A few months ago I was at a restaurant in Santiago de Compostela with some passengers from the tour that I was leading through Spain. The ever attentive waiter at the restaurant came and asked my group if they liked the food. Instead of responding a conventional “yes, every things great”, one of my passengers light-heartedly suggested to the waiter that him and his team should go to Sydney, Australia and open a restaurant there. This was a lighthearted Australian way of showing that they liked the food so much they would eat it at home too.
The waiters response?
Well, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Slightly bemused, he blankly stared at her as he stated very matter-of-factly, “Well, there is a problem. There is no Mercado de Abastos there.”
The Mercado de Abastos in Santiago de Compostela is providing the cities 1,000 restaurants and bars with their daily produce, and in the city that is considered the “heart of the Atlantic cuisine”, there is a certain degree of pedigree attached to the market and its offerings.
While I have visited Santiago de Compostela before, I definitely felt that I hadn’t properly explored the market. So the following morning, after this dinner, I thought I should enjoy the sun by getting outdoors and properly having a look at the market has to offer.
CHEESE
While France is more famous for its tasty variety of cheeses, many people don’t realise that, actually, Spain deserves just as much recognition in the cheese department.
From Catalunya to Castilla-La Mancha, there are many regions producing cheese, each with their own unique varieties and flavours. Probably this misunderstanding comes from the fact that the only widely exported Spanish cheese is Manchego, but Galicia, in its own right, also produces great cheeses. All those lush rolling hills means the cows must surely be eating some good stuff.
Tetilla is one the most characteristic of the cheeses produced in Galicia, perhaps due to it’s unusual shape.
It looks like a breast, or a pear, which ever way your mind goes. But tetilla does mean “little breast” in Spanish, so it is perfectly acceptable to conclude that this cheese looks like a boob. Or take the immature route and just call it “Boob Cheese”! Though…should I be sad that the cheese has bigger boobs that me?!
Anyway. Back to the cheese. It is not soft, but not hard, fairly mild in flavour, and goes down with a great with a glass of albariño, the local white wine produced in Galicia. I also really like San Simon, which has a similar shape to the Tetilla but has been smoked, so the result is a semi-hard cheese with a wonderful smooth and smokey flavour.
SEAFOOD
With more than 80 kinds of fish and 50 kinds of shellfish available to purchase at the markets, it’s no wonder that Santiago de Compostela is considered the heart of the Atlantic cuisine. There are even things that I, an avid seafood eater, never knew existed.
Percebes (goose barnacles) are a delicacy in Galicia, but out of the 130+ varieties of fish and shellfish, they are also the most dangerous to catch.
I feel like I am discrediting the fishermen for calling them fishermen. The correct term would be “hunters”. The percebes only grow on the rocks along the Costa da Morte, Galicia’s infamous “Coast of Death” which is called so, well, for it’s deadly conditions combined with rocky coastline. The fisherman hunter must time his jump out of the boat with the waves rolling in and out, and each time he jumps out there is the very real possibly that either himself or his boat will be smashed and broken against the rocks. It even made the news in the UK last year that Galician fishermen are risking their lives for these creatures!
So why do they risk their lives then? Well, on an ordinary day the percebes cost around 50 EUR a kilo – and that’s just the market price. Then wait until fiestas and special occasions, such as Christmas, and that price will triple itself…twice over. And you will notice in Spain currently that locals are very quick to talk about la crisis (economic crisis). I say no more.
Now, what if you like the look of the seafood on display but you are staying in a hotel and don’t have a kitchen to cook in?
No problem. Churro Manía, a small bar in the market, will cook up your newly purchased seafood for a small percentage of the purchase price.
FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
As often found in these local markets, fresh and seasonal fruit and vegetables are displayed on what feels like every second stall, effortlessly arranged and looking fresh.
But it’s not only the permanent stalls that are selling their produce. Local farmers flock to the market from surrounding villages in hope of selling off their produce too. Not only fruits and vegetables, but flowers and fresh farmers eggs too. Even bottles of homemade liquor de café – a typical Galician liquor made from sugar, coffee and brandy – find their way into the Mercado de Abastos in Santiago de Compostela.
The lucky farmers perch on benches between the market and Church of Santo Agostiño, others find themselves a spot to lay their produce out on the ground, and some will even just sell their straight out of their wheelbarrow. Regardless of where they are and what they are selling, most are quite happy to stop and have a chat about what they do.
Sure, you can probably go and buy the same things in the supermercado, but you won’t get the same quality, good value, and authentic local experience.
PULPO (OCTOPUS)
I know I have already done the seafood part, but pulpo is practically synonymous with Galicia, so it deserves its own special section.
Like when I ate pulpo at Finisterre, the dish that is served up at the mercado is called pulpo a feira. But what makes pulpo a feria special at the mercado is that this time, I didn’t go into a bar or restaurant to eat it.
Every now and then, a “pulpo stand” will pop up in the Mercado de Abastos. This is a great opportunity to not only eat the freshest pulpo out there, but also to see how this surprisingly simple (but exceptionally tasty) dish is made.
One person is in charge of boiling the octopus, and the subsequent chopping of the tentacles into bite sized pieces, and the other is in charge seasoning the pulpo with olive oil, smoked paprika and sea salt. A full plate of pulpo a feira set me back just 8 EUR and as tasty as it was, it was too much for me to eat by myself – and you know how much I like to eat!
Even though the pulpo is being whipped out of a stall like hotdogs, it still gets served in the traditional way, on a wooden plate with toothpicks to pick up the pieces one by one.
The pulpo also goes down great with a glass of Albariño – wait, who am I kidding, everything in Galicia goes down well with a glass of albariño – and the neighbouring vinoteca (wine bar) in the market is happy to let you bring your pulpo to their tables as you wash it down with their wine. They even provide you with bread and napkins. ¡que listo!
WINE
Each wine producing region in Spain has their speciality. La Rioja is known for its red Rioja wines, Catalunya is known for its sparkling wine – Cava, and Jerez is known for its Vino de Jerez (sherry) whether it be dry, sweet and everything in-between.
But what about Galicia?
The Rías Baixas wine region in Galicia is known for its production of the albariño grape, which produces a very light and dangerously easy to drink dry white wine with fruity aromas.
Think a peach tree on a summer day while rolling in fields of dry grass. That would be my visual interpretation of a glass of Albariño. And you know what? I love it .
Albariño is often my wine of choice, no matter where in this great country I find myself. But while inside the Mercado de Abastos, A Viñoteca do Mercado is the perfect place to try some local wines, starting at around 2 EUR a glass.
TAPAS
Did you walk around the whole market and find yourself hungry, knowing that you don’t have a kitchen to cook any of this great food in?
Don’t worry, me too!
Luckily Abastos 2.0 has the solution to this. This bar sits on the outside of the market on Rúa Das Ameas, and is a popular socialising spot for all ages, from the well-to-do locals chat over wine while their children – kitted out in their ironed sundresses and patent shoes – stay to the side and behave perfectly.
Abastos 2.0 has a tapas menu that changes daily, usually with four different tapas to choose from. The reason for the ever changing menu is because the chefs take whatever is seasonal and fresh from in the mornings and prepare it for sale. Sometimes the dishes will be prepared traditionally, in the typical Atlantic style with very little other than basic seasoning, such as navajas (razor clams) cooked with very little seasoning, and sometimes they will experiment a little, such as swordfish sashimi with wasabi on the side.
Regardless of the day and whatever tapas are being served, you can be sure that at Abastos 2.0 you are eating the best (and freshest!) ingredients in town.
Visiting local markets when travelling is a great way to taste of daily life, by seeing how locals go about their day and how others go about making a a living. It’s also a great way to try some local produce from the region, whether you are just buying some fruit for breakfast or getting more adventurous with ingredients for a three course meal. But to top it off, local markets are always the place to find the best value for money that there is. The supermercados might be trying to take over Spain, but they don’t have the special unique feature that the mercados offer – the history and culture.
I’ve made myself hungry just by writing this post. I might have to head to the local market in Logroño right now! Have you visited locals markets when travelling before? Have you been to Santiago de Compostela?
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bawa says
Really good post. Galician food is so amazing, glad someone did a proper post on it.
Cyra says
Thanks! Yeah, it really is the best in Spain. Hopefully there will be more posts to come 🙂