In fact, one of the main cookery techniques that the Arabs brought to Spain was pickling, especially fish in vinegar solutions. The “pionate” of Jimena, near Sotogrande, is a rich mixture of almond flour, honey, spices and pine nuts. Today there are numerous cakes and small sweets consisting of an almond or marzipan base and if you compare the products of a good pasteleria here to one in Morocco there is very little difference-excluding the ones with tocino (pig fat) in! There looming in front of you in all its glory is Gibel Musa. Spanish food history may be among the most varied and interesting in the world.Since before the Romans the Iberian Peninsular has received influence from many cultures and regions and its gastronomy has evolved along with each century, each invasion and each conquest. “Arabs have influenced Spanish architecture, design, food, science and philosophy. One of the more delicious local tapas is aubergine slices fried with honey-a fantastic Arabic combination. Spanish and Arabic and their Striking Similarities. However, the Spanish used them to make alcohols that were able to be drunk such as licor de orujo, which is made from grape must. JJG: What did they bring with them? JJG: When I think of Spanish food, I think of olive oil, fish and garlic. Many small villages have their special cakes based on almonds or pine nuts. It is thanks to the Moors that the Spanish learnt how to use stills for distilling alcohol. If you ever get a chance to go to Spain, make sure that you try out some of these dishes, and do not forget that it was the Moors who brought them to Spain all those centuries ago. Mint became a popular flavour and is used extensively in the preparation of meats and snails! The Moors brought heaps of technology to the Iberian peninsular, but not all of them were for food. If you study Spanish in Spain you will learn all about this. They had less prohibitions than Jews, in fact mainly pork and fermented drinks were forbidden, however this precept was not always respected or followed 100% in Muslim Spain. So where is the Arabic influence on Spanish the most obvious? However, the Moorish connection to rice runs deeper still. Perhaps moderate drinking had its place then in the Islamic world. © 2009 Marbella Guide. Really need help! There was no religious prohibition related to products from the sea, but rather it was the doctors that discouraged them from the kitchens, arguing that it's pestilent odour and strong taste was not healthy. Sugar, Saffron, Spices — The Arab Influence on Spanish Cuisine, a Brief Meditation. This was a golden age or Siglo de Oro particularly in Spanish paintings and sculptures, many of which were produced for the ever-strengthening Church. Even a great number of the non- Lebanese in Mérida cook in their homes our kubbah, grape leaves and other Arabic foods. In our community only about 20 people still read Arabic.” He continued, “As for our food, it’s another matter. We know we are only 15 kilometres from Morocco when you take the coast road to Tarifa. Created: Aug 6, 2019. Their influence on the Spanish language was also profound. The paella in fact is a basic Arab introduction, although we associate it with Valencia rather than Andalucia. Olive oil (of which Spain is the world's largest producer) is heavily used in the Spanish cuisine, and it is the base of many vegetable sauces (). The pine nut as a delicious addition to cakes and sauces also arrived then. The succession of cultures that one-by-one set foot on the Iberian peninsula have each left a lasting mark on every facet of Spain's culture: language, music, art, architecture and, of course, food. Cinnamon, nutmeg, sesame, coriander and aniseed all became part of the daily preparation of sweets, breads, drinks and meats. RS: They did use that as well, but in the old days the foods in that part of the world were a little bit more Arabic than what we know now. Let’s start with names be they places or things. The Moors revolutionized Spain’s agricultural system by developing new techniques for soil leveling and preparation, irrigation, pest elimination and grain storage. After arriving in Spain, one of the first innovations achieved by the Moors was the installation of irrigation systems which allowed the harvesting of arid areas, thereby expanding and improving vegetable plantations. The meats that the arabs prefered were lamb and poultry; basically with little grease. It wasn’t until 1250 that the Moors were expelled from Portugal, and by that point the Arabic language had made quite an impact on the vocabulary of the Portuguese language Though the Arabic influence can be seen in common words such as cenoura carrot , bairro neighborhood , and xadrez chess , the bulk of the cognate (in many cases identical) words begin with the letter A . The Arab tradition in Spain also contributed to the Spanish vocabulary. Muslim architecture heavily influenced Spanish construction during this period and for centuries afterward. About 4,000 Spanish words were influenced by Classical Arabic language. The tradition of Al-Andalus gastromomy is very rich and varied. Arguably one of the most well-known ingredients in Spanish cuisine, rice was introduced to the Spaniards by the Moors. For example, foods we think of as typical to Spain have Arabic roots, like the famous cold soup gazpacho and creamy salmoreja. Other areas of the Spanish gastronomy that were affected by the Moors include desserts. Moving onto nuts the importance of almonds in our nutrition is also imported from the Moors. The higher classes consumed little or no fish and shellfish. The influence of Arabic on the Spanish language is fundamentally lexical but its other influences are also briefly examined in this article. In modern Spanish, many words beginning in “a” stem from Arabic. They introduced olives, lemons, oranges, figs, dates, aubergines and vines. Albóndigas (meatballs), arroz (rice), aceite (oil), almendras (almonds), and many other non-food words derive from Arabic. Spanish cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Spain. It’s a bit like Kendall’s Mint Cake, a small piece can keep you going for hours and it doesn’t go off! The exact n… Besides Spanish, Arabic contributed to the vocabularies of all the European idioms and saturated many of the languages in the Muslim countries, e.g. This video is about the influence of the Arabic language on Spanish and Portuguese, mainly due to Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. However the queen of all spices –saffron – was also introduced by the Arabs and still reigns supreme for flavouring and colour, especially in rice dishes. Preview. It's true that olives have been cultivated in Spain from pre historic times, but the olive culture increased considerably under the Al-Andalus empire. In 822, an exile from the Abbasid court of Baghdad arrived in Córdoba, the capital of the Islamic emirate of al-Andalus (the name given by the Moors to the land they occupied in the Iberian Peninsula). really hard teacher and a project due September 25th. “Arroz con leche” (rice pudding) with cinnamon being a classic example. 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