Spanish Meals

Desayuno, or breakfast, consists of coffee or hot chocolate and cookies or a pastry.  Cereal is becoming more popular in Spain, but Spaniards do not eat waffles, pancakes, or eggs for breakfast.  You will not find brunch in Spain, though some hotels and restaurants serve a large enough breakfast to serve as brunch.  Almuerzo or Comida is lunch, the main Spanish meal of the day, the equivalent of dinner in the United States.  Many Spaniards come home from work to have lunch with their family.  They have a full course meal at around 2 p.m.  Dessert usually consists of fruit or yogurt.  Cena, dinner, is served late, starting at 8 p.m.  Some Spaniards do not eat dinner after such a heavy lunch.  A typical Spanish dinner is fried eggs, French fries, and fried meat or fish; or tapas.

Vegetarians

Vegetarians will have a hard time in Spain.  I was a vegetarian the first time I went to Spain, and I was dismayed to find bits of meat hidden in the rice with my vegetable platter, and in my vegetable stew.  If you eat seafood, this is your best bet in Spain.  Vegetarians should note that bean stews and soups are flavored with meat.  If you are dying for a veggie bugger, you can find them at the Hard Rock Café in Madrid and Barcelona, which contains the standard American menu.  Tortilla, an egg and potato omelet, can also make a filling meal.  I also like Ensalada Mixta, which in some places includes olives, palm hearts, white asparagus, hard boiled eggs, and tuna.  In a bar you can order a Sanwich Vegetal, which includes white asparagus, hard boiled egg, vegetables, and a special sauce that is similar to Thousand Island dressing.  You might want to bring protein drinks and bars with you, as well as supplements, just to be on the safe side.  If you are in Madrid, there are now some vegetarian restaurants, listed in the Bar and Restaurant section.

Drinking

You will notice that in many restaurants that wine is as cheap or cheaper than soda.  You will also find beer at fast food chains such as Mc Donald’s, since licensing requirements are different in Spain.  Sangria is the popular Spanish drink made with deep red wine and fruit, including at least oranges and lemon.  See recipe on this webpage.  Spaniards drink table wine with meals, sometimes mixed with Casera, which is sort of like citrus soda, to water it down.  The legal drinking age in Spain is 18.  Cola products in Spain have more of a citrus taste, even before this became popular and marketed in the U.S.  A beer is cheaper than a soda.  A lot of people drink wine in bars at night instead of beer.  An interesting drink, which I have heard has a German counterpart, is called a Clara, which consists of beer mixed with Casera, or citrus soda.  Sounds funny but it tastes good.  You should also be aware that beer at a bar is cheap, but it also comes in a very small glass compared to the U.S.  A cubata is a mixed drink.  Prices have gone up slightly since the introduction of the Euro since prices were rounded up, but alcohol is still relatively cheap.  Cava is the Spanish version of champagne, or sparkling wine.  The most popular brand is Freixenet, which is sold at the U.S., even at some restaurants.  The company uses an American movie-star to do their ads in Spanish around Christmas time, including Andie McDowell. 

Spanish Wine

The good news is, in Spain the wine is very cheap, even for good brands.  Vino tinto is red wine, vino blanco is white wine, and vino rosado is blush wine.  Vino dulce is sweet wine or dessert wine; there are many varieties.  Vino verde is sparkling white wine from Portugal that you can find in Spain; it comes in sweet or dry varieties.  Vino de verano is wine mixed with citrus soda.  Sangria is red wine mixed with fruit and fruit juice.  You can buy boxes of sangria at the supermarket; Don Simon is a good brand, since it is also a brand of fruit juice.  Our favorite Spanish wine is Sangre de Torro.

Spanish Beer

Spanish beer is light, and served in small glasses or bottles.  Mahou is the beer from Madrid, popular in central Spain.  Other brands of Spanish beer are Aguila (produced by Heineken), San Miguel and Cruzcampo (also owned by Heineken), from the South of Spain.  Most bars now serve non-alcoholic beer, “cerveza sin alcohol.”  You will notice that people in Spain throw their trash on the floor at bars.  This does not mean that as the Ugly American you ought to take up this habit.  In Spain you can buy beer pretty much everywhere, even at McDonald’s.  Check out www.cruzcampo.es , www.mahou.es , http://elmundodelacerveza.galeon.com/aguila.htm  

Soda in Spain

Coca Cola Light is diet Coke, there is also Pepsi Light or Pepsi Max which is also diet.  TriNa is a non-carbonated fruit flavored soda, that comes in TriNa Light orange flavor.  Aquarius is the Spanish version of Gatorade, but with a less chemical, more sweet flavor; it comes in plain or orange flavor.  Kas is a brand of soda that supposedly is run by the Basques.  Casera is the national Spanish lemon-lime soda.  Casera is mixed with wine for meals. 

Milk in Spain

In Spain, milk has a different pasteurization process than in the U.S.  The milk and the meat do not have hormones like in the U.S., since many of the hormones are prohibited in Europe.  Milk comes in boxes, and does not need to be refrigerated until it is open.  The milk does not expire for a few weeks.