Inform yourself which delicious dishes you should try during your internship in Spain.

Paella is probably the most well known Spanish Food – stewed rice, traditionally served with seafood, alternatively also available with fish, a variety of meats or vegetables; but the Spanish or Canarian Cuisine has much more to offer. Most Spaniards skip breakfast; instead they have Churros with chocolate at 10:30. Churros are deep-fried pastry sticks, which are sprinkled with sugar; they are to be dipped into a warm, viscous chocolate or a small coffee.

When ordering “un café” in Spain, you should be aware that this doesn’t mean a typical coffee; instead you will get an espresso.
To make you aware of typical orders, here’s a small list:

– Café con leche – espresso with milk,
– Café cortado – “short coffee” and is an espresso with frothy milk,
– Café solo – single espresso,
– Café americano – black coffee.

A Canarian speciality is the “Condensada”, condensed and sugared milk – you should try this at least once. Just order a “Condensada” or a “Leche Leche” and enjoy!

Typical Spanish cuisine is the tortilla or “Tortilla Española” – the Spanish version of the omelette; its main ingredients are potatoes and eggs, best served with homemade alioli (garlic mayonnaise). Even the Spanish tapas are well known – if you’d like to try it, it’s best to look for a restaurant with real “cocina española”. “Tapa” means “cover” and they are served either in small portions as a starter or many different tapas together as a main dish.

Typical tapas dishes are for example meat balls (albóndigas), olives in different variations, Manchego cheese and Serrano ham; ham wrapped dates and prunes, caramalised scallops and many others. Something that needs getting used to is the “Pimientos de Padrón”; green peppers with different levels of hotness and sometimes a bitter taste, they’re prepared in olive oil and sprinkled with coarsely grounded salt. Spanish people drink red wine with tapas.

The Canarian cuisine is a mixture of traditional Spanish recipes with African and Latin-American influences. In general, the Canarian cuisine is very light, due to the year-round mild climate. One eats less meat and more fish. As a side dish you should order “Papas Arrugadas”. These are small, wrinkled potatoes with a salty crust and different mojos (sauces). The most common is the green mojo (Mojo vérde) or red (Mojo rojo or Mojo picante). In the Canarian restaurants there are also the “Potaje de Berros” (a typical Canary Island stew, made with water cress) and the “Sopa de garbanzos”, a chickpea stew. If you like marzipan you should definitely choose the “Tarta de Santiago” as your dessert, which mainly consists of almond paste and is very sweet. Even the “Bienmesabe” (translated: “it tastes good”) is very popular and I would definitely recommend it: a mousse mixed from honey, almond cream and eggs.

Whilst sitting at the beach and watching the sunset, people have the desire to drink wine: popular choices are “Sangria” and the less known “Tinto de Verano”, a mix of red wine and lemonade; both are best when served chilled!