When I think of Spanish food...

When I think of Spanish food I think of tapas!

Growing up in the semi-rural midwest, we really didn't have too many authentic spanish restaurants around town. In fact, we probably didn't have any authentic spanish restaurants in all of Champain-Urbana, Illinois. The closest thing we have is a restaurant called Radio Maria which served tapas. As a result, before coming to Salamanca or even Michigan, I thought spanish food was pretty much just many different kinds of tapas.

Turns out, I was half right. There are tapas here in Salamanca, as we found out yesterday at Bambu. However by no means is that the only thing Spain has to offer. My first night my host mother cooked an incredible meal of spanish tortillas (potatoes, eggs, and other fantastic ingredients), salad (a healthy salad with olive oil as the dressing and no cheese; quite different than america), and the best fruit I've ever had. The next day I had some sort of potato, chicken, fried dumpling thing. Although don't be fooled, it was significantly better than any chicken nuggests from the states. Finally I had an amazing soup that she made for lunch yesterday that was a cream based potato concoction. Everything here has been completely incredible, and obviously much more diverse than just "tapas".

Potentially the most shocking thing is how incredible the fruit is here. I did not associate spain with fruit before coming, in my mind the main food offered here was meat. However already in my 48 hours of being here, I have had countless numbers of melocotons, paraguitos, and other such amazing fruits. They are all incredibly fresh and amazingly sweet compared to what I'm used to back in the states. This was a huge relief to me, because meat is not my favorite thing in the world, and fruit definitely is high on my list of favorite foods.