Comments on: Three Random Facts About the Spanish

By: fushigi-kun

fushigi-kun — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:07:36 +0000

My fact: Football coaches in Spain are called ‘Mister’ regardless of their nationality.

As for fact 2, I guess that has to do with the campaign to promote ‘plátano de Canarias’. Actually, bananas from Canarias are fresh and ripe since they have less distance to travel to the markets. Many imported bananas arrive totally green and almost frozen.

As for fact 3, most of the Spaniards I know love hot spicy food.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:16:33 +0000

Is “going bananaless” the opposite of “going bananas”?

By: Marcos

Marcos — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:59:25 +0000

Three Random Facts:

#1 Many Spaniards eat a dish called RABO DE TORO (A bull’s tail). Delicious…

#2 Spaniards dont usually like wearing shorts in a city street (unlike in the US)

#3 To many tourists’ surprise, Spaniards in general do not speak English. You can go to many cities where no one will understand you if you dont know any Spanish. But they will be really helpful anyway!

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:25:10 +0000

F4: Spanish don’t drink fresh milk anymore, or very little. Can anyone shed any light on why this is?

Sorry about the double entry…

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:00:51 +0000

F1: True, I don’t either now.
F2: Not sure, you do get more bang for your buck with it’s bigger brother!
F3: I’d have to agree, there are exceptions, especially among those who have travelled (hope I’m not generalising too much here…!!!

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:00:35 +0000

By: BrianA

BrianA — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:17:41 +0000

@Sergiman – I’m with you all the way. The Canarian bananas are smaller and taste better. Many of the others seem to have been refrigerated (or something) for too long and go from rock hard to mush in 3 days. Anyway what’s wrong with buying “home-grown” in these days of low carbon footprint produce

By: leftbanker

leftbanker — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:21:22 +0000

Fact: If you cook dinner for Spanish friends, they have no problem giving you a detailed critique of the meal when it is finished.

I remember noticing this on the Spanish cooking show, Hoy Cocinas Tú, in which a person learns how to cook a dish and then makes it for family/friends. The dinner guests always offer suggestions as to how the dish could have been improved. I have grown accustomed to this and now I prefer a fair assessment of my food to an insincere compliment.

I usually only prepare foreign dishes for Spanish friends (American or Mexican fare) so that they don’t really know what the dish is supposed to taste like. And yes, I leave out the hot spices. Something that defeats the purpose of many Mexican dishes.

One more thing, you cannot change a single ingredient when making a standard Spanish dish or you will never hear the end of it. I made a tortilla the other night for my girlfriend and her mother. They both looked on in horror as I made it with cheese and onionsâ€”something that just isn’t done here. It was as if I were mixing two highly volatile chemicals like bleach and ammonia. The only way I could get them to try it was to convince them that it was a French dish.

By: ValenciaSon

ValenciaSon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:38:31 +0000

Spaniards refuse to buy “used” homes.

By: luke

luke — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:18:10 +0000

@Parubin. My grandfather was a collector of good wine and he used to take wine from the cellar and put it near the fire to warm it before opening. His house was pretty chilly.
Do you think my experience is because the majority of people I know in Spain come from working class backgrounds (I know taxistas, bomberos, secretarias, carniceros, empleados en fabricas etc)?
However, I have noticed that some of my friends have changed in the last few years and do pay more respect to a good bottle of tinto!