3 stars

Churrasco

7:56 AM

Churrasco: ✩ ✩ ✩

A pretty yummy dish that consists of pork ribs sometimes topped off with a tasty red sauce that consists of olive oil and paprika called chimichurri. Churrasco is a very common dish in the summer, in fact, I first tried churrasco after a long day at the beach last summer. This is one of the few rare dishes in Spain where it is acceptable to ditch the silverware and use your hands. I have rewarded this dish three stars because, just being completely honest, it definitely does NOT beat my uncle's barbecue Texas-style ribs with BBQ sauce. Being Texas born and raised, I have very high expectations and standards of meat. Although these aren't quite comparable to Texas ribs, churrasco is a delicious meal that I would recommend to anyone visiting the Galician region who might not exactly be brave enough to try something like the octopus. I think that they are a bit flavorless without the sauce, but being from Texas, I think anything is pretty tasty if it's meat. Churrasco initially threw me off when I had my first bite because I was expecting that smoky barbecue taste that I know and love. I've grown to love this new flavor of ribs as well and I look forward to every time we go to have churrasco. The best churrasco I've tried here has been from a family friend that we usually go visit about once a week or once every two weeks. They serve it with chorizo and another type of sausage and patatas fritas, or french fries! French fries are a pretty typical side dish here, but prepare to be shamed and given dirty looks if you reach for them with your hands like any sensible American would!
 

5 stars

Pementos de Padrón

1:50 AM

Pementos de Padrón: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

 These delicious peppers make a tasty addition any meal and I get excited every time I see them out on the table. This dish is made up of small peppers that are fried and salted. Pementos de padrón are not spicy... like everything else here in Spain. I'd love for these to spicy, but that's just not really ever the case. Regardless, these peppers are basically everything that I want in a little side dish. The reason this dish has earned five stars in my eyes is because of how tasty and fun it is. I fondly remember my first night and Spain and the barbecue that I attended with my new family. There were pementos de padrónes and I remember how funny it was to watch people get a "spicy pepper". I guess it was somewhat of a bonding experience and definitely a conversation starter. They remind me a bit of shishito peppers, which is a food that I am very familiar with and love. Winter is not the season for these peppers, which makes me so sad because I can't find them too often anymore, but in the summer, almost every restaurant has pementos de Padrón. A must try when visiting the Galician area!
 

4 stars

Pulpo a la Feira

7:32 AM


Pulpo a la Feira: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

This is a very delicious dish with quite an interesting texture. I personally believe that it needs more flavor diversity, but I do enjoy the typical "sauce" combination of olive oil, paprika, and salt. Pulpo a la Feira is one of my favorite dishes here in Galicia, but I don't enjoy it when the octopus is very tough and hard to chew, or when the octopus is too soft and has a somewhat mushy feel. While it does have a unique and interesting texture, if not cooked the right way, the octopus can become too tough and not very appetizing. While definitely a bit terrifying at first, it is definitely worth a try if you visit the Galicia area. Face your fears and just take a bite! In many restaurants, the octopus is cut up smaller and appears much less intimidating. A not so fun tidbit that I've heard is that to ensure that the octopus does not become too touch, you must slam the octopus down on it's head until it dies. That is such a sad story and it almost makes me not ever want to eat octopus again, but I've also heard that putting in the octopus in the freezer can also result in an appealing texture. It sounds a little bit better than the more brutal death. A poor fate for the octopus, but I really love Pulpo a la Feira, as well as many other Galician people.



 

introduction

Welcome to my blog!

2:22 AM

Welcome to my blog about Galician food! Right now, I'm fifteen years old and a one-way exchange student in the city of Vigo, Spain for a school year. I left my school, my family, my friends, and my life in Arlington, Texas for almost a year in order to move in with a new family and go to a new school in a different environment. I came here because I want to learn Spanish and experience a new culture and way of life. I love food and there's a lot of different food here in Spain and Galicia, so I thought that it would make a wonderful subject for my blog. In this welcome post, I thought I'd share a little bit of background information about Spanish and Galician food. In Spain, the biggest meal of the day is lunch, not dinner like in America. The meal times are also very different. We eat breakfast in my house at about 7:30am, which is pretty much the same in America. Then, we have lunch anywhere from 2pm-3pm. I get out of school at 2:20pm every day except for Monday, so I eat around 2:30pm on weekdays. Then, we have dinner anywhere from 9pm-11pm. Usually, we eat earlier on that spectrum on weekdays because my siblings here have to go to sleep. There's a different etiquette and way of eating here as well. We always use a tablecloth and spills happen at every single meal, but it doesn't really matter cause we have our trusty 'ol tablecloth. Using your hands to eat is unacceptable and there are only certain foods that are okay to eat with your hands. For example, clams or other mollusks similar to clams, are acceptable to eat with your hands, BUT if they're in a sauce, then you better be reaching for that fork or be prepared to get bad looks from native Spaniards. Quite honestly, I believe that Spanish food is blander than other types of food, and definitely blander than what I'm used to eating at my home in Texas. I normally eat quite the range of food in Texas. My mother is from Indonesia and my father is Italian, so I'm very accustomed to eating Asian and Italian foods. I also really love spicy foods, which is something that I hardly get to taste here. Even though it's quite different than anything I eat in Texas, I've come to love Spanish food. I hope you enjoy my very honest reviews of Spanish food from a Texan perspective.