Yesterday’s meal nearly finished at five o’clock, and as I wandered back home with new shoes and applied two chickpea-sized blisters above my baby toes, I got to thinking. Just how many people who have never been in Spain understand that you can depart from a restaurant at the same time most people in the world depart from work and say, “That was a great lunch. Now what should I do?” Aside from my dysfunctional feet, I made it home all right and basically unscathed.
Eating is such a serious matter in Spain that if you don’t really understand it, you risking starting you visit with a serious handicap. This is how the typical schedule can work on, say, a workday:
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Breakfast at home
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Mid-morning coffee break (second breakfast – almost more important than the first)
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Lunch
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Mid-afternoon snack – known as the merienda (I guess it’s kind of the Spanish equivalent of the British concept of teatime)
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Dinner
That would be your basic 1.0 version, cost-free and with all the basic services included. Here’s what the premium offer could have in store:
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Breakfast at home
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Mid-morning coffee break
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Pre-lunch drink and snack (commonly known as the aperitvo)
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Lunch
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Merienda
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Evening tapas
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Dinner
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Intravenous solution at the intensive care unit
This would not be every day, of course, but it can happen. And it does. I can offer firsthand testimony. So I will analyze this sector of Spanish life for your information and enjoyment and invite you to participate whenever you get a chance. Plus, it just helps to know what you can expect before you say, as a friend of mine once told me on our way to yet another dinner, “Brian, I have not been hungry for four days. Why are you doing this to me? And why can’t I say no?”
Because that is what Spain does like no other country I know. Just don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!
