Pork

Pork is the keystone of Spanish cooking. You might be tucking into a plate of fish or vegetables or even nibbling at a breakfast pastry but the chances are that the pig will have snorted it’s way into the dish somewhere along the line. On one occasion while I was working as a tour guide in the 1980s it transpired that half my group were vegetarians - a nightmare in rural Spain, they might just as well have had the plague. I dutifully called restaurants to give them plenty of warning and was usually greeted with a less than enthusiastic chef offering tortilla or more tortilla. One kindly prepared a glorious vegetable paella, filled with artichokes and red peppers, the only disturbing part was the rich “porky” aroma. I rushed into the kitchen for an explanation. Did it contain pork? “Good Lord, yes. It wouldn’t be worth eating without!” was the stunned reply.