IAN & SPAIN

Spanish cuisine is what tourists say they like best about the country. In fact, in 2019 alone, more than ten million of the 84 million tourists who visited Spain did so purely to undertake a food-related activity.         Despite the universal fame of Spain’s creative and cutting-edge cuisine, tourists who come to the country are attracted by its traditional fare, for example, widely-known dishes such as paella, gazpacho, cocido (stew), menestra (vegetable soup) and suckling pig.

This is hardly a surprise, given that less than 100 out of the 250,000 restaurants, bars and eateries in Spain focus directly on the most innovative types of cuisine.

It would be extremely beneficial for all chefs, both traditional and creative, to constantly praise and speak out about the high-quality products they use, raising awareness about them among their national and international clientele, and so achieve a greater knowledge of Spanish foods and a wider market for them. 

The figures clearly show that food is one of the prime motivations for modern tourists and that the range of products on offer today is very diverse. Spain is reclaiming its heritage of popular and traditional cuisine, and also the need to preserve the habits and customs of its people and cities, as well as the fine dining served up in restaurants where great artists of the restaurant world ply their trade.

Good cooking is one of the features most frequently sought by tourists of the 21st Century. The country’s culinary offerings to tourists must, therefore, strike a balance between respect for traditional and popular cooking while also promoting fine dining and auteur cuisine, in order to satisfy curious and unconventional tourists who want an intensely enjoyable experience on every holiday. 

The cultural and gastronomic inheritance of Spain makes its naturally-based diet a leading export which is recommended around the world. The Mediterranean Diet so characteristic of Spain was listed on the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2010.

The Mediterranean Diet, one of our country’s own, goes way beyond being a mere nutritional plan. It is a lifestyle that combines a way of eating which links traditional cooking to fresh products and a way of sharing meals and traditions, a moderate amount of daily exercise and a pleasant climate. The result is an excellent model for a healthy life that has gained international recognition.

In fact, in 2010 UNESCO registered the Mediterranean Diet on its intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The Mediterranean Diet is the result of an invaluable cultural inheritance, which through simplicity and variety, has resulted in a balanced and complete diet, based on fresh, local and seasonal products, insofar as it is possible.

It is characterised by an abundance of vegetable produce, such as bread, pasta, rice, vegetables, legumes, fruit and dried fruit and nuts. Olive oil is another essential ingredient, along with moderate consumption of fish, seafood, free-range poultry, lactose products (yoghurts, cheeses) and eggs. A moderate intake of wine and red meats is also included in the diet.

The benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, especially those related to health and the prevention of chronic illnesses are a scientific fact. The majority of the guidelines that the World Health Organization offers are in line with the Mediterranean Diet: an abundance of fruits and vegetables, moderation in salt and sugar, low levels of fat consumption and the use of fresh products.

What do you like most about Spain? The food?

Markets are no longer what they were. Following in the wake of the culinary revolution forged in restaurants, they too have chosen to reinvent themselves. Madrid and Barcelona have some of the most significant examples of this new trend, although other cities, such as Valencia and Bilbao, are not far behind. We're no longer talking about a place to sell food, but of spaces for gastronomic experiences. Without renouncing their vocation as traditional markets, they now also include restaurants, book stores and even exhibition spaces.

Ribera Market, located beside the river estuary in Bilbao, is a reference in terms of shopping for the whole of Biscay. One of its many merits is to have been recognized in 1990 as the most complete municipal food market by the Guinness Book of Records, at that time being the largest in terms of traders and stalls and the biggest covered market as regards space in the whole of Europe, with a surface area of 10,000 square metres. Refurbishment work began en mid-2009 aimed at renewing its structure, stalls and services in order to remain a reference for shoppers in the 21st century. Not in vain, life and business have never stopped in this space where more than 60 merchants manage to provide customers with the finest produce at the best price: meat, fruit, shellfish, cheeses, cooked meats, frozen food, mushrooms and fungi...

A complex of stands and the arcades of the lower levels of the buildings served as a market in the Ribera of Bilbao for centuries, when this area was an urban centre, with City Hall and the Consulate, right in front of San Antón. A metal market pavilion was built at the end of the 19th Century. It was an example of what was called ‘cast-iron architecture’, in use up through the mid 1920s.

After several proposals, in which even covering the Estuary was proposed, an ambitious project was developed to substitute the old market, then quite rundown. The project by Pedro Ispizua, Municipal Technician, was enlarged and improved from the time of its drawing in 1927 up to its construction in 1930. Issues such as monumentality derived from its representational character are combined with functional aspects and hygienic concerns. Ispizua takes on a nearly rationalist language in this project, in accordance with the functional needs of the buildings and construction issues. His plans include similarities with central-European architecture, more or less moving away from earlier somewhat regionalist views.

A voluminous, modern market with clearly monumental and representative ideals was built to replace the old ‘cast-iron’ market from the end of the 19th Century. Concrete replaced cast-iron to form a grand vessel with ample interior space for all of the stands. With its marked personality (volume, form, details…) the building has become an integral part of the image of this historic enclave along the Estuary.