"Here in Spain, we do not yet understand vegetarians." ~ an actual quote

More details on on how/what/when Spaniards eat. Food is important to me, ok?

• Around 7 in the morning, they have a small desayuno ”breakfast” of coffee and a biscuit
• Tentempié  “snack” happens mid day because the next meal is so late and is ligero "light"
• What we learn as almuerzo ”lunch” in school is called simply comida ”food” in Spain and is the big meal between 2-4 pm. 
• Kids will often have merienda, another snack, when they get home from school, of something dulce “sweet” or salado ”salty.” 
• Cena ”dinner” is the late meal from 9-10 pm with the yummy and varied tapas.  The word tapa actually comes from when small bites of food on bread were placed over wine to keep the bugs out. 

Last night our the whole UF in Madrid group went out to a dinner organized through the program, and were served what seemed like a lot of traditional spanish dishes. The foodie in me was rejoicing.

We had tortilla española (much like an egg and potato fritata,)

queso manchego with slices of jamón ibérico,

croquetas filled with chorizo and cheese,

revuelto de gambas con hongos  (a cooked mixture of little shrimp and mushrooms,) mushroom caps, cod fish in butter sauce (I haven’t been able to figure out the name,) finished off with tarta de santiago (an almond cake.)

It was all wonderful, and I can’t wait to try all the other Spanish dishes out there. Paella and gazpacho por ejemplo. 

Just an interesting observation: I’ve noticed as opposed to cutting off a piece of bread to take bites off of, Spaniards cut off a piece of bread and then pick smaller pieces off with their hands. Butter doesn’t seem to be very common. 

Hungry yet? I know I am after writing/researching this, and I still have three and half hours till dinner. =)