Why there are no pies in Spain.
Our annual Día de las Sopas Perotas was a big success last Saturday. Thousands of hungry visitors poured through the narrow and picturesque streets of Álora for a free bowl of our tasty and nourishing signature dish, las sopas perotas.
This year Susana Díaz, President of the Andalucían Junta came along for a bowlful. This was such an important event that it was mentioned in the popular ex-pat weekly Sur in English. Here she is with our alcalde whose name you will know by now. I don't know who the bloke on her right is but he was obviously expecting something better. He was probably expecting a bowl of soup made from perotas (female Aloraneans). He's going, ´WTF?´. No wonder. Even the Sur newspaper doesn´t know the difference between sopa and sopas. Look at it. Does it look like soup to you?
sopas; feminine plural. pieces of bread (plural) soaked in soup, coffee etc.
Oxford English-Spanish Dictionary
Here they are later, passing our front door. The poor chap looks ready to throw up, doesn´t he?
Why there are no pies in Spain.
Apart from in Mallorca, I have not yet come across a genuine Spanish pie. You sometimes see those little pasties filled with tuna or sweet potato and you can get the Brit version in Iceland in Fuenguirola. But they don't go for the meat pie here even though I did bring a few down to Álora once, hoping they might catch on. Even Manolo, the enigmatic owner of Cafe -Bar El Madrugón wasn´t impressed.
Why does a population that consumes millions of tons of pork a year and loves pastry not go for a pork pie?
I have, at last, found the answer and it goes deep into Spain´s history and religious life so if you´re not interested in History or religion you´d better skip the next bit and go to Bar News.
Tariq ibn ziyad on a Gibraltar £5.00 note
In 711 AD Spain was being ruled by King Roderick and the Visigoths who used to go about in black clothes with their faces painted and looking fed up all the time.
They could never live up to the reputation of the Romans who had built aqueducts, roads and wore long cool white robes. They never really wanted to rule Spain or anywhere else and found the summers too hot and the food greasy. They soon started falling out with each other, forming armies and fighting wars. Even that wasn't enough to cheer them up.
The governor of Ceuta, Julian, just across the water in North Africa, had a rift with Roderick and wanted to give him a good hiding for messing with his daughter so he asked his pal Tariq ibn Ziyad to go over into Spain with an army to give Roderick a biffing.
Tariq didn't need asking twice. He sailed across the Straits of Gibraltar which were named after him (jabal Tariq), killed Roderick and set off to conquer all of Spain, Portugal and some of France. He called the new country Al-Andalus.
Roderick was a Catholic but Tariq was a Muslim so he started building Mosques everywhere and making everyone speak Arabic and wear arabic clothes. Everyone got on really well for 800 years. Catholics, Jews and Muslims prospered and Spain, particularly Córdoba and Toledo, became famous centres of learning. The 'moors' (a word used then and now to describe north African muslims) were responsible for nearly everything beginning with 'al' - algebra, alcantarillas (drains) alcachofas (artichokes) albondigas (meatballs), aluminium, albatrosses and alcohol even though their religion prohibited them from drinking it. Jerez was named after the Shiraz grape from Shiraz in Persia (now Iran).
Moorish alembic for distilling alcohol
All good things come to an end and the Northern European Catholics, egged on by the Pope, kept trying to 'recapture' Spain. After about 800 years they finally beat the moors at Granada. Fernando and Isabela became the Reyes Catolicos (King and Queen of Spain). This happened just as Columbus was 'discovering' a new sea route to India via Jamaica. (1492).
Ferdinand and Isabella were fundamentalist Catholics and immediately began a programme of ethnic cleansing. They told all the Muslims and Jews to get out of Spain or convert to Christianity. The trouble was that the Jews and Muslims knew everything about everything.
Thousands of Muslims converted to Christianity and were called 'Moriscos'. Many Jews left Spain but many stayed as 'Conversos'.
Moriscos and Conversos
Casarabonela , just up the road from here was a town made up almost entirely of moriscos. They have a festival there ever year where an Inquisitor Trial is enacted.The Catholic Church suspected that some conversos and moriscos were still practising their religion and customs secretly
so they set up the 'Holy Office of the Inquisition' to catch out transgressors. The Inquisition usually turned up without warning, hoping to catch people out doing un-Christian things.
An accusation would lead to interrogation, torture and confiscation of property. Conviction could result in being burnt at the stake at an 'auto da fe'.
Moriscos and Conversos took to eating pork ostentatiously to 'prove' that they were true converts. Lamb was avoided because it was used widely in Arabic cooking. Converso Jews were often caught out by not showing chimney smoke on Saturdays, having white tablecloths and candles on Friday evenings and making dishes on Fridays that could be eaten cold on Saturdays when cooking is forbidden in the Jewish faith.
'Other typical Sabbath dishes included aubergine fritters, fritadas (omelettes with vegetables) and empanadas and empanadilla (pies filled with minced meat or fish). Jews were known for their frequent use of minced meat - to make meatballs and as stuffing for pies)'
'The Food of Spain'
Claudia Roden
The use of olive oil was associated with Jewish cooking too, so pork fat was used by everyone, just to be on the safe side.
And eating pies could get you into serious trouble, especially on Saturdays, even if it was a pork pie!
So that's why you still don't see pies in Spain.
Well, that's my theory anyway.
Bar News.
It's always a pleasure to announce the opening of a new bar in Álora. Bar El Tapeo has reopened under new management on Calle Cervantes next to La Casa de Cultura.
If you're prepared to make the journey to Casarabonela try the menú at Tomate Algo.
Juanito Sánchez.
14th. October 2018
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