, over my shoulder, when seeing a pineapple if that's what 'people called ananas'. Broke my heart: a land with such resources, but who went about using them so poorly. A country that because of it had lost a lot of its vocabulary when it came to food. It if wasn't a basic food like onion, sugar, vinegar, 'meat' it had no name, no one remembered it. Whenever I hear the word "ananas" used other than in French I remember that woman and think about the hard life she led.

 

[Icacos]

..... And think about the hard life she led.

I understand, Anemone. A few years ago we had a wheelchair dependent person win the office of Mayor to our city. He received an email from someone in Russia (USSR at the time, I'm not sure) congratulating him on his accomplishment, given that he was physically challenged. This person added that he too was wheelchair dependent, and lived on the twelfth floor of an apartment building, which had no elevator.

But I am off-topic.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

You say anana
I say banana
he says peenya
she says pineapple...
Let's just order a pizza!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Falcon, I need to ask: what were you wearing when you went into Bocuse's restaurant? Pilgrim wear must have gotten you a lot of attention ;0)

Clean pilgrim wear! I was there in the afternoon when they were preparing for dinner. We had a very nice tour of the kitchen and dining areas, and were given souvenir menus in French and English. I doubt the convertible cargo pants would have been suitable that evening, but we were well received in Lyon at the restaurants serving local cuisine. The tour of the old quarter was fascinating. It is a rabbit warren of connected buildings and alleys, perfect for evading Nazi patrols (which is a focus of the modern history).

 

[Al the optimist]

You say anana
I say banana
he says peenya
she says pineapple...
Let's just order a pizza!

LOL
You say patata.....

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Beware to buy CHORIZO.
Normally the cord that closes the casing has two colors.
White, sweet (dulce) chorizo.
Red, spicy (picante) chorizo.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

On the Camino the best is meet to a Spanish pilgrim.
He can introduce in the gastronomy and culture of Spain.
Enjoy Spain.

 

[naplesdon]

did the squirrel dumplings come with hair on or hair off? I am getting a bit quivery imagining the answer!

Only if it wasn't road kill.

 

[Scott Sweeney]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

I have been amazed at the foods I have eaten in Spain, France and most of Europe. I only wish the quality of our foods here in the states came close to the standards of the foods outside our country have. It is very unfortunate that the foods in the states is so high in sodium and modified products that extend the shelf life.

I have had trotters here in the states cooked by people who you would expect to know how to cook them and I have had them in Spain, hands down in Spain. I grew up knowing Irish black and white puddings but the Spanish morcilla is incredible, who even makes it here in Virginia? I thought I knew chicken wings until I had them in Catalunya. I will gladly chose the foods of Europe over what we are forced to consume here.

 

[Sheilajg]

I am looking forward to having the lentil soup again. I had it several times in Galicia and thought it was delicious. I will be searching for more fruits and veggies during my next Camino, though. I really missed those....a lot!

 

[Scott Sweeney]

Returning from cold days hiking I always think about sopa de trucha.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Reading Michelle's blog reminds me of my eating experiences on my first Camino on the Francese. It took a while, with tips from helpful Spaniards and veteran pilgrims, before I learned the tricks-- others have been mentioned here, of the menu de dia and asking to be served what the Spanish customers are eating. I also realized that I would have to up my food expenditure from 12 euro/day and spend half as much or twice as much each day to get a higher-quality and more balanced diet. I avoided the breakfast trauma she describes by keeping yogurt and fruit handy for a morning bite before leaving at 6.30, and hoping to find a bar by 10 which would make me a bocadillo de tortilla francese. The CSJ guide wisely reminds us that their food timetable is their food timetable, and that Spain will not change for us. But the quality of food, for the price, is exceptional and, sticking to local specialties as much as possible, one can do quite well. Vancouver, where our bloggeuse writes from, is one of the best food cities on the planet and it is hard to beat it for selection and quality of fruit and vegetables-- travelling almost anywhere else in Canada is a hardship for Vancouverites, so I understand her distress at the limited selection-- but with a bit of attention, and a sense of adventure with respect to speaking Spanish and local food, you can do quite well for a fairly small amount of money. Even eating a la carta, which I would do once or twice a week, I would have a 30 euro meal which, for the same quality, would have cost me $75-$100 in Toronto or Montreal.

 

[Anniesantiago]

The only thing I found so gross I couldn't finish it were the pig's ears.
The one thing I thought I would NEVER eat, but tried and loved, was the pork liver pate on the VDLP route.
It became a pack staple.

 

[vgen5122]

I have thought about this a little bit. Let me first say, like my Spanish ancestors I am a protein lover and I like only very mildly spiced food. Love Mexican food without the hotness.
While walking the Camino I loved the rabbit ( it was like I make at home) and I ate great fresh lamb in O'Cebreiro. The paella was wonderful, but one of the best dinners I ate while in Spain was fresh and vegetarian. It was the only place where I stayed where after the meal had been consumed, everyone stood up and applauded the cook! It was wonderful! Buen Camino.

 

[kellyz]

Annie, you beat me to the pig's ears post. Except I was going to say that I loved Orejas. And baby eels (Angulas). But both only in small quantities.
The Sopa de Trucha that Scott mentioned--I could eat that every day.

 

[kellyz]

I have thought about this a little bit. Let me first say, like my Spanish ancestors I am a protein lover and I like only very mildly spiced food. Love Mexican food without the hotness.
While walking the Camino I loved the rabbit ( it was like I make at home) and I ate great fresh lamb in O'Cebreiro. The paella was wonderful, but one of the best dinners I ate while in Spain was fresh and vegetarian. It was the only place where I stayed where after the meal had been consumed, everyone stood up and applauded the cook! It was wonderful! Buen Camino.

How was the rabbit prepared?
And where is this place with the fresh, vegetarian dinner?

 

[lovingkindness]

snails....
.....slimy bits extracted with a toothpick...
too polite to decline......

 

[Anniesantiago]

snails....
.....slimy bits extracted with a toothpick...
too polite to decline......

Oh yeah! Caracolas! I had those on the VDLP and actually, I loved them! They were in a broth.

Isn't it funny how we have such different tastes?

The baby eels I ate weren't really eels. They were fish cut to be like eels, but they were pretty darned yummy!

 

[lovingkindness]

I swallowed 10 of them whole. The nonna was visibly upset when I declined more...

 

[Castilian]

And baby eels (Angulas).

The kilo of angulas costs well more than 100 Euros and on former years it has costed well more than 300 Euros... That itself could be a good tip to know if you are really being offered angulas or some sort of imitation like, for example, gulas.

Caracolas! I had those on the VDLP and actually, I loved them! They were in a broth.

Caracola=Conch
Caracol=Snail

 

[Anniesantiago]

Caracola=Conch
Caracol=Snail

All I know is that the sign on the door said, 'Caracoles' and they were tiny and good.
Maybe the bar guy couldn't spell?

Or perhaps they stuffed snail shells with conch (which I have also eaten by the way)
When I was a teen in the Caribbean, I collected conch shells from the fisherman, cleaned them, and sold them to tourists.

No.. they were snails.
Whomever printed the sign wasn't good in spelling.
But thanks for correcting me - now I know
PS: I did look it up and the Spanish does say "caracoles" as the plural?

 

[Castilian]

Whomever printed the sign wasn't good in spelling.

That's the most likely option if the sign really said caracolas. Another option is that the sign was written by someone from Aragón (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon) where some sort of small caracoles are called (in some areas?) caracolas but the Vdlp doesn't cross Aragón so that's not as likely as the option that you quoted.

 

[kellyz]

The kilo of angulas costs well more than 100 Euros and on former years it has costed well more than 300 Euros... That itself could be a good tip to know if you are really being offered angulas or some sort of imitation like, for example, gulas.



Caracola=Conch
Caracol=Snail

Well, I was with some friends from Burgos who were ordering for us. That sounds out of our price range, but they did say it was baby eel. Regardless, I enjoyed it!

 

[Anniesantiago]

Well, I was with some friends from Burgos who were ordering for us. That sounds out of our price range, but they did say it was baby eel. Regardless, I enjoyed it!

We found those "baby eels" canned - and I brought some home.
But as was said, the real ones were crazy expensive and the ones on the tapas we ate in Pamplona were not truely eels, but fish cut in that way.
Still yummy though!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

We found those "baby eels" canned - and I brought some home.
But as was said, the real ones were crazy expensive and the ones on the tapas we ate in Pamplona were not truely eels, but fish cut in that way.
Still yummy though!

When I was a child my parents were friends with the head of Iberia in Mexico and they used to bring in the real thing on a regular basis. - Oh the stuff that came in that way! - And then the faux as apparently it became illegal to fish the real ones. Oh the heartache ;0)

 

[kellyz]

Oh yeah! Caracolas! I had those on the VDLP and actually, I loved them! They were in a broth.

Hard to believe there's anything I have not eaten in Spain, but I did not have any snails. That is going to have to be remedied this summer.

 

[vgen5122]

How was the rabbit prepared?
And where is this place with the fresh, vegetarian dinner?

The albergue was located in Villar de Mazarife Centro. It is called San Antonio de Padua. It is a private pension. Buen Camino. As for the rabbit, it is an old old family recpie. I'll get back to you on that one.

 

[kellyz]

The albergue was located in Villar de Mazarife Centro. It is called San Antonio de Padua. It is a private pension. Buen Camino. As for the rabbit, it is an old old family recpie. I'll get back to you on that one.

Thanks! I'd love to know. I have a neighbor who breeds rabbits and I'm often looking for recipes

 

[Castilian]

PS: I did look it up and the Spanish does say "caracoles" as the plural?

Caracoles is the plural of caracol (snail) and caracolas is the plural of caracola (conch). BTW, my apologies for not seeing yesterday that you edited your post to add a PS with a question what meant I missed it.

Reading your posts once again, I realize you wrote caracolas on your first post and caracoles on your second one... not the same thing, as I told you. But maybe caracolas was just a typo... Anyway, I think it's all clear now.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Caracolas was my misspelling Caracoles.
I caught it when I went back, looked at my photos, and looked it up.

 

[Whalleyranger]

I have never had a good pizza in Spain. Occasionally in bigger towns I'd fancy getting a takeaway rather than sitting down in a restaurant. It was always disappointing and never worth it. Be warned.

 

[naplesdon]

I have never had a good pizza in Spain. Occasionally in bigger towns I'd fancy getting a takeaway rather than sitting down in a restaurant. It was always disappointing and never worth it. Be warned.

I had a fabulous pizza in Ponferrada at a nice Italian place on the square, I would rate it with 5 star.
We eat chipiron in Biarritz and one can always find it along the Basque coast, it is grilled squid with a picante marinade and out of this world yummy.
Oh the stories I could tell about snails. I lived near a river infested with crocodiles in West Africa but a long time ago some "brilliant" French colonialist decide to start farming snails. The snails at the marche were the size of your forearm (a slight exaggeration but then they had to hold there own against the deadly crocs) after many badly prepared Westernized meals my cook asked me what my favorite dish and I mistakenly told her the snails. From then on I dined on snails 6 days a week. Oh what I would have done for a bad Spanish pizza or a Mickey D's sandwich.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

funny blog

just a couple of things, hope you do not mind (knowledge from a local):

2. Black Pudding…cooked blood: Yes, it's cooked blood, but it also has rice and/or onions and /or nuts etc. and spices and is usually presented as a sausgae (although in León for example it comes as a mush in some places). And is DELICIOUS, specially as a 'bocadillo' and off the grill

3. Vending machine cakes. It was either that, olive oil or beer: i'm surprised you can still find vending machines with alcohol, it is against the law. so God bless spain! gotta love this country.

4. Pork crackling…still had hair on it: called torreznos, and when they are freshly made, are YUMMY (ignore the hair).

cheers

jeff

 

[NoQ]

Dominos pizza in Burgos. After a couple of weeks of Spanish food with chips, I murdered a big Dominos pizza.

But for Spanish food, mine has to be Tordos in Logrono. It took me ages to get the bits off the bones, but it was very tasty.

 

[SYates]

Best Spanish 'take away ' food I had was in Pamplona. A place that specialized in seafood and was only open in the evenings! So good that I feel hungry again just thinking of it despite just having had lunch ... SY

 

[Militiachelle]

I failed to mention that I before I arrived (and partly the reason I was there) in Spain, was because I was on an EXTREMELY restricted diet. I had been battling an eating disorder for a few years, so the shock/awe of such food choices through me for a loop. I couldn't believe I was actually allowing myself to eat 99% of the food along the Camino.
It was very liberating!

OM... When I read the title of your thread, I thought : American (sorry...) . But no, you're Canadian. So let me try to help you.

1. Spain is the land of protein, animal protein: Paleo' dieters' heaven. Can you say chorizo & jamon serrano? It's all you need to know.
2. It's also the land of canned seafood (canned 'cos were walking and don't have the facilities to cook with frozen seefood, or fresh seafood): high protein, low fat, or at least conserved in olive oil. But if you make it to Muxia and Fisterra, have percebes: as ugly as can be, as delicious as can be. What about the boiled octopus seasoned with olive oil and paprika? Paleo heaven again!
3. It's the land of olive oil. Need we say more? Healthy oils. Oh so easy to get your daily ration.
4. Spain is the land of Rioja and other glorious wines: your heart will thank you for providing it with tannins.
5. Spain is the land of athleetes: Barca, Real Madrid, Aranxa, Nadal. And even if he doesn't move while performing, it's the land of Alonso. And what about Indurain - this world has yet to see another athlete of this caliber.

So, what did I have to eat on the Camino that was ... different? Unfortunately nothing, especially on the CF because the "pilgrim menu" is just a tourist trap with generic food. Blood pudding sandwich is San Juan de Ortaga: ditch the stale bread and enjoy the blood sausage. Fried sardines in San Vincente de la Barquera: just don't look them in the eye.

Yes, fresh fruit and veggies are expensive, especially when locally grown. There is something very wrong with that. But there's lots of canned asparagus and red peppers.

And after all it's only 2-6 weeks of your life. And if you are not celiac you can have that weat, those potatoes, those beans. Just enjoy them, train your palet, it will thank you for it.

And then go back to whatever the trend of the day is back home. Remember when eggs would kill you if you had more than 2 a day? What about avocados? Surely they were sending you to an early grave for having so much fat. Nuts? Are you nuts? No, never. Oh, the fat in them! Shall I go on ;0)

Just let go, live in the moment. Because, afterall, Spain may steal your heart and you'll never go back to the land of Whole Foods ;0)

 

[Jacobus]

Here is a link to my blog describing my Camino eating experience last year:

https://lifeexperimentsbymichelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-camino-made-me-eat-that/


What are your horror (or not) stories?

On the Del Norte I was super impressed wiih the variety of cheeses on offer. The Cabrales was and remains my favourite. It's is a rich blue cheese very strong in taste and very creamy in texture. It pared well with wines of the Bierzo.

I can't find the cheese here at home in Ottawa. The closest I have come is a cheese called Valedon but that source has dried up as well. FortunatelyI have no problem maintaining my Spanish wine supply.

 

[Icacos]

As one who does not eat meat, I was frequently amazed at the meat laden plates that were put in front of carnivorous peregrinos. Not only was more than half the plate filled with various types of meat, but on top of that often there would be one, sometimes even two, fried eggs. I wondered .... Why so much protein? Fast forward to a few weeks ago here in BC ... A friend of mine had her daughter and Barcelona-born and bred son-in-law over for dinner. My friend fixed a full meal, meat, starch, vegetables, etc. Afterwards her son-in-law thanked her for the meal ....... then added, "A fried egg would have gone really well with that."

 

[Castilian]

I can't find the cheese here at home in Ottawa. The closest I have come is a cheese called Valedon but that source has dried up as well.

Serious cheese (http://www.seriouscheese.com) quotes the Cabrales among the cheeses they sell so you could ask there to see if they keep selling it. BTW, the spelling of the closest cheese you found is Valdeón; just in case someone was interested on finding either the cheese itself or info about it.

 

[Jacobus]

Serious cheese (http://www.seriouscheese.com) quotes the Cabrales among the cheeses they sell so you could ask there to see if they keep selling it. BTW, the spelling of the closest cheese you found is Valdeón; just in case someone was interested on finding either the cheese itself or info about it.

Thank you. I appreciate your response

 

[Jacobus]

Thank you. I appreciate your response

For Castillian. I have sent a request to the shop you identified. It is less than 15 minutes from my home yet I did not know it existed. Muchas Gracias