A blog post in a comment: Spanish, Tact, and Food
by Ben Curtis
I just noticed the following comment appear on my previous post and thought it was such an extremely accurate and acute observation that it deserved not to be missed. It speaks volumes of the Spanish attitude to both sincerity and their fine national cuisine:
“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 onions—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.”
For more of the same, check out the author’s blog at www.leftbanker.com
Posted: January 24th, 2008 under Spanish Culture and News, Spanish Food and Drink.
Comments: 8
Comments
Comment from dean hunt
Time: January 24, 2008, 1:51 pm
I remember when I was making a cup of coffee and the mother in law (to be) seemed shocked that I was adding so much water.
To be honest though, I now prefer making coffee with hot milk instead, but it was funny to see how seriously she took this change in preperation technique.
I am pretty sure the vast majority of coffee made throughout the world is made with a lot of water and just a bit of milk, and not viceversa, but I didn’t bother telling her that.
Comment from cardamomgirl
Time: January 24, 2008, 1:58 pm
I remember when my husband, a spaniard made me tortilla patata and I suggested dunking it in some ketchup. He was so stunned it seemed like I said something sacrilegeous against the catholic church 
I did see Jose Andres, the Spanish chef who has multiple restaurants in the US (in the DC area) make some tortilla patata with potato chips.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: January 24, 2008, 3:14 pm
I always eat my tortilla de patata with ketchup and I like it with onions as well. I cut out the cheese for dietary reasons. In Valencia, tortilla is made many times with ajo, cebolla and/or puerro.
Comment from andrea
Time: January 24, 2008, 8:54 pm
That’s weird. My father regularly makes tortilla with other stuff in it. Last night, for example, it was fish and mushrooms. That said, I like my tortillas simple, either your standard Spanish omelette or just with cheese in it.
Great blog, keep up the good work.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: January 24, 2008, 10:55 pm
Perhaps it’s a cultural difference but I don’t think guests should scrutinize food provided by their hosts as if they were in a restaurant. I think it strikes as me as provincially rude to argue with your host that a particular dish served is ill-termed just because it doesn’t have the conventional ingredients.
Comment from Schmo
Time: January 25, 2008, 4:41 am
Agreed, that sounds very rude. If they are such great cooks and know exactly how everything should be prepared, then they should cook it themselves!
Comment from Estuart
Time: January 25, 2008, 9:07 am
In answer to Schmo,that’s how to do it.While building a chalet in the countryside,5kms from the village,i became very good friends with a family in the village & i ate lunch at their house everyday(Oh ! the pressure )When the large family visit i let them bring the food & i supply all the drinks.Everyone is happy.I pretend to watch & learn,obviously with a beer, as the women take over my kitchen & produce lunch.This way there are no surprises or awkwardness.They are not intentionally rude at all but sharing their thoughts & at least you know where you stand.
Comment from fushigi-kun
Time: March 4, 2008, 2:50 am
Hi all.
I think this story of guests offering gourmet opinions depends a lot on the people you deal with. When I’m a guest at a house I don’t give any tips about improving the dishes nor do my guests. However, it’s typical for the host to ask if you like the dish like as it is, if you’d like something added or changed, if your mom makes it that way or saltier/with olive oil/…
As for the ‘you cannot change a single ingredient when making a standard Spanish dish or you will never hear the end of it’, I think it also depends on the people you have in front. Some people don’t care at all, some people even get curious and ask if you know about other variations of the dish and tell you about their own experiments… It depends a lot on the folks.
Tortilla with onions is very typical. Tortilla with cheese isn’t. Sometimes I eat tortilla with tomato sauce, ketchup or mayo. But anyway, there are lots of ways of cooking tortilla and with each of them you get a different texture, color and taste. Equally, there are lots of ingredients you can use to make a tortilla. The same applies to many other dishes that have some basic ingredients and procedures but admit delicious variations from one household to the next: caldo gallego, paella (hundreds of possibilities), fabada asturiana, etc.
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