What's hot in Seville

An article by actor/travel writer Andrew McCarthy for Travel + Leisure magazine provides a few tips on what's hot in Seville, or well, on what worked for him, at least. Andrew fills you in about the daily rhythm of life in Seville, street living, people worshipping statues of weeping virgins, late lunches followed by afternoon siestas, late-night tapas crawls, old-school waiters with their legendary chalk-scribbled bills on the wooden bars right in front of the customers, and he also, of course, tells you about flamenco and bullfights.

Seville at night. Photo by Christopher Testani

Read the full article by Travel and Leisure here.

How Sevillians do tapas

Want to discover what and how Sevillians eat? Kate Thomas, a travel filmmaker and journalist shows you the way. Go check out her article at the Huffington Post about how they do tapas in Seville here and then head to her YouTube Channel Travel With Kate for more!

Delicious tapas in Triana. Image from Kate's tips site

Bars that date back to the early 20th century - La Bodega Mariano Camacho

La Bodega Mariano Camacho is a wine bar worth a visit when in Seville, during the snail season in particular. It's probably one on the best places in Seville to enjoy an appetizer (tapa) of snails (caracoles) seasoned with a spicy peppery flavour and richly served on a saucer. Another of the attractions of this bar you can not miss is its beer. The beer is always excellently cooled down to serving temperature and poured with care and attention. The fame of pouring perfect beer and serving Seville's best snails means this bar is usually pretty full, especially in the summer, but don't let that deter you from going - the waiters are fast.

Stew of snails and beer. Photos by Association Apoloybaco

Notwithstanding its evident antiquity, the narrow streets of the old town of Seville still provide an ample selection of modernised bars and cafés with trendy bar equipment and new décor in contemporary colours and classic lines, but La Bodega Mariano Camacho isn't interested in any of that, choosing instead to play the card of all the grace of an old bar. 

Old floor of the bar. Photo by Susanne Vogel

It has this uneven ceramic floor typical in older-style bars, particularly in unrenovated buildings. Your bill is written in chalk right on the bar counter. You have to use the almost nonexistent ladies' room with only a curtain to it, no door, and you have to ask the waiters to let you pass by the bar to enter it.

Interior of the bar. Photo by Association Apoloybaco

A real old time feel here. You can tell the interior has remained virtually unchanged over a long period of time, for more than hundred years. La Bodega Mariano Camacho is a symbol of the bars' Seville from the early twentieth century to the present day. It resides in a characteristic 18th-century house-palace located in the Pumarejo Square (Plaza de Pumarejo), in Seville's old town (Casco Antiguo) neighbourhood of San Gil.

View to the bar from the Pumarejo Square. Photo by Yelp Search

August Fair in Málaga

It's not about Seville. The August Fair (Feria de Agosto) is the Málaga Fair that takes place every August in Málaga with its two entertainment zones: "Night Fair" in Cortijo de Torres neighbourhood and "Day Fair" in the historic center of the city. In 2013, it's on August 17-24.

Poster of the Málaga Fair by Alberto Villén. Image from www.diariosur.es

Vespa dressed up for the Fair. Image taken from a Facebook page

Fried fish and other specialities at the Fair stands in Málaga. Image taken from here

Stay in touch with the latest news on the event on Twitter, Facebook or news site SUR.es. 

As always from late June to the end of August. Las Pavías

There's an annual serial event called Las Pavías taking place again on the public library patio in front of my house organised by the local Brotherhood every summer weekend night starting at 21.00 PM that rallies the entire neighbourhood into action.

Poster of the event. Image by the Sacramental Brotherhood of Tomares

It's a public-spirited eating and "spending time" event in essence, a perfect way to pass a Saturday or Sunday night with fine outdoor dining in a pleasant atmosphere of a pedestrian patio, surrounded by friends and neighbours. Quite noisy and messy, but relaxing, and all for a good cause and at affordable prices that do not exceed two euros. The earnings are intended for the Brotherhood purposes, such as social work, repairs and incidentals, which are not adequately funded through general contibutions.

The ambience of the event. Image from the news site ABCdesevilla.es

What they have for the people to enjoy is a wide variety of traditional snack and sandwich choices, together with some mandatory homemade desserts, such as three chocolate cake, rice pudding, tiramisù, crème caramel, sponge cake or something else of the kind. The stars of the night, obviously, being strips of desalted codfish, marinated in a mixture of lemon juice and sweet paprika (pimentón), then coated in flour and egg or in a frying batter, and deep-fried in olive oil - a snack called Soldaditos de Pavía (Pavian soldiers). The origin of the name relates, supposedly, to the red and yellow striped uniforms of the Spanish troops at the time of the Battle of Pavia, in 1525. 

Mothers and wives of the Brotherhood members frying fish on spot. Image from Artesacro.org

Anyway, besides the tasty speciality, they have other things here, including small pork loin and ham baguettes with salmorejo (tomato cream), Russian salad, seafood cocktail, small kebabs and Spanish omelette. All to be accompanied with a soft drink on the rocks or a nice cool beer. What a treat! And, to wrap it up, here's a recipe for those who want to put this sunny summer to good cooking use and try making the Pavías at home.

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

Food at the April Fair

At the April Fair (Feria de Abril), that is a traditional appointment for all Sevillians, there are partying, dancing and singing, as well as horses and dresses, and of course, good food, shovelled in and washed down with a lot of wine (fino, manzanilla and rebujitos).

Sevillanas in the Alfonso Mora's stand (Photo by Intercambio de Idiomas Sevilla)

Eating isn't the main focus, nor is drinking, dancing or singing; this is all done merely passingly. Being there is an event in itself. Being together, exchanging looks and words, and sharing a passion for enjoying life. Chatting and eating, you know. It's a rite to chat while eating, as it is an authentic act of socialisation to eat while chatting. More often, it's snacking (tapeo, picoteo), not eating full meals. It's having a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 

Spanish omelette with a jarful of rebujito (Photo by my friend Alexánder Sánchez)

I found a website, where it was said that the Fair's origin dates back to the year 1846, when Narciso Bonaplata (Catalonian) and José María de Ybarra (Basque) submitted to the city council a request for an authorisation to hold an annual livestock fair on 19, 20 and 21 April to promote cattle ranchers and farmers. So, it was initiated as a countrymen's simple celebration.

The April Fair in its early days (Image taken from a blog)

In a way it still has its original traits. The latter also extends to food. Sevillan snacks (tapas), for the most part, and tapas at the Fair, for sure, are homey, no muss, no fuss kind of meals that are hearty and taste good. Nothing pretentious or extraordinary. Just solid, nutritious, rustic food. The list of the tapas offered in the stands is really long and it takes some experience to know what to order. Taken as a whole, it is all very Sevillian, it's just that some of the tapas are especially typical to the Fair.

A typical moment in a stand at the Fair

Tapas are served hot or cold. Typical hot tapas at the Fair (not the fried ones) include pork fillets (los filetitos de lomo), paella, Spanish omelette (la tortilla de patatas), and variety of seafood dishes, like grilled prawns (las gambas a la plancha), clams with seafood sauce (las almejas a la marinera), scrambled eggs with garlic sprouts and prawns (el revuelto de ajetes).

Revuelto (Photo by E. Agudo)

As Spain makes 44% of the world's olive oil, and as more than a quarter of Spain's oil (i.e. 10% of the total world production) comes from Jaén that is another province in Andalusia, most of the items on the menu at the Fair are fried food (los fritos, las frituritas), such as:

• seafood, like prawns (las gambas), prawn dumplings (las gambas con gabardina), shrimp cakes (las tortillitas de camarones), cuttlefish strips (los chocos), squid rings (las calamares), baby squids (los chipirones, las puntillitas);
• fish (el pescadito/pescaíto), including young hake (las pijotas), red mullets (los salmonetes) and anchovies (los boquerones);
• meat, like chicken strips (las lagrimitas de pollo);
• croquettes (las croquetas);
• vegetables, like peppers (los pimientos), or breaded pepper and onions rings (los calamares del campo).

Fried anchovies (Photo by R. Doblado)

Prawn dumplings

You can also choose from many cold snacks (las tapas frías), such as:

• Iberian cuts (las chacinas ibéricas), like cured ham (el jamón), pork loin (la caña de lomo), spicy sausage (el chorizo), strong cheese (el queso, el cabrales);
• crustaceans, like prawns from Huelva (las gambas de Huelva), common prawns (los camarones), king prawns from Sanlúcar (los langostinos de Sanlúcar), crayfish (las cigalas);
• fish dishes, like tuna in oil (el atún en aceite), anchovies in vinegar (los boquerones en vinagre), marinated dogfish (el cazón en adobo);
• meat dishes, like small sandwiches with pork topping (los montaditos de lomo), cheese stuffed meat rolls (flamenquines);
• salads and other dishes with oil and vinegar seasoning (el aliño de tomate, el pimiento aliñado, las patatas aliñadas), or marinated vegetables, like olives (las aceitunas);
• cold vegetable soups, like el salmorejo and el gazpacho andaluz.

Prawns (Photo by R. Carmona)

Montadito with pork fillet and ham (Image taken from the news site abcdesevilla.es)

Cheese stuffed meat roll (Photo by E. Ruz)

Thick tomato soup salmorejo (Photo by R. Doblado)

Then, all the stands usually feature spoon foods on the menu as a daily special (stew of the day, guiso del día), like spinach and chickpeas stew (las espinacas con garbanzos), chickpeas and cod stew (los garbanzos con bacalao), potato and cuttlefish stew (las papas con chocos), oxtail stew (el rabo de toro guisado), fish or lamb stew (la caldereta de pescado/cordero), pork cheeks (la carrillada), kidneys a la Jerez (los riñones al Jerez), eggs a la flamenca (los huevos a la flamenca), Andalusian stew (el cocido andaluz), etc. Stews are normally served late, not before 3 PM. 

Spinach and chickpeas stew (Photo by E. Ruz)

Potato and cuttlefish stew

Oxtail stew (Photo by Lola Monforte)

Typical desserts are fritters (los buñuelos, los churros) that are had nightly, before going home to sleep. Fritters are traditionally sold wrapped in paper cones or bags and served with sugar or hot chocolate.

Buñuelos (Photo by R. Doblado)

Churros

Rebujito - Official drink of the Seville Fair

It's 7.30 PM and it's 31 degrees! It's festival time here in Seville and today I'm bringing you some information about the way of enjoying it in these sunny days. It's about drink culture. It's about having fun without hurting yourself in anyway. For this reason, the Andalusians have invented special drinks.

Gate of this year's Seville Fair 

Rebujito is a wine coctail that was born at the April Fair (Feria de Abril) in Seville of a need to have a refreshing drink with a low alcohol content. Its etymological origin traces it back to the action of stirring (rebullir), which is, quite exactly, what the making of it is like. It's a delicious drink of fortified white wine mixed with lime-flavoured soft drink, such as Pepsi's 7 Up or Coca-Cola's Sprite, poured over a high ball glass full of ice and garnished with a spray of mint (herbabuena). The Andalusians usually mix one part wine to two parts of soft drink, but it's more like a question of taste. Rebujito is an Andalusian specialty mainly consumed at fairs and and other festive occasions, becoming more and more popular throughout Spain.

Herbabuena for an Andalusian-style long drink

The wine used to make a good rebujito is typically, but not always, dry. Thus, it's el fino or la manzanilla (pretty much the same thing, both made from Palomino grape), but depending on an area to be in, it can get more specific. 

Rebujito wines used in Cádiz and Jerez

So, the fino they use in Cádiz is often Fino Pavón, in Jerez it's Fino Tío Pepe, and in Córdoba it's Fino Montilla-Moriles. 

Rebujito wines used in Córdoba

The ones they use most in Seville are Fino Quinta, Manzanilla La Quita and Manzanilla La Gitana. 

Rebujito wines, typical at the April Fair in Seville

In Málaga they tend to use sweet wine instead, normally Moscatel Cartojal:

That drink is accompanied by finger food (picoteo), or a  proper lunch or dinner (comida), and goes perfectly with all the seafood treats of the Fair.

Agriculture in Spain

As regards the agricultural sector, Spain has the second largest area under cultivation in the European Union after France (more than 24 million hectares given over to crops and pasture annually) and is the EU's fourth-ranking agricultural power, accounting for approximately 11% of the EU-27's total production, behind France (18%), Germany and Italy. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector's working population has gradually declined over the years and agriculture’s relative contribution to GDP has fallen steadily, dropping to 2,6% in 2006.

From fruits and vegetables to wine and spices, Spain has an abundance of native crops. However, Spanish crops are very vulnerable to temperature and precipitation fluctuations, and insect, storm and frost damage. As in other semiarid Mediterranean regions, water deficiency and water restrictions are a major problem that Spain has to face. In Spain, water consumed for agriculture represents 80 percent of the total national water consumption. Then, the proportion of land devoted to agricultural purposes in Spain is low: 55% of agricultural production is made in 15% of the territory. A considerable propotion of agricultural land area in Spain is dedicated to permanent crop production: orchards, olive groves and vineyards, citrus fruits, vegetables, olive oil and wine being Spain's traditional agricultural products.

Spain is the leading producer of oranges and mandarins in the world, and the second leading producer of grapefruit, lemons and limes. Most of Spain's agricultural production is, in fact, citrus fruits. Ideal growing conditions, combined with proximity to important north European markets, have made them Spain's leading export. Spain is also the second leading producer of olives and olive oil. Although olive trees grow throughout the Mediterranean coastal region, they constitute the most important crop in Andalusia, particularly in the province of Jaén. 

Other warm-weather crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane, are also produced in Andalusia, as are wine and table grapes. There are many vineyards in Spain, producing both wine and grapes. 

Other significant orchard crops in Spain are apples, bananas, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, figs and nuts (especially almond). Spain is an important strawberry producer too, it's the biggest in the EU, actually, and the number two producer, after the USA, in the world. Wheat (especially in Andalusia), corn, barley and rice are all grown in Spain, and principle vegetable crops are potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages, peppers and green beans.

I don't know what else to mention… Things like sunflower seeds maybe. Or a vast variety of edible legumes, such as chick peas (garbanzos) and lentils (lentejas). 

Or gourmet specialties, such as saffron, a costly spice grown mainly in south central Spain just below Madrid. Or meat, of course, meat. It's worth the trip!

Solomillo al whisky - the most typical tapa in Seville

Places to eat

Despite the fact that I personally have some trouble eating out in Seville because of the kitchen opening hours of cafés, bars, pubs, taverns and restaurants which do not always coincide with the time I feel hungry, I would like to suggest you a few places to eat around here. And these are some of the places me and my friends love the most.

• Tavern “Los Coloniales”, my absolute favourite, near Plaza de la Encarnación that is known for a modern piece of architecture the Metropol Parasol

Image taken from the web site of an association of people

interested in jazz, wine, literature and good eating

• Wine and tapas restaurant “La Selecta Bodega” with its award-winning speciality “El No Se Qué” in Mairena del Aljarafe, a municipality in the province of Seville

• Restaurant “Kaori” at the Gran Casino Aljarafe of Seville in Tomares (another metropolitan municipality) offering the best Japanese food in the metropolitan area of Seville

• Restaurant “Los Jarales” at the Shopping Centre Aljarafe in Camas (another metropolitan municipality) offering authentic Mexican food

• First-class Italian restaurant “Il Basilico” in Mairena del Aljarafe

• Fine Italian Restaurant “La Oca Guiliva” in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood of Seville, 50 metres from Giralda and Cathedral 

• Tapas bar “Las Columnas” in the old town (Santa Cruz neighbourhood) of Seville, near the Church of El Salvador

• Small bar “Blanco Cerrillo” with its speciality “Adobo” also in the old town, near the street Tetuán

• Restaurant “El Cenachero” in Sevilla Norte for more special ocasions since its a bit pricey