THE WONDERS OF LOCAL CUISINE, The Wonders Of Local Cuisine

Hi, my name’s James, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to the wonderful flavors of Catalan cuisine.

One of the specialties of Spanish cooking are tapas, the typical snacks that accompany the aperitif, and are often enjoyed as starters. Among those you can try in Barcelona are the Coques, a sort of mini pizza without mozzarella, bread with tomato and the characteristic caragols a la llauna: grilled or oven-baked snails, served with allioli, a typical local sauce made with olive oil and garlic and served with many other dishes, such as salads or fish.

A must-have snack or starter is jamon, or ham. The finest quality variety is jamon serrano, from pigs fed with a particular kind of acorns.

Barcelona has a Mediterranean cuisine, featuring many ingredients you would expect to find along the coast, such as fish, mollusks and crustaceans. You’ll also find plenty of fish tapas here, such as fried cod.

As regards first courses, pasta is very common. It was introduced by the Arabs, and is cooked directly in its sauce, rather than boiled separately.

Another common first course in Barcelona, and indeed now all over Spain, is espinacs a la catalana, spinach sautéed with raisins and pine-nuts.

The best-known main course is baccalà alla catalana, salted cod cooked with pine-nuts and vegetables and seasoned with allioli sauce....