THE SPANISH KITCHEN AND WINE

Please understand that Spanish cuisine and Mexican cuisine have almost nothing in common. The cultures share a few dishes due to Spanish influence in Mexico, but that was hundreds of years ago and the cuisine of beans and tortillas is not known in Spain. It never was. The Spanish view the evening meal as a very important time of the day. Dinner is eaten very late in the evening after chatting with friends over a glass of sherry and Tapas. The dinner goes late into the night. They do not see the meal as a "before event" such as we do before the theater or before the evening gets along. The meal is the event. The evening is spent dining with your friends and family. Americans find it hard to believe that Spaniards begin dinner about 10p.m. But please remember, the have several meals during the day, not the ordinary three that we celebrate. So by the time the last meal of the day arrives it is time to sit back, relax and enjoy the presence of those that you love. The American dinner is eaten in a hurry, and very early in terms of Mediterranean standards, so that we "can get on with the evening." At this point the Spanish find us very strange and difficult to understand. Why do we want to hurry anything? I think because we feel guilty eating when we feel we should be doing something puritanical and work like. I'm with the Spanish. The wines of Spain are world famous, and they should be. The great Rioja region produces first-class reds and whites and remember the Spanish invented Sherry, a wine left in barrels to "burn" in the sun until it is nutty and rich in flavor. All of these wines are used in cooking the wonderful cuisine of the Spaniards.