The region of Navarre has borders with the Basque Country and France and much of its food is undoubtedly influenced by these areas. Having no coastline, Navarre relies on seafood imported from its neighbours. Navarra is famous for its trout, apart from the Pyrenees mountain streams, some of Spain's largest fish farms are located in the Navarra region and trout or "trucha" features on the menu of many of the area's restaurants. Some of the most popular dishes of the Navarra region are vegetable based specialties such as ministere, a vegetable stew, or stuffed red peppers. The local produce includes a wide variety of game, cheese and meat. The Pyrenees villages produce excellent lamb and the Pamplona region with its bulls has a variety of beef dishes. Pintxos are tapas served throughout the Pyrenees area. Like the Basque Country, Navarre has gastronomy clubs, where local men prepare dishes which are served to other members seated at long tables. There are stories and songs and toasts in the local wines
Navarra Wine
The area around Olite is Navarre's major wine producing region. Navarre wine has been transformed from mediocre to excellent in the last 25 years. Navarre is one of the Spanish wine industry's major success stories. In the early 8o's, the region's wines could best be described as plonk. The introduction of new production methods and grape varieties has transformed the region's wine into one of the most sought after. Pre 1980 the Navarre region was overshadowed by its neighbour La Rioja in the production of wine and the most notable wines from Navarre were mostly Rosés. It is now noted for some excellent reds. The garnache grape which was the most widely used variety, has been gradually replaced by the tempranillo the favourite grape of the Rioja wine manufacturers. The wine from Navarre is constantly improving, at the moment it offers great value although it has not yet reached the same distinction as Rioja, it appears to slowly be getting there.
Buying Spanish Food Online
If you're in the U.S or the UK, its unlikely you'll find a good range of authentic Spanish food in your local supermarket. You may find one or two popular items but to buy speciality products, you need to go to a Spanish food importer.
We've found two excellent companies who can provide you with a wide selection of authentic Spanish food. The tapas Lunch Company are based in the UK and stock a variety of cured meats, cheeses and other hard to find delicacies which are essential for creating a true Spanish food experience at home. For U.S visitors, try Spanish Feast, who provide everything needed to give you the true taste of Spain. Both companies offer fast delivery straight to your door, ensuring the food is fresh and at its best. They also supply a selection of food baskets which make great gifts.
Last Christmas, we were getting a bit stuck deciding on what to give our kids who are both married and seem to have everything they need, I remembered seeing Spanish food baskets on the Spanish Feast website and thinking at the time that I wished somebody would buy me something like that. My wife thought it would be a good idea for the kids because they're both really into their food.
We're in the UK so we bought a couple of wicker hampers locally and then ordered a variety of Spanish goodies from The tapas Lunch Company including cheese, ham, tins of Spanish olives and some turron, which is like a nougat eaten at Christmas all over Spain. One thing I didn't expect, The tapas Lunch Company to stock, was those brilliant little Padron Peppers that you find in tapas bars all over Spain, they call them Russian roullete peppers because most of them are mild but occaisionally you get one that blows your head off. We had to include a bag of those.
We finished off with two bottles of quite expensive Rioja and voila, job done. When we went round to their houses on Christmas morning they both reacted with childish excitement. Maybe it reminded them of when they were young, opening their Christmas stockings which always had lots of little treats.
You don't need to give full baskets to impress, maybe just a few slices of Iberico ham and some different cheese like manchego or one of the lovely Cantabrian goats cheeses which are extremely hard to find outside Spain.
Spanish Feast - Spanish Food For U.S Customers
Tapas Lunch Company - Spanish Food For U.K Customers
