Fork in the Road on the Road: Bounteous Eats in Barcelona
One of many stalls in La Boqueria Market where you can get cured pig of all kinds. The smell alone is enough to knock you over.
I was recently in Barcelona, a city with a hugely thriving restaurant culture. At all times of day, people flock to cafes, bars, and restaurants to eat pastries and coffee, or guzzle beers and snacks, or linger over three-course lunches. Who am I to argue? And so I ate. A lot.
Barcelona is in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, and locals take great pride in the indigenous food of the region, a wonderful, ingredient-driven cuisine that makes use of game (often with fruit), fish, pork, and vegetables. Classic dishes include duck with pears, roast lamb or pork, canelons stuffed with meat or salt cod mousse, monkfish with garlic, seafood casseroles, bread rubbed with tomato, and salt cod all sorts of ways. That's just the tip of the iceberg, of course. To find out more, check out Coleman Andrews' Catalan Cuisine--it's incredibly informative and a great read.
Although eating tapas isn't strictly traditional in Catalonia--the structure of a big Catalan meal is more French in style, with main plates and several courses--Barcelona is now full of tapas spots, many serving pintxos from neighboring Basque country. The city has also adopted some Valencian dishes, like paella and fidua (many paella places, though not all, are strictly for tourists).
Click through to eat in Barcelona.
Grilled shrimp with olive oil, parsley, and garlic at a tapas bar in La Boqueria
Catalan canalones stuffed with veal, found at a 100-year-old restaurant in the seaside neighborhood of Barceloneta
White beans with squid and squid ink at Bar Pinotxo in La Boqueria
Clams with egg at Bar Pinotxo
Grilled razor clams at Cerveceria Catalonia
Cerveceria Catalonia's piquillo peppers stuffed with salt cod
A really wonderful arroz negro (rice with squid ink and squid) at Mar de la Ribera
Catalan blood sausage, called bull negre, with tomato-rubbed bread
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