Spanish cuisine

Spanish cuisine as opposed to other national cuisines in Europe, is heavily influenced by regional cuisines and the particular historical processes that shaped culture and society in those territories. Geography and climate, had great influence on cooking methods and available ingredients, and these particularities are still present in the gastronomy of the various regions that make up the country. Spanish cuisine derives from a complex history, where invasions of the country and conquests of new territories modified traditions and made new ingredients available .

History of Spain

There is not much information about diet or culinary culture before historical time. Archeological evidence suggests a hunter-gatherer society that slowly evolved into a more sedentary culture around 7th century BC in the South Western area of the country. This culture, known as Tartessos established trading relations with Phoenician and Greek cities, and used them to develop new agricultural techniques and the adoption of new products, such as olive trees and grapes.

Street food

Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or other public place, such as at a market or fair. It is often sold from a portable food booth,food cart, or food truck and meant for immediate consumption. Some street foods are regional, but many have spread beyond their region of origin. Most street foods are classed as both finger food and fast food, and are cheaper on average than restaurant meals. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.

Today, people may purchase street food for a number of reasons, such as to get flavorful food for a reasonable price in a sociable setting, to experience ethnic cuisines, or for nostalgia.

History

Small fried fish were a street food in ancient Greece, however, Theophrastus held the custom of street food in low regard. Evidence of a large number of street food vendors were discovered during the excavation of Pompeii. Street food was widely consumed by poor urban residents of ancient Rome whose tenement homes did not have ovens or hearths. Here, chickpea soup with bread and grain paste were common meals. In ancient China, street food generally catered to the poor, however, wealthy residents would send servants to buy street food and bring it back for them to eat in their homes.

Spanish

Spanish may refer to:

Spain

Ontario

Other

Omar Allibhoy

Omar Allibhoy is a Spanish celebrity chef. He has previously worked at elBulli under Ferran Adrià and Maze under Jason Atherton. He is the founder of the Tapas Revolution group. He opened his first restaurant at Westfield London in 2011.

Early life and education

Omar Allibhoy was born near Madrid, Spain and began to cook when he was five years old. He started taking evening cooking classes while still at school.

Career

After working at several restaurants near where he lived, he gained a position at elBulli under Ferran Adrià and worked there for two years. In 2008, he joined the team at Gordon Ramsay's Maze under head chef Jason Atherton. He had originally come to the UK in order to learn English, as he felt this was necessary in order to learn how to cook other cuisines. Ramsay described him as the "Antonio Banderas of cooking". After he left, he started the restaurant El Pirata Detapas in Mayfair.

He then founded the Tapas Revolution restaurant group, wanting to promote Spanish cuisine in the UK as he felt that there were only poor examples available at the time, admitting that this was the complete opposite to his original objective in the UK. While working on Tapas Revolution, he continued to be the executive chef at El Pirata Detapas. His first location was opened at Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush in 2011, and by 2015 he had three locations with plans to open two more. He wrote a cookbook, also entitled Tapas Revolution, published by Ebury Press. This was part of his objective to promote the home cooking of Spanish tapas style dishes in the UK.

La Rambla

La Rambla can refer to:

Places