What is the national food and drink for Spain and what is the capital city?

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mallimalar_2000

(m)

Food
Eating out in Spain is relatively cheap and meals are usually substantial instead of gourmet. The Spanish tradition of tapas is a good way to sample the local food. Tapas are small dishes of snacks which are served anytime especially in small bars. They cover all types of foods from seafood to vegetables. Many Spanish people make an evening of hopping from bar to bar trying different tapas. Another of Spain's favourites is Serrano Ham. Spain is famous for its fish delecasies and simply must be sampled, especially if you get to coastal areas. Paella has long been a Spanish favourite, based on either meat or seafood. Every region in Spain has its own specialities.

Drink
Primarilly Spain is a wine drinking country with each region producing its own special wines, however there are several large breweries within Spain producing the light, lager-like beers popular everywhere. The principal table wines are the riojas and valdepeÃ±as, named after the regions in which they are produced. In general, rioja, from the region around LogroÃ±o in the northeast,

resembles the French Bordeaux, though it is less delicate. ValdepeÃ±as is a rougher wine, but pleasant and hearty. It will be found at its best in the region where it is grown, midway between Madrid and CordÃ³ba. The Jerez area is famous for its sherry. Jerez is the place from which this wine was first exported. Britain now buys 75% of all sherry exports. There are four main types of sherry, being fino which is pale and dry, amontillado, dry, richer in body and darker, oloroso, medium, fragrant and golden and dulce, which is sweet. In the Basque Country, chacoli is a favourite, green wine, slightly sparkling and sour. The majority of Spanish sparkling wines are sweet

and fruity and even the inexpensive supermarket wines have an important place in the wine culture. Cider also has an importance in Spain.

Spanish brandy is very different from French brandy. It is cheap and pleasant although specialists find it a little sweet. Popular brands include 103, Magno and Carlos which are distilled in Jerez.

Coffee is drunk in Spain in great quantities. Cafe solo is served in small cups and is a black coffee, very strong and thick. Cafe con leche is coffee with milk. Spaniards also drink a great deal of bottled water. There are two types, con gas is fizzy water and sin gas is still water.

Madrid, the capital of Spain, is located in the center of the country at . Population of the city of Madrid proper was 3,093,000 (Madrilenes, madrileÃ±os) as of 2003 estimates. Population of the urban area was 4,791,000 as of 2000 estimates. Population of the metropolitan area (urban area plus satellite towns) was 5,603,000 as of 2003 estimates.

cold_ale2000

Food-Tortillas--Drink--Red Wine maybe Port Wine and Madrid is the Capital

jims_pc

Obviously capital city Madrid, there are no real national food or drink, as each region of Spain has it own cuisine. For interest Paella originated in the Valencia area where the special type of rice used to make the paella is grown. Sangria came about by using fruit jucies to sweeten or soften wines. The name sangria comes from the spanish word (sangre) meaning blood.

eve_dublin_06

The capital city of Spain is Madrid.

Here is a basic description of what most taverns have to offer. The big favourite (everywhere in Spain, no matter how far from the sea) is deep-fried fish: calamares are rings of squid; boquerones are fresh anchovies (you munch the whole crispy thing); lenguado are small sole; gambas are shrimp or prawns of varying sizes, usually served a la plancha(in Spanish, "frito" means deep-fried and "a la plancha" means pan-fried) with heads, legs and all - you peel them yourself (it's messy, but fun). Slices of deep-sea fish are usually done a la plancha: aguja (needlefish), rape (this is the one which makes the Brits howl, especially the usual translation of the dish "rape a la marinera - rape, seaman's style") which is nothing more frightening than angler (what the French call "lotte"), and pez espada (swordfish). Salad is "ensalada" and usually composed of tomatoes, lettuce, onions and olives and served without dressing - you pour on the aceite (oil) and vinagre yourself.

One of the most incongruous things about Spanish cooking is the apparent inability to make tasty salads- they don't even take the trouble to shake the water out of the lettuce! But they make up for this minor crime with what is perhaps Spain's greatest contribution to world cuisine: gazpacho, a summertime chilled soup which is essentially a liquid salad thickened with bread dough, and flavoured up with lots of rich olive oil, garlic and vinegar (to be good, it must be made with virgin unrefined oil). It can be drunk as a soup, or simply as a beverage to accompany your fried fish (that's the way it's best, I think).

Fried potatoes - patatas fritas, fried in olive oil like everything else - are usually good; the local way of fixing potatoes is "patatas a lo pobre" (potatoes poor man's style) which is delicious but only for those who don't mind large amounts of olive oil!

The Spanish eat lots of eggs, but never boiled - they either fry them (huevos fritos) or make an omelette - tortilla (no relation to the Mexican variety). There are two basic kinds of omelette - "tortilla espaÃ±ola" and "tortilla francesa". The Spanish type is a potato omelette, with lots of potato and onions - delicious, very filling and always a good stand-by if you don't know what else to order (it's often served cold, in wedges, as a tapa). The "French" type is a plain omelette with nothing in it (shows what they think of the French - had it in for 'em ever since Napoleon was here!). Lightly-done omelettes are unheard of - they're fried to the consistency of leathery pancakes.

Ham is the great delicacy here, but not the cooked kind you're used to, which, strangely, is called York Ham - jamÃ³n de York (pronounced ha-MON-day-YOR). The local cured variety is similar to Jambon de Bayonne or Parma Ham, and is called jamÃ³n serrano, mountain-cured ham. Try a bit to see if you like it, it's delicious but takes getting used to - here we like it on the pink, raw side, but in the cities you can get the more cured varieties. Ideally, Spanish ham should be sweet rather than salty. There are several varieties of pork sausage, mainly chorizo (spicey and tender) and salchichÃ³n (drier and very similar to Italian salami).

Beef is something of a luxury here and called ternera, which means veal although real baby veal is unknown. You can order a "filete de ternera" in any decent place, this being a thinnish beefsteak fried in... olive oil. You can get lamb chops in most eating places: "chuletas de cordero". They mercilessly over-fry them, for my taste. Strangely, herbs such as rosemary and thyme are not used in Spanish cooking, except to flavour table olives and making medicinal tea; friends are always surprised when they eat at my farm, because I go out on the path behind my house, come back with a clump of "tomillo" and rub it over the rabbit before it goes on the coals... Quite unheard of!

Wines and beers: white wine is "vino blanco", red is "vino tinto", a glass of draught beer is "una caÃ±a" and a small bottle of beer is a "quinto".

Sherry: Spaniards don't usually drink sweet sherry (Jerez), although it can be found (the most popular sweet wine is vino de Malaga). The favourite is the dry, pale variety, and if you want a glass just say "un fino". When in the Granada region you should try the local wine from the Alpujarra, called "alpujarreÃ±o" or simply "costa", a semi-sweet claret only sold from the keg.

Most restaurant-bars will prepare you a Sangria, but a less sweet and much more refreshing drink is the very popular vino de verano (summer wine) which is simply soda water and red wine on the rocks. In Granada and my town of MontefrÃo, unlike most other parts of Spain, the tapa tradition survives; indeed, in these parts bars sink or swim here on the quality of their tapas, which should be hot (not olives or crisps out of a packet) and different for every round of drinks. Listen to the barman shout to his wife in the kitchen: "Tres segundas" (three seconds) or "Cuatro primeras" (four firsts) - they have the various tapas of the day numbered so that you can have 5 or 6 drinks without getting the same thing to munch on...

One of the great treats in Spain is the "Spanish breakfast" - of course, there are the legendary "chocolate con churros" but I find that rather heavy on the stomach; I'm talking about "pan con aceite". A roll is nicely toasted in two halves and then spread with crushed fresh tomato pulp and olive oil, and a light sprinkling of salt. It sounds terrible, but once you try it you never want anything else!

You can find some spanish recepies on

http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipes.html

Soo

The capital city is Madrid and the national food is:
tapas: selection of cold and warm starters
tortillas: potatoe cakes
National drink: red wine, sangria, cava champagne

Check out the Lonely Planet on Spain below.

James D

madrid is the capital, paella and sangria the dish and drink. but it can also vary depending on what region you are in

smokingstonersweetheart

what is the national food and drink for any country??? and Madrid im pretty sure is the capital...

STEWART L

FOOD--PAELLA ... DRINK-- SANGRIA ... CAPITAL CITY--MADRID.

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