LIVING in Spain means getting so used to eating late at night that, wherever else you travel in the world, restaurants seem to shut too early – and holidaymakers on Spanish soil quickly learn not to get hungry before at least 20.00 in the evening.
But a temporary 'curfew' across the country, with everyone having to be indoors by midnight or, in some regions, as early as 22.00, means the usual dead-of-night dining is off the agenda.
Eateries throughout Spain are worried this will mean a drop in custom, except for those based in cosmopolitan areas with an international clientèle who turn up for their meals out at 19.00 or 20.00, or even as early as 18.00.
So they have started a nationwide campaign urging Spaniards – and long-term expats who have got used to national habits – to 'dine like they do in Europe'.
The association Hostelería de España ('Spain Hotel and Catering') wants people to carry on eating out in the evening, but to start earlier – typically at 20.00 rather than the usual 21.00 or 22.00.
This is especially the case in regions such as Castilla y León and Catalunya, where the 'curfew' starts at 22.00 and, in the former, a multiple mix of European residents is rare, but will also help keep restaurants open in regions such as the Comunidad Valenciana on the east coast, where the 'curfew' starts at midnight and where literally hundreds of nationalities all live together in the same communities.
About 270,000 restaurants throughout the country have joined the 'Go European' campaign and are brandishing the hashtags #AdelantaTuCena ('bring your evening meal forward') and #SalvemosLaHosteleria ('Save the Restaurant Industry'), with a logo featuring a plate-cover bearing the time of 20.00.
One of Spain's most useful quirks is the fact that members of the public can often, during 'normal' times, waltz into a restaurant at 23.30 and still find a table free and the kitchen in full operation if they feel peckish – what other countries would call a 'midnight feast' is merely a 'slightly-later-than-usual-dinner' for Spanish consumers – but the entire country is having to suddenly change its habits, at least for the next fortnight.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com