Historic and cultural influences
on the food of
Andalucia
The food of the Axarquia reflects the region’s turbulent history, diverse geography,
Mediterranean culture, its historic wealth and its historic poverty.
The Phoenicians around 1100 B.C created the first Andalucian city of Cadiz, planted the first grapevines near Jerez and introduced the olive tree to Spain. The Carthaginians developed olive production throughout the region in the 7th century B.C., and Andalucia later became the primary source of olive oil for the Roman Empire.
The Arabs invaded the region in the eighth century. Eight further centuries under Islam would see Andalucia rise to a pinnacle of civilization and tolerance that would shine a beacon of light into medieval Europe, benighted as it was by Christian superstition and ignorance. The Moors designed and built the irrigation systems – the ‘huertas’ of Andalucia, creating great irrigated farms and cash crop systems that are still evident today. They introduced an array of foodstuffs and spices, making a huge impact on the Spanish diet. For example they successfully introduced and cultivated rice and durum wheat (the basis of pasta) later exported to Italy. Oranges, lemons, aubergine, almonds, dates, peaches, apricots, quinces and, of huge significance, coffee, were all introduced by the Moors. Their impact on the culinary traditions of the region can also be seen in the number of Spanish dishes flavoured with black pepper, cumin, saffron and other exotic spices.
The Moors were expelled after the fall of Granada in 1492, the dark age of Christianity finally enveloped Europe, and the Spanish ‘Golden Age’ began as Columbus set sail. The Spanish Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, made one great contribution to Spanish cuisine and that was the promotion of pig as the meat of first choice for the faithful. This was done to ensure that the now persecuted Moslems and Jews could never return to the region and eat meat. Although pork has been reared in Andalucia for at least 2000years, pig eating now became a sign of adherence to the true faith. Today the ritual matanza or slaughter of pigs still takes place each year on 11th November, and the skill and inventiveness of the cooks and butchers is said to use every part of the pig, leaving ‘nothing but the squeak’.
It is said that Columbus’s ships, as they began the voyage that would discover America, passed the ships containing Jews and Moslems on their way to exile. His botanic discoveries had a great impact on the Spanish diet. The conquest of the south Americas after 1492 brought many more staple products to the Spanish kitchen including hot and sweet peppers, yams, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and avocados. Tobacco was also discovered. The fortunes of the cocoa bean, thought to be a useless currency token, were transformed when Cortes brought back Aztec machinery in 1528 that could turn it into chocolate.
These are the great influences on Andalucian cuisine that have contributed to its richness and diversity. However, the Andalucian kitchen owes a lot not only to the Arabs and geography, but also to the weather and the lack of firewood. Homes did not have indoor ovens because it was too hot, and most cooking was stove-top. Kitchens usually had a poyo, a stone counter surfaced with tiles, running along one wall with inset hornillas or burners and an ash box underneath, there being no chimney to take smoke away. Very little firewood existed so fuel sources often consisted of olive pits, dried grape twigs, or picón, a pencil-sized charcoal made by smouldering bush branches which burns relatively free of smoke. Andalucian preparations simmered on these dying fires for long periods of time.
The poverty of the great majority of the people is also a significant element of Andalucian cuisine. The rich soups, stews and paellas found all over Spain today began as the staple diet of peasant communities, surviving on home grown vegetables and meat bones stewed for hours to eke out very ounce of flavour. Today the Axarquia is the fruit basket of Andalucia, and the coast its frying pan. The distinctiveness of its cuisine is the result of a combination of the superb quality of its raw materials and great economy, resourcefulness and inventiveness in their use.
Spanish cuisine owes much to the past poverty of its population, most recently the decades of extreme deprivation suffered by millions under Franco’s repressive regime.
A Note on Paella, for example
It was the poor peasant people of the Valencian region who invented
Spain’s most famous dish, paella. The original recipe combined home
grown veg (usually green and broad beans) with off cuts of rabbit and
the short grain rice that was mass produced around the city of
Valencia thanks to the sophisticated irrigation system introduced by
the Moors. Even today this traditional Valencian paella can be found
in thousands of towns villages and isolated mountain pueblos
throughout the Spain. It’s cheap, full of flavour and filling - three
characteristics most sought after by those struggling to survive in the
terrible days of the Spanish Civil War and the isolation and poverty
that followed it. Regional variations in paella depended upon
what was cheap and easily available – usually vegetables, sometimes
snails, small game or fish. This kind of paella is a far cry from the
exotic dishes you’ll find down at the 'Costa'. However, good reasonably
authentic seafood paella can be had on a Friday at Bar Lopez in
Almachar. The dish is cooked in nearby domestic kitchens and
rushed, steaming, into the bar. In Cutar, paella is a fiesta food cooked
outdoors in vast pans over bonfires. Men mix the rice with shovels
while other hose them down to stop their legs from roasting in the heat of the fire.
