Learning from the Best: An Introduction to Spanish Grocery Shopping with My Señora

Earlier this week, my classmates and I hit up a local meat/seafood market with our professor, an experience only strengthening my love for this class. Collectively, this market is like nothing I've ever seen in the United States, and here's just a couple of shots I took that portray what takes place on daily basis here in Salamanca:

Above: some of the "mariscos" (seafood)

Above: some of the "carne" (meat)

Above: some of the more interesting delicacies available (i.e cow snout, cow tongue, pigs feet, tripe, etc.)

Anyway, now to the point. Being that we have now experienced one of many local markets, we were instructed to interview our host-moms about their habitual shopping routines, and my host mom, Carmen, had some pretty interesting things to say. Although it can change depending on the number of students she's housing, my host mom usually goes shopping around two times a week almost habitually. She usually has a pretty solid idea of what she's going to buy and usually abides by those expectations. I told her that I usually try to plan out what I want to buy, but if I go shopping when I'm hungry, I buy too much. She couldn't comprehend how that could happen though: you only get what you need, when you need it. I say that's quite wise because I often tend to be wasteful with food at home.

When I asked my host mom where she likes to shop for groceries, she had quite a lot to say. She said she divides her shopping into two different parts: meat/seafood shopping and fruits/vegetable shopping. When shopping for meat, my host mom told me that she's been shopping at the same place for years; to her, it's become a special experience to have a confident relationship with one of the local "carnicerías". For produce like fruits and vegetables however, she can usually find a place closer to home and isn't connected to any one market.

Over the years, my host mom has noted an increase in the cost of fruits, vegetables, milk and on occasion fish, but she said that the price of meat has typically remained pretty constant. Again, however, she hasn't really let prices affect her buying habits: she understands very well how much to buy and when to buy it.

When it comes to preparing food for the day, she explained to me that she usually gets up and starts cooking the food for the day between 8:30 and 9:00 and continues cook until 11:00 onwards. That's depending on the type of food she's going to cook though. We just had a meal yesterday that took a total of 24 hours of preparation, so I get the impression that food plays a significant role in her life. Although we haven't had it yet, she said her favorite food is paella and she'll eat any kind. I'm always appreciative of the food she cooks for me and say "gracías" so much I worry it's going to lose it's meaning. I show my appreciation, however, by sitting down with her after meals for anywhere between an hour to three hours and talk with my host mom about life here in Spain as well as life at home. I'm living a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I'm taking advantage of every second.