Sandwich science

Coming from a linguistic and cultural background other than Spanish, it has been a bit of a headache for me to have breakfast out as in my mother tongue there's one word for “tostada”, “sándwich”, “bocadillo” and “montado”. So I haven't changed my breakfast preferences much staying at home in the mornings. Nevertheless, I have studied the science of the types of bread and the ways they are typically used by Andalusian people. It's not relying on your vocabulary, or dictionary using skills, it's learning the basics right.

Lesson 1. Toast

Toast (tostada) can be had, topped with anything imaginable from simple olive oil and garlic, or olive oil and tomato, to a richer topping, like cheese, ham and cheese, loin of pork, grilled meat, tongue, chicken, tuna, cod, salmon, anchovy, blue crab, prawns, lobster salad, surimi, egg, Spanish omlette, mushrooms, kidney beans, lard with paprika and other spices, or something sweet instead, such as honey, hazelnut chocolate spread, etc. One could have their toast with just about anything, hypothetically speaking, but in reality, the few popular toppings for a toast - in addition to olive oil, garlic and tomato, of course - are some good cheese and cured meat cuts (ham or pork loin).

Toast with ham and cheese

It's a question of taste, for sure, but the bread that makes the best toast is probably a soft round white bread called Mollete de Antequera.

Molletes de Antequera. Made and photographed by Marichu

Toast with olive oil and tomato. Image taken from another food blog

Lesson 2. Sandwich

Sandwich (sándwich) is made with sliced bread (pan de molde) that is not toasted. White bread, very soft in texture, baked in rectangular loaves that are suitable for making even slices (rebanadas), is the most popular for a plain sandwich. But bread for this breakfast treat can also be baked in round or oval loaves, better for making some firmer, butter lovers friendly slices (trozos).

Sandwich with crustless bread. Image taken from a blog

Lesson 3. Filled baguette

For filled baguette some good crispy fresh bread is used. They can be made of longer stick loaves (then, called bocadillos) or of shorter ones (called montados or montaditos as such). Size makes the difference here, and matters - these filled baguettes can be brutally large. Check out the guide of large baguettes from the province of Cádiz, otherwise you won't believe me.

Small cured ham baguettes. Photo from a blog

Small pork loin baguettes. Photo by Luzcarrion

Large pork loin baguette, cut in half vertically. Photo by Tulipán

A cup of coffee. At home

It's a time for my second cup of coffee. I simply adore these weekend cups. I do! They are incredibly pleasurable, although I make them the same way as usual. It's the having them that matters. It's the time that tastes so sweet.

Mmm

I brew my coffee with a stove-top espresso maker, a Moka pot that I started to use in Spain. Before I was on a Senseo coffee machine that I haven't cared to bring with me so far. This sophisticated yet simple maker was actually also nice to have, but I only miss it having my friends visiting me, mainly because of being easy to use.

This is what my abandoned buddy looked like

This is how I'm doing now

I want my coffee rich. I'm into fresh deep bitter espresso taste. Coffee extraction in a Moka pot results in a strong brew just the way I like it. I don't add sugar to it, just a little bit of milk. I enjoy it with a cookie, muffin or a slice of cake. Today it's a cappuccino cake with white chocolate fudge frosting. No wonder I love Sundays.

Sevillanas - Always there at the Seville Fair

Now that the April Fair (Feria de Abril) in Seville is ceremonially closed, I take my time to say a couple of words about one of the most important characteristics of it - folk art as expressed in singing and dancing. 

The gate of the Fair at night (Photo by Antonio de Juico)

At the Seville Fair, it's Sevillanas. What is it? My goodness, I most certainly have some difficulties in defining what the Sevillanas is! It's a real Andalusian thing, that's in the first place. And it has a lot to do with expressing oneself in the complexity of music. But it's not just melody and lyrics. Neither can I simply say that it's flamenco, a style you have probably heard of.

It's telling the stories of people (pueblo) through music or verse, or both music and verse. It can be a rhymed verse recited, but more often it's music performed together with the verse sung. It's the music you take part in:

• playing the guitar or other “folk” instruments; 
• singing or dancing a melody overheard; 
• creating additional background sounds to contribute to harmony; 
• cheering the musicians, singers and dancers.

Snapshot from the Carlos Saura's "Sevillanas"

Andalusia consists of the eight southern provinces of Spain. It is the largest region of the peninsula both geographically and in population. Famous for its fortified wine, bullfights, and picturesque white villages, this region is also home of the famous flamenco and the popular four-line verse known as the copla. Most flamenco lyrics (for singing, cante) occur in this form, especially the Sevillanas, but coplas are also composed for unaccompanied oral recitations and for spoken performances. Andalusians are well known for their wild love for song and dance, but, as the legendary researcher David D. Gilmore says in his 1986 article on Andalusian oral poetry (see the references), when it comes to oral art, they are indeed proud public performers, glorying in their talent for expressing deep emotion through imaginative wordplay.

All the oral creations are composed for speaking or singing before large groups. The most popular of the flamenco lyrics, the Sevillana verses (copla), are highly mannered and predictable. As an illustration, fully half of the songs collected by Gilmore contained pointed material about women - mothers, wives, daughters, fiancées, and mothers-in-law. Among many, the following is an example of the Sevillana verses about unequal relationship between an upper-class seducer (señorito), depicted as a rapacious bird of prey, and his victim, an innocent working class sewing girl with a strong erotic appeal. This copla is taken from another article written by Gilmore in 1983 on Andalusian oral literature (see the references).

Era como una paloma Tan fina y tan distinguida Su pelo con el aroma De rosa de Alejandría. Pero en el pueblo sabían Que sus ojos le seguían Y las gentes comentaban: Pobrecita la paloma Si el aguila la alcanzara. Como una ave de rapiña Que a su victima acechaba Sorprendiéndola en el vuelo Cuando mas se confiaba. Señorito rodeado de Criados mal pagados Que te alaban falsamente Dios te va a mandar Un castigo para vengar A esa inocente.

She was like a dove, So elegant and pure. Her hair had the fragrance Of subtlest damask roses. But her fellow townsmen knew That his cruel eyes were on her; And they said: The poor dove is lost If the eagle overtakes her. Like a bird of prey Which stalks its victim, Surprising her in flight, When most unsuspecting, Señorito, surrounded by Badly paid servants Who falsely flatter, God himself will punish you To avenge This innocent girl.

There is an absolutely excellent book on the cante (sadly not in English), expertly written by a Cordovan poet, Ricardo Molina, and a flamenco singer from Mairena del Alcor, Antonio Mairena (see the references).

Molina and Mairena tell us that the Sevillanas is not a Gypsy song (Cante Jondo), but an archetype of the Andalusian flamenco-like folk song (Cante Flamenco), and is thus a historically accurate folkloric and regional song in its essence, tuned by some Gypsy touch that is, in some cases, even more pronounced. The Sevillanas was there in the public domain already before the 19^th century. It hasn't evolved in isolation, in privacy at homes (casa), as compared to the Gypsy song, but has always been considered a public heritage. Its sole purpose has always been to accompany the dance. So, the Sevillanas is both sung and danced, and it's sung and danced by Andalusian people in a wide variety of ways.

The Sevillanas is a must-sing at fairs and pilgrimages (e.g. La Romería) in Andalusia. It's not limited to Seville and Sevillians, but loved community-wide thanks to its joyful ease and rhythm. That what distinguishes the Sevillanas, is its catching grace together with its lightness, liveliness and flexibility. The Sevillanas is performed in small groups supported by the appropriate social tools, including:

• alcoholic drinks (such as wine, anisette, whisky or something of the kind) to be had so as to be tuned in, so to speak, and share the same emotional temperature;
• clapping (palmas) that serves a musical rhythmic function, being often mixed with finger snapping (pitos), guitar body tapping (percusiones en la madera de la guitarra), foot tapping (zapateo, taconeo),  or table/chair beating (golpeo de mesa, golpeo de silla) either with the flat hand or knuckles; and,
• cheering (jaleo) that serves an auditory stimulation function comprising a series of spontaneous shouts of admiration, like ¡Je!, ¡Ezo!, ¡Ezo é! (That's right!), ¡Arza!, ¡Olé!

Gilmore adds to the latter that the pleasure in the release of feelings communicated by the many shouts in the audience can also be in the way of approval and agreement: ¡Verdad! (How true!), ¡Así se canta! (That's the way to put it!), and so on.

Katherine Thomas, an award winning flamenco artist graduated from the University of California with a Master of Arts in Dance, suggests a good book by Ana Maria Durand-Viel, "La Sevillana" (1983), to learn about the history of the Sevillanas, its terminology, the phrasing of dance sequences, and the instrumentation for the dance (see the references). In that book the performance styles and contexts are also exploited, including the festival version of the dance performed during La Romería, the spring pilgrimage made from Seville to Rocío each year. According to Thomas, Durand-Viel's work reflects earlier excellent books on Spanish dance, notably La Meri's 1948 English-language "Spanish dancing", which includes classifications and descriptions of Spanish and flamenco dance styles, and Teresa Martinez de la Peña's 1969 "Teoría y Practica del Baile Flamenco", which lists and categorizes flamenco dances, defines and describes the sections of flamenco dance, and describes how to approach a performance impressionistically.

And, as referred to in one of the previous posts, there are several documentaries that focus on cultural phenomena, including those on flamenco, such as a 52-minute film about the Sevillanas directed by Carlos Saura (studied by Manuel Trenzado Romero). It's available on DVD (PAL), and partly on YouTube.

DVD cover of the Carlos Saura's "Sevillanas"

Spoon foods

Spoon foods are, strictly speaking, defined as a diet that does not require chewing. Porridge, as you know it, is not typically meant by that in Andalusia. It's not eaten. Besides, you can only buy oat flakes that by no means is a rich variety, and they are not used for anything other than baking here. Rather, thick soups and stews are beloved spoon foods (guisos) in Andalusia, especially during the cold season. They are considered heavy food because of high content of protein requiring more blood to flow into the digestion tracts since they are prepared with lightly fried meat, fish or other food and slow cooked in sauce with dried and soaked legumes, fresh vegetables and potatoes. Meat (take beef, bacon, ribs, cured ham and sausages or blood sausages for example) or fish (e.g. cod) are cooked in oil, boiled in water or stewed with plants (including pods of beans, chickpeas or lentils) in a large stewing pan or casserole dish.

Great variety of Mediterranean legumes

Spoon foods have always been enjoyed by Spanish people at home and are today regular items even on the most select bar and restaurant menus under such names (in Spanish) as guiso, cocido, guisado, puchero, olla, pote, potaje etc. They were already made famous in Cervantes’s Don Quixote, being in his time (1547-1616) considered poor people’s food. So what! One cannot really argue love for traditional flavours!

Potaje de tagarninas

Andalusian spoon foods are usually meaty and fatty, crazy rich, and not exclusively beef and/or pork based, but may also contain kid, lamb, poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) and/or giblets (liver, cheek, tongue, oxtail). Vegetables used are often seasonal, like artichokes (alcachofas) in spring. Rice, corn and peas are not common ingredients in these dishes, but the noodles sure are. And, of course, not a single miracle is to be expected in the kitchen of Andalusia without laurel and fresh herbs. Also, wine can be used while stewing, and beaten egg yolks can be stirred into the broth at the last minute before serving.

Now, a recipe for you to try at home:

Lentils Stew (Potaje de Lentejas)

Ingredients:

- Lentils

- Garlic

- Onion

- Green pepper (the one used for frying)

- Tomato

- Potatoes

- Carrots

- Laurel

- Paprika (i.e. mild powdered seasoning)

- Olive oil

- Water

- Parsley

- Salt

- Chorizos

Preparation:

Soak dry lentils (handful for every person and an extra handful, just in case) overnight (let's say, for 8-10 hours) in tap water. Throw the water away and rinse the lentils after soaking, put the lentils into a pot, chop vegetables (3-4 cloves of garlic, an onion or a half, a pepper, a tomato, 1-2 potatoes, 1-2 carrots) finely (I mean, really finely, like the same size as the little lentils) and add to the lentils together with 1-2 leaves of laurel and a spoonful of paprika, cover them with a glass of olive oil and water. Place the pot onto the stove and bring the water to a boil. Turn the burner on to low and simmer the food until fully cooked, for more than an hour. Take an occasional peek into the pot to make sure it hasn't gone dry. When cooked, add a little salt and parsley to taste. Boil the skinned and cut (into some serving pieces) sausages (use smaller chorizos) in another pot. Take them out of the water and place them onto the ready stew some time before serving to let them flavour it.

And, some possible changes to have a dish I love most:

At my home this stew-like thick soup is almost completely vegetarian as made without meat or fat, except that of low fat stock. So, I don't use any olive oil nor fatty spicy sausages, but some cayenne pepper to season instead.

Intro

I have postponed the writing for some time already, because of not knowing, where exactly to start. But still, unwilling to let the idea go, I just set it off. Well, Seville! I could as well say, love. That's it, I should admit I love Seville. Though, I have no intention to stay here forever, it's not a fling. I am actually nordic, almost as nordic as one can be, but I have always had this enjoying-the-life spirit typical to Andalusia, and been tempered and restless like a gypsy.

I have followed my likes and tastes composing the posts. Everything you have here on this blog of mine bases on my personal experiences and knowledge, hence, on my interpretations as a result of dealings with Andalusian people. And, what I haven't lived I have read about. But you can still see my very own touch in the selection of books used and articles referred, as much as in the examples chosen and issues discussed. My blog is meant to be about peoples and neighbourhoods of Seville, not viewed from wholly random angles, but with an emphasis on cultural symbols and values, and with just some erratic digressions into geography, climate and other apparently irrelevant illustrative matters of Andalusia in general. Therefore, I will be posting about Guadalquivir, cities of the South, Andalusian dialect, religious imagery, Semana Santa, Feria de Abril and other traditional celebrations, private and public domains of life (casa and calle), folk songs and flamenco (i.e. genre of gypsy origin), poetry and literature, architecture and monuments, bulls, ham and wine, and more.

So, why am I so attracted to Sevillians? Is it because they are described as feeling at total ease about all the things around here? Negative. Although, the fact that calendar has more importance than a watch telling time, is adorable in itself. But, as I already said, that's not really it. It's because what the people do is of more importance than what they are here. Almost every act of sociality is considered a rite in Seville. Sociality is natural, not pathological. Moreover, it's considered to be a behavioural strategy that reduces social risks. This is for what I can't help but love and respect them.

Social and cultural anthropology is something I have become passionate about over the years, which explains why you will see me writing a lot about customs and folklore. I want to share as much information as I can about Sevillians and Andalusians with the ones who don't read Spanish, but want to know more about history and culture of Southern Spain or Southern Europe generally, and with those who are interested just in notions of the same for planning an informed trip to Seville.