Thursday, May 13, 2010

But it's not TIME to eat...

Now that my time in Jaén is wrapping up, it's time for me to express some... cultural differences... I've come to notice in my time here. The first and most important being about food, of course.

"¡Pero no es la hora de comer!" = "But it's not the time to eat!"

The Spanish eating schedule is extremely fixed. Breakfast is whenever you wake up and usually consists of coffee and a piece of toasted baguette bread with something on top (ham? cheese? tomato? pate?). Lunch, their biggest meal of the day, must begin between 1-3pm. A light snack (optional) is eaten somewhere around 5-6pm. And dinner? Sometime after 9pm. If you eat anywhere outside of those boundaries, it's "NOT the time to eat." The majority of people seem to get really nervous and confused when you eat outside of schedule. How strict are they on this whole "time to eat" thing? Here are some examples...

This is what a bar looks like when it's closed... =(
  1. The vast majority of bars that (normally) serve food CLOSE their kitchen, and sometimes their doors, from 2-8:30pm. Grocery stores also close at 2pm and don't re-open until 6pm... meaning... if you wake up late, or get a late start on the day, and happen to not have any groceries in the house, you WILL go hungry until something opens.
  2. When I was visiting my friend Nacho in Barcelona over New Years, we were out until sunrise drinking and partying. The next day his family was having a New Years day lunch (remember, biggest meal of the day) starting at 1pm. Well, we woke up late and headed over there around 4 or 5... What was the first thing they said upon our arrival to lunch? Grandma: "It's a little LATE to be eating, don't you think?" Aunt: "Dear god it's late to eat..." Other Aunt: "I think it's too late for you to eat..." Really?...but we just woke up...
  3. Holly and I invited a couple of teachers over to have a taco dinner at our house. I told them they could come when they wanted (as it doesn't tend to matter to Americans at what time we eat, just that we do it eventually, when we're hungry) and they insisted I choose the hour. So, I decided 7pm. Response? "7pm??! Buut, that's soooo early. How about 8pm, at the earliest." So, 8pm it was. They arrived on time, and the third thing out of their mouths? "One of my friends stopped by my house today with merienda (the "snack" eaten around 5pm-ish) but I had to say turn down what she brought for me because I had plans to eat dinner really, really early today." Really??
  4. One Sunday afternoon, Holly, Amy and I woke up with a slight hangover around 3pm with empty stomachs and no groceries. We stupidly decided to venture out into the empty streets of Jaén on a Sunday (everything is closed on Sunday) at 4pm (kitchens still closed for another four hours) to look for food. We had made plans to meet up with some Spanish guys for coffee at 5pm, and we immediately asked them to take us to food. His response? "But it's not TIME to eat... it's 5pm!!" Really?! Yes, really. We explained our hangover/no food situation and he took us to a bocadillo place that was, miraculously, open on a Sunday at 5pm.
"Pero... cuando comeis en Estados Unidos" = "But... at what time do you eat in the US?"

It's been a challenge explaining to Spanish people that we don't have "a time" to eat our meals in the US. You just eat when you 1. have time 2. are hungry 3. feel like it. Now, it's fair to say that we have a general outline for meals... breakfast between 8-10am, lunch between 12-1pm and dinner somewhere between 5-7pm. But I will say that in America, if you are hungry at 3 in the afternoon, no one is going to call you crazy for it... and you won't have trouble finding things open.

Jamón ibérico = Cured ham.
Most restaurants sport a few of these on their walls
and regularly shave of pieces to serve to customers. Mmm.

"¿Te gusta la comida espanola? Es la mejor comida del mundo..." = "Do you like Spanish food? It's the best food in the world..."


This is my favorite Spanish person question... my response usually is, "Yes, I like it. But it's hard not to like olive oil, potatoes, ham, cheese, and baguette bread..." The Spanish diet is a simple diet based (basically) on the things I've listed above. Yes, I like Spanish food, but sometimes there is such a small variety in the foods they eat I get bored. I mean, c'mon, their hamburgers are made out of chicken. At the school I work at the principal and secretary invite me to eat lunch with them, and this way I have been able to try a ton of delicious homemade traditional Spanish foods-- and I really enjoy them-- but I will be honest and say the variety of foods is pretty small and that Spanish gastronomy is far from the best in the world.

Tons and tons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil at a co-op in Jaén.

"Que normalmente comes en los Estados Unidos?" = "What do you normally eat in the US?"
This question, for me at least, is a hard one to answer. I have tried to explain to people that in a normal week I could ingest a vast variety of foods, anything from Italian, Mexican or Chinese... to hot dish, hamburgers, "Mac and Cheese" or pizza! The response I usually get is, "Yea, you could, but what do you normally eat?" and when I respond with "I guess I'm not quite sure" I get the Spanish look of "I can't believe you don't know what you eat..." because Spanish people know what they eat and they are proud of it!


What the Spanish do have down is a healthy, complete diet. Fruit is considered dessert after lunch and fresh salads filled with tomatoes, onions and olives topped with only olive oil and a splash of vinegar are common for starters, meaning vegetables and fruits are not an enemy but a friend. The kids at school eat full salads for lunch every day. Imagine, if instead of nasty bagged salad with withering radish and carrot slices drenched in ranch dressing served in public school lunches in the US, there were fresh salads with fresh veggies inside! And topped with only olive oil!! How can they do it?? Here in Spain, these things are affordable! Today I went to the market across the street from my place and bought 5 tomatoes, 3 bananas, 2 oranges, 2 small heads of lettuce, 4 full carrots and an onion for a whopping €3,50 (about $4). Oh, and olive oil? Being that Jaén is the largest olive oil producer in the world, 5 liters (well over a gallon) costs €12. Imagine how the rate of obese people in the US could drop if fruits and veggies and other healthy things were made affordable! Here in Spain, a bag of chips costs more than a bag of apples...

The other positive to the Spanish diet is eating a large meal in the middle of the day. This way, by the time "dinner" rolls around, you're still not even that hungry... and if you are hungry a yogurt or a fruit or a small bowl of cereal (although a Spanish person would not eat cereal after breakfast time, probably) will suffice to hold you over until breakfast the next day.

Oh, and how can I forget the wine. Wine is goooood n' cheap here. The most expensive bottle at my nearest supermarket is a massive 3€. My favorite wine moment in Jaén? I was at the grocery store and there is this elderly lady was in line in front of me to check out. She had a bottle of wine in hand and asked the man in front of her, "Is this a good bottle of wine?" "Yeah, for someone who likes regular wine, it's good," he responded. "Okay, I was just wondering, because this one is 2€, and I figured I could get one of the cheaper ones, you know, the ones that cost .60 cents, but I thought I would go for a nicer one instead... because it's a gift for someone." hehhee.

It's 2pm, and I already ate my lunch at 11am. I am not adapted to the Spanish eating schedule. Shame on me un-assimilated American, shame.

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