Food of Salamanca

 Hello!

 One of my favourite elements of travelling is exploring food: not only different dishes but also different attitudes towards food and different ways of eating. 

 In Beijing I saw how a bit of know-how can make simple foods like rice and noodles totally delicious and I wrestled with chopsticks (me against the chopsticks, that it, not me with the chopsticks against someone else!). 

 In Perpignan I made the very most of the bakery culture, soon finding my two favourite bakeries and being mesmerised by the huge range of sweet and savoury snacks on offer. In Antibes I enjoyed the town's chilled way of life and would sit by the harbour with an ice-cream, reading.

 My culinary experience in Salamanca was probably most similar to that of Perpignan: there is the same culture of laid-back open-air eating but in restaurants rather than bakeries.

 I would eat my breakfast and evening meal in the university residence where I was staying and source my own lunch. Sometimes I went to Lidl, though it was quite a walk, sometimes to one of the more central but less thrifty food shops.

 Occasionally, though, I would indulge in one of the many lunch menus offered by the local restaurants. They were generally in the region of 10 Euros and included either three courses or two courses and a coffee. 

 I'm not a big meat-eater, so I was always on the look-out for veggie options. Two restaurants particularly impressed me in that respect: La Luna, where my favourite starter and main combo was courgette gratin and stuffed aubergine and El Aula, where I delighted in pisto con huevo - basically, ratatouille topped with an egg - and vegetable lasagne.

 Here are some photos of various dishes I sampled in Salamanca. I hope you enjoy this virtual banquet!

Starters

Vegetable lasagne

Fruit salad with mozzarella chunks

Pisto con huevo

A weird but wonderful pasta salad with cheese and pineapple

Courgette gratin

Mains - revueltos

(a local speciality made from scrambled eggs)

Paprika

Prawn and asparagus

Plain

Mains - other

Cod, potatoes and eggs

Ham, potatoes and eggs

Cod

Vegetable lasagne

Fish - maybe cod, can't remember

My favourite - stuffed aubergine

Desserts

Flan

Natillas - custard with cinnamon. Really popular in Spain and very nice

Cheesecake

Deep-fried milk - only in Spain!

Profiteroles

Chocolate ice-cream

Rice pudding with cinnamon

A sort of coffee sorbet

Chocolate mousse

Strawberry and cream cake

Snacks

Veggie mini pizza

Smöoy! (Frozen yogurt) Above with white chocolate and Oreos, below with peanut butter and granola

 So, as you can see, Salamanca has much to offer the taste-buds! If you want to see more Spanish food you can check out my posts from Girona, Barcelona, Segovia, León and Zamora. I also have a post in French about food in Perpignan and the surrounding area. 

 Many of my posts about France (in English!) on this blog also contain food: those on Collioure and my first day in Perpignan come to mind. I hope to compile a full list of posts for foodies so watch this space!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x