Mar 22, 2010
FOOD AND SMALL TALK
After reading this question I was thinking about my road trip to Morocco that turned out to be a road trip through Andalusia, Spain. After my passport was stolen out of our old camper van. In my mind I passed by the cultural buildings I had seen there: la Alhambra in Granada, la Mezquita in Córdoba and el Archivo del Indio in Seville. Interesting things. Cultural things. Nice things.
But not so exciting as the idea of driving to and in Africa! And now, instead of being true adventurers, we didn’t dare to leave our temporarily home on wheels anywhere else than at a camping site safely in between the white camper vans of hibernators. And instead of being in Morocco the only thing I could do was read about it.
So during our stay in Spain I read “Marokko achter de schermen” (Morocco behind the scenes) by Steven Adolf (correspondent for NRC newspaper) that deals with history and present day Morocco. It discusses subjects like the strongly interweaved corruption of mighty political figures and the suppression of the Berber people but also about the first travel reports, the hospitality of Moroccan people and couscous. And I have to say in the end Andalusia’s cultural heritage, of the time when the region was called Al-Andalus, did make up the disappointment of not being able to go there.
What I like about traveling is this strange position you have being a tourist. This vacuum of being there in real life but always at a sideline; never completely understand what is going on simply because you are a stranger. Unfortunately this, as I experienced can make you an easy target to get robbed. But on the other hand also local people recognize you and the question “where are you from?” has a low threshold.
Like a guy we met in a bar, who asked us where we came from, and told us in English he had been studying in Groningen at the Hanze Hogeschool and he had a lot of Dutch friends: Hans, Nienke and Dirk. We talked about nice places near Seville and that we had visited Aracena a small city one-hour drive from Seville what we really liked because of the green and hilly landscape. The barman became really enthusiastic because he happened to be born in the province of Huelva and told us in Spanish that the food there was great.
Our perception of great food, considering endless advertisement about Andalusian delicatesse: jamón, differs. As a hardcore vegetarian and food lover it was a pity but it came not as a surprise that Spain really is a meat country. Everywhere from the Carrefour to the local tapas bar you find a lot of meat. Especially hams of Iberico pigs, in this region. This billboard promoting an international congress about dry-cured ham! The idea these people talked three days about a pig’s cushion seemed kind of hilarious.
“Sí, más jamón” I replied “pero soy vegetariana”. We laughed and ordered another caña without tapa but with lasagna (verde).
