A travel and lifestyle blog about Arizona, Spain, and everywhere in between.
The 7 Most Unusual Things I’ve Eaten in Spain
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Despite what many Spaniards may tell you, the food here is not spicy at all. But that hardly means Spanish cuisine is boring! I’ve broadened my palate and tried so many new things since moving to Spain in 2012, picking up a taste for everything from sardines and anchovies to cured ham and beef. During this culinary adventure I’ve had throughout the country, though, I’ve come across several out-of-the-ordinary dishes, most of which I actually enjoy eating now! Read on to see some exciting dishes you can try in Spain.
No, this isn’t like those little fried calamari you get as an appetizer sometimes; pulpo á feira is adult octopus, tentacles and all, slow-boiled under tender. After the octopus is finished cooking, apron-clad women (the pulpeiras) snip the purple tentacles into little medallions with scissors, discarding the mantle or “head.” Garnished with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pimentón (smoked paprika), the white tentacle cross-sections are often served with boiled potatoes.
Not even Spaniards who live up north will touch these little guys, but they’re still hugely popular in the southern region of Andalucía in the spring and early summer months. They’re nothing like the saucy, high-brow French escargots you might be familiar with, though; Spanish snails are fun finger food slurped down by the cup-full. The little ones are slow boiled in a broth of garlic, fennel, cayenne pepper, spearmint, and bay leaves, and the bigger ones (cabrillas) tend to get cooked in thicker, tomato-based sauces. Both are usually served in glasses or bowls with their broth, which is uncharacteristically spicy by Spanish standards.
Percebes win the award for Weirdest Seafood in Spain: yes, they are indeed a species of barnacles. But these barnacles don’t attach themselves to boat hulls or humpback whale snouts; instead, they cling to dangerous, rocky cliffs battered by incoming tidal waves. Because of this, they’re extremely expensive, fetching prices between fifty and a hundred euros a kilo. They are, however, a beloved delicacy in Galicia. To eat them, you cut off the leathery tube (the “goose neck”) with your front teeth just below the base of the beaky head. Discarding the tube, you chow down on the juicy insides that sometimes can taste like a blast of the tides. I don’t know if their addictive flavor justifies their outrageous price, but they’re worth trying at least once.
“Tripe stew” may not sound very appealing, and I’ll admit, it’s not for everyone. But the stinkiness of cow stomach vanishes as it cooks for three hours with spices like cumin, black pepper, and cloves—medallions of some good Spanish chorizo help, too, of course. I’ve had heaping bowls of this stuff all over the country and the tripe meat has always been melt-in-your-mouth tender, not chewy or slimy by any means. The earthy chickpeas add a nice contrast of texture and flavor to this stew. Check out my recipe for tripe and chickpea stew if this sounds interesting!
5) Pig ear
Ah, famine food. When times were tough, it was important to aprovechar or make the most of the entire pig, and that meant eating everything from the snout to the hooves. I’m sure the custom of eating orejas or pig ears dates back to such times, although many people in Galicia insist it’s a delicacy. Slow-boiled for an hour, pig ears should ideally not be crunchy, although the inner cartilage can only get so soft; its plasticky texture turns off many. Still, if they’re done right, the smooth meat on either side of the cartilage can be really nice, especially when paired with olive oil and smoked paprika.
A traditional dish in the southern province of Jaén, morcilla en caldera consists of blood sausage whipped up into a spreadable paste with onions, pine nuts, and a healthy amount of delicious spices. You typically eat in sandwich-style, stuffed inside small orange bread rolls called ochíos. Spaniards normally eat blood sausage in its expected sausage-link shape (often stuffed with cooked rice, as in Burgos), so I’ll admit that the idea of a pot of jiggly goop sounds unappealing. But all that nutmeg, cloves, and pepper combine to create a real delicious spread.
7) Pig face
Cacheira
Of all the unusual stuff I’ve tried in Spain, pig head takes the cake. Merely one element in the belt-busting cocido stew eaten in Galicia during Carnival season, cacheira is boiled along with all the other goodies like chickpeas, chorizo, greens, ribs, and potatoes—boiled to perfection, that is! I was honestly very surprised at how tender, and flavorful even, the pig face was. Gelatinous, yes. Fatty, of course. But while enjoying this unique dish I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was eating the face of a pig.
Which dish on this list would you refuse to eat? Which one would you most like to try? Tell me below in the comments!
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You may not know it, but I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to maps. On family road trips, I would pass the miles by browsing the jumbo-sized road atlas, and I even memorized the regions and provinces of Spain…for fun. So I thought I would combine my love of maps with my love for Galicia, this unique region in Spain’s northwestern corner. I hope you enjoy staring at these thirteen maps as much as I have! 1) Galicia from space (Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Even in the satellite view you can tell how green and forested Galicia really is—a stark contrast from the Castilian meseta or flat plateau to the southeast that is mostly covered in rolling plains. 2) The Roman province of Gallaecia (Source: Wikimedia Commons ) By the 1st century BCE, all of the Iberian peninsula had come under Roman rule, and its northwestern corner belonged to the vast imperial province known as Tarraconensis. Years later, during the administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305), this r...
The main drag through town After killing an hour or so in the Cantabrian town of Comillas by seeing a house designed by Gaudí , we hopped back in the car to continue our Roommate Road Trip and drove a couple of minutes further east to Santillana del Mar, just inland from Spain’s northern coast. This village has a reputation of being el pueblo más bonito de España —“Spain’s the prettiest village”—so our hopes were high as we cruised around tree-lined country roads, passing among fields that smelled of manure and a few shuttered-up hamlets. Unfortunately, Santillana didn’t live up to its fame. Afternoon shade Before I continue, it’s basically required of me to repeat that stupid joke that everyone tells whenever this town’s name is mentioned in passing. Santillana is known as la villa de las tres mentiras (“the town of the three lies”) because it isn’t holy, flat, or on the sea. Ha ha ha, so funny, right? Wrong. I’ve never really got the joke because not only does t...
