Spain - Bullfights! Flamenco! Paella!
People have been moving around Europe for milennia and leaving cultural residues to mark their passage. Bullfights originate from the Roman entertainment arenas, like the Coliseum; Flamenco music has the quarter quavers common in Indian music.

There are few places where this is as clearly identifiable as in Spanish cuisine. The ingredients so commonly associated with Spanish food - olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, rice, saffron, pomegranates, potatoes, almonds, oranges and dates - were all imported from elsewhere, either by travelling Spainards (like Christopher Columbus) or by visitors from the Middle East, notably Arabs (Moors) and Jews.

Olive oil was used and traded by the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks along the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean. Fortunately, the hot dry climate found in southern Spain suited olive trees well, and both the fruit and oil became part of the Spanish diet. The Romans used honey, figs and pepper in their cooking, and the use of these ingredients in combination spread with the Roman Empire.

In the dying years of the Roman Empire, during the third century, a number of Jews arrived in Spain. They brought with them dishes which were made from fruits, nuts, spices and vegetables that were common in Middle East, including pomegranates (which orginate in China and Persia - now Iran);almonds and honey. The distinctive style of Jewish cooking was widely emulated, although sadly cooking in the Jewish manner was used as evidence against many during the Inquisition.

The Arabs had been migrating along the southern Mediterranean littoral for many years, from what is present-day Iraq, Iran and Turkey. They arrived in the eighth century, bringing with them great sophistication and knowledge, as well as a distinctive archtectural style that can still be clearly seen in southern Spain. While Spain, with the rest of Europe, still lingered in the benighted Middle Ages, the Arabs brought mathematics, literature, philosophy and music, along with many ingredients that are, today, staples of Spanish food. These include saffron (which originates in Iran (Persia); garlic (which is native to Central Asia, including Kyrgyestan and Turkmenistan); rice, dates, mulberries, oranges and lemons.

It was after the Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, returned from the New World that European cuisine in general, and Spanish cooking in particular, was to change forever. He brought with him paprika from Peru (a type of capsicum); tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla and chocolate. It is hard to imagine Spanish food without frittata (using potatoes) and tomatoes. It is equally difficult to consider the chorizo without paprika to give it its bite. Tapas and paella would not exist were it not for these contributions.

The result of the combination of these influences and imported ingredients is a piquant, colourful, robust cuisine which blends the best of the Mediterranean, the New World and the Spice world of Asia, and which Spain made distinctively its own.

Learn more about this author, Sue Myburgh.
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