Hungry for some weird Spanish food? You better be, because what you’re about to see, is not for the faint of heart, and not just because it’s all oily and fat. Okay, mostly because of that. But it’s delicious (or at least so I’ve been told)!
Alright, ready or not, here are 15 Spanish foods the rest of the world doesn’t understand.
1. Calçots in romesco sauce
People in Catalonia are crazy about calçots, which is just a bunch of skinny onion leeks cooked over hot coals, usually served with a romesco sauce. Cooking the onions is the easy part, the sauce however is pure art. It’s made with garlic, tomato, bread, almonds, red peppers, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. If that doesn’t get you to salivate, well, we’re only just starting.
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2. Escalivada
What’s so special about roasted vegetables? Nothing… nothing at all, unless you drench your aubergines, red peppers, onions and tomatoes in olive oil.
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3. Cachopo
If you’re a meat eater, you’re gonna love this one! Grab 2 beef steaks, stick some ham and cheese between them, and coat that bad boy with bread crumbs and a beaten egg. Now fry the whole, and look at your cholesterol levels skyrocket!
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4. Morcilla
I love this thing. It’s basically a sausage made of coagulated pig’s blood, some lard, and either rice or pine nuts. Have never tried the nuts one, but everything else tastes like heaven when fried and served with sour cream.
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5. Migas con chorizo
Would you like some… bread? Migas con chorizo is one of the most popular dishes in Spain. The bread has to go stale before you add in chorizo, eggs, grapes or tangerine and stir-fry that mother. I don’t get it, but it could be tasty.
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6. Pipas
Sunflower seeds. Simple as that. Well, technically salted and fried sunflower seeds. This is some seriously addictive stuff!
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7. Lamprea cocinada en su sangre
If you’ve never seen a lamprey up close, you’re a lucky person. But as with everything that moves, even such a disgusting creature has a place in our food pyramid. If you boil it in its own blood, you’ll get some nice, hot lamprea cocinada en su sangre.
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8. Pa amb tomaquet
Really basic, yet so satisfying! All you gotta do is rub a tomato on a piece of bread. Presto!
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9. Berberechos
M-m-m, a bunch of oily mollusks? I’m all up for that! (I lied, I’m not ready, let’s please move on to the next dish.)
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10. Porras
You like churros? Well, this is a Spanish mega-churro! Enjoy!
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11. Cortezas
Have some fried pig fat! It tastes way better than it sounds.
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12. Pimientos de padrón
Now it’s time to heat things up. Salted fried green peppers. Nothing unusual… except that some of them are spicy as hell and some are not. So the question here is: “do you feel lucky, punk?”
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13. Pulpo a la gallega
Go out to the market, buy yourself a few small octopuses, cook them, and now throw in some boiled potatoes. There you go, that’s “Gallic Taters” for you. People say it’s quite delicious.
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14. Lumanche in umido
Imagine chili with snails instead of beans. Sound, yumm, doesn’t it?
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15. Turron
Finally, we have some weird desert, and it comes last, just like a desert would. I’m a goddamn genius! Okay, so what’s turron? It’s a fun mixture of honey, hazel nuts, and eggs. It’s so viscous, you could easily use it to pull someone’s teeth out.
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