Spanish food has always been influenced by its trade with the many countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean region is shared by many countries that may be physically and culturally different and yet show similarities, not least in terms of their food. They enjoy an abundance of produce, ripened under sunny skies in the fertile soils that surround the sea.
A dip into the Mediterranean’s past reveals how conquering nations have influenced the cuisine of the occupied countries. The connecting sea meant that no country or island was isolated from its neighbours. The food of southern Spain and Sicily, for example, is still dominated by Arab spices and flavours such as saffron, dates and pomegranates introduced by the Moors. This intermingling of cultures around the Mediterranean region is as compelling to the cook as to the traveller or the historian.
The heat of the sun combined with the wealth of the sea makes for a stunning range of food: freshly landed seafood and fish, mouth watering salads, vegetables and fruit. Simplicity is the watchword. With such a vast collection of fresh ingredients to hand, cooks can rely on the quality rather than time spent in the kitchen making over-elaborate foods. Preparation and cooking are simple too. A few decent saucepans and a sauté pan, a gratin dish and a heavy-based casserole, a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and a couple of good knives for chopping vegetables and herbs will suffice.
The Mediterranean climate does not lend itself to rich pasture for dairy herds to produce copious amounts of cream and butter. Red meat is not a big part of the diet, either. The emphasis is on fruit and vegetables, easily grown in the long months of sunshine. It’s now recognized as one of the healthiest diets in the world. The soils may be rich but the terrain is often rugged and water supply critical. The dry conditions are more suited to sheep and goats, whose milk produces light cheeses such as feta and manchego, and to pigs, whose meat makes the many cured hams, sausages and salamis. Poultry can scratch a living almost anywhere, and not just chickens but quail and pigeons too. Fruit and nut trees- orange, lemon, peach, almond and walnut- are very much at home on the sun-baked slopes. Grapevines flourish, and their fruit, fresh or fermented as wine spirits, happily partners the delights on the Mediterranean table. And the crop of the ancient olive groves provides yet another reason why the food of this region is so in tune with modern life: it’s fresh and healthy.
This month's food section comes from
Stylish Mediterranean by Sophie Braimbridge, £14.99, Kyle Cathie Ltd
Read a selection of great recipes from the book in our July 2008 edition.