Friends, I apologize in advance for making you hungry. I made myself hungry just looking at these pictures... But food in the Canaries is so good I just needed to make a separate post on it.
First of all, it is important to note that the Canary Islands have many different influences when it comes to food. In addition to burgers and pizzas to be found literally everywhere in Europe at this point, in the Canaries, you'll find 3 main cuisines: Canarian, Spanish & Latin American.
I don't think I need to introduce Spanish cuisine that much: paella, seafood, sangría, and wine are to be found around the whole country. What's interesting in the Canaries though is the fact that apparently, locals didn't eat that much seafood in the past. I was trying to figure out why and the only logical reason I could think of was that the ocean was just too wild for the fishermen on small boats to safely hunt for fish. But I'm probably wrong, it was just the only thing I could think of that made at least a little sense. 😁
The Latin American culture is seen in the food as well. Historically, many South Americans would come to the Canary Islands, mainly from Venezuela. And they obviously brought their cuisine with them. My favorite piece of this heritage would be Arepas: resembling tacos a little, made from corn flour and fried (maybe even baked?), then filled with pork, vegetables, and literally anything you can think of.
Then, there is Canarian cuisine and if I were to name two things characteristic of this cuisine, it would be meat and potatoes. The consumption of potatoes is apparently so high that the islands need to import some, as they're unable to grow a sufficient amount! The most popular are probably wrinkled potatoes - papas arrugadas - baked in seawater which leaves traces of salt on top of them. Such an easy idea and they taste so good! The meat they consume is mainly pork or goat as it's the type of animal locals would have here in the mountains. Goats are also often used to give milk from which locals make excellent cheese. Very popular are also pimientos de pedron: green peppers baked with salt; and garbanzos canarios: Canarian chickpea stew.
Are you salivating as much as I am right now? 😁 which of these foods would you try if you had the chance? Let me know!