La Comida

Hello faithful blog readers !! We are on the home stretch of the camino! Since most of the blog posts have talked about the amazing places we have been and things we have seen, I decided to fill you all in about the wonderful food of Spain and of the camino.

I will start by talking about our favorite breakfast item, TOAST! At the majority of the hostels we have stayed at and generally all over Spain they enjoy toast for breakfast. We aren't talking a normal piece of bread here though, we're talking a piece of toasted baguette bread with the option of adding butter or an assortment of jellies. Some of the days we have been lucky enough to be offered chocolate croissants, which are my personal favorite. Along with these breakfast items we almost always get freshly squeezed orange juice. Let me tell you that our concept of freshly squeezed has been completely changed since we have had the orange juice here. The juice here literally tastes like you are sucking the juice out of an orange and sometimes it still has the seeds from the orange in the cup. This morning at breakfast we watched a machine take fresh oranges, cut them in half and then squeeze the juice into a pitcher that was then poured into our glasses! Along with our orange juice we enjoy drinking cola-cao which is a chocolate hazlenut powder that you mix with hot milk and it is delicious. I'm sure most of us will be buying some packets to bring home and share!
A popular lunch of the camino in our group has been bocadillos(sandwiches). A lot of the guys have been very proactively buying meat and cheese from the meat market In the town ofthe night and buying a loaf of bread to make their own sandwiches. I think they are really enjoying trying all the different kinds of salami and chorizo as well as being able to use their swiss army knives to cut up the meat and cheese.
Since most people of Spain do not eat dinner until 830pm, we have found that we usually need just a little something to tide us over until dinner. It has been fun walking through the  supermercados ,markets,  or Pasterias to find snacks or baked goods. The baked goods here in Spainp
 are out of this world and relatively cheap. They have  found that we really enjoy getting gelato  as a treat to hold until dinner. Soooo good! 
We have found that we like to eat off the the pilgrims menu which is offered at a majority of the hostels along the camino. It's a three course meal which includes wine and water and it typically goes for 9-11euro. The first course usually offers mixed salad, spaghetti, some kind of roasted vegetable, or the soup of the area. The past few days we have been in the area of Galecia and so the first course offers Galecian soup or caldo. Also typical to this area is paella which is offered in the first course. 
The second course is usually pork chop, chicken, beef or fish and is served with French fries. As a third course we get dessert! The dessert has varied by the area but usually includes ice cream, fruit, cake or flan. When we started the camino we were in Basque area and the popular dessert was the Basque cake, which is delicious! Now in Galecian area the popular desserts are the tarta de Santiago and tarta de Oruja, our favorite is the Santiago cake! Overall the pilgrims menu has been very good and we have enjoyed it.
Today we had the opportunity to try pulpo which the Spanish word for octopus. About halfway through our walk today we stopped in the town of Melide where there is a restaurant that is known for its pulpo. We all sat together in long benches and shared helpings of boiled octopus that was covered in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and paprika. It was still purple in color andn had tentacles and Suckers on some of the pieces. I think the overall consensus was that it was delicious! It was a neat experience to share as a group and with our guide Iria who is from the Galecian area and regularly enjoys octopus as a meal.

Overall, the food in Spain has been unique and delicious but I think we are looking forward to eating McDonald's, Chipotle, or whatever once we return to the U.S.

That's all for now! Buen Camino!
Ashley Slattery
*sorry for the spelling mistakes! This was written on an iPad! *