Spanish cuisine consists of a great variety of dishes affected by geography, culture and climate with thousands of recipes and flavors. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep Mediterranean roots. Much of Spain’s cusine is a result of Arbic and European foods blended together.
Spanish cuisine is very close to Mediterranean cuisine and shares many of the same techniques and food items.
The most popular ingredient of Spanish meals are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, garlic as well as real olive oil. A little known fact is that Spain produces 44% of the world's olives. Olive oil is considered an indispensable part of Spanish cooking.
The most popular Spanish meals are Tapas – type of cold appetizer mixture of olives and cheese, Chorizo - spisy sausage, Gazpacho – traditional tomato cold soup with bread popular at summer time, For more information on authentic food, recipes and dining traditions of Spain visit Global Gourmet.
