By: Jessie Eastlund
This should come as no surprise, however, the food in Spain was quite possibly my favorite aspect of our trip to Barcelona. No matter the time of day, I found myself constantly thinking about what I could try next. Something commonly found in Spain at almost every restaurant is “tapas”. These appetizer portioned dishes made trying a variety of food easy. In fact, during our stay, my class was fortunate enough to take a cooking class where we learned how to make many of these tapas dishes we were eating all of the time!
We began our class meeting outside of the venue which was called Terra Veritas Market. We walked through the supermarket portion of the store back into the room where we would be putting our chef skills to the test. I would equate the feeling to taking a cooking class in whole foods. The room itself was absolutely gorgeous. The modern atmosphere gave it a very professional feel. This accompanied by beautiful natural light pouring in from the windows which looked into a little outdoor courtyard had me giddy to begin cooking.
Our instructor Yohad, who I came to find out later on in the class, started his professional career as a chef about ten years ago. He began by giving us a brief explanation of what exactly tapas are, which are shareable dishes dating back to the court of King Alfonso the Tenth. After a few more fun facts about the dishes we would be cooking we split ourselves into groups of four and chose what dish we would be preparing for the group.
The group I was in was responsible for making Gazpacho. We began, of course, by washing our hands and our vegetables. After we chopped up our tomatoes, cucumber, onions, and garlic into smaller bits into the blender they went. Next, we took our blended mixture and strained it through a metal tool with a whisk creating a motion our instructor described as “making fire.” We then added a few final ingredients including, olive oil, salt, and vinegar, and served our soup in some of the cutest red soup cups I have ever seen.
As we created our gazpacho there were four other groups creating tapas of their own.These included Calamares Fritos a la Andaluza (Deep-fried squid), Stuffed eggs, Montadito of Tuna-stuffed piquillo peppers, Pan con tomate or Pa amb tomàquet (Tomato-rubbed bread), and Tortilla de patatas or Tortilla Española (Spanish omelet). Because we had all made separate dishes we took a few moments to explain to the rest of the group what we had made for them.After the debrief was over we all got to try the lovely spread of tapas we had created together as a class.
I felt so fortunate to be able to document just one of the wonderful experiences we had on our 2023 trip to Spain. The cuisine in this country is so inspiring and something that has left a mark on me. I feel so lucky to have been able to create such special dishes with an instructor who was so passionate about his craft. I am also overjoyed to be traveling home with many new recipes I can share with my family and friends.