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EW....that's disgusting!

Food: Fried blood and onions

Why: Everything on the menu were “farm” specialties. My friend recommended it. I believe it was congealed blood, fried with onions. Served with crusty bread and a salad.

Where on the Camino did you try it?: My wife and I were visiting a Spanish couple we had met on the Camino and they took us for a ride into the Picos de Europa in Cantabria. We stopped at a farm for lunch.

Does it have a local name? Don’t remember. If someone knows please chime in!

What motivated you to try it? It was one of specialties of this farm restaurant and my Spanish friend convinced me to try it. I had recently learned to like morcilla so why not?

Have you changed your mind? It actually was quite good so yes I’d try it again.
 
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I am a half-assed vegetarian so I try to maintain that.... however, I have to admit in my travels ( not Camino related) I tried a bite of spleen in Sicily ( fabulous) and various bugs in Vietnam. I drew the line at chicken embryos
 
Rick of Rick and Peg said:
Best avoid Spain's sidra natural then. Although I prefer sweet cider I liked the sidra. I would have had it more often than I did except I had to put up with Peg's looks and expressions of disgust.
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But is it vinegary or just very dry? I come from Somerset and our "rough" cider there definitely has a real bite to it, but that's mostly from tannins.
 
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Rebekah Scott said:
Those are "crestas de gallo." Not so commonly seen.
Right down there with Castilian pig noses, ears, and face. I will try anything once, and I won't go back for more of those facial features. Lamb's tails are also a "no."
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If you like bacon I’d bet you’d go back for seconds for “face bacon” aka pig jowls/guanciale.
 
Mayonnaise is made with the the yolks of the freshest eggs (keeping hens helps here) a little dijon mustard (the smooth sort) white wine vinegar and cold pressed sunflower or grapeseed oil. Not olive oil usually as the flavour is too strong. Just a little, maybe 20% olive oil if you are going to use garlic in the finished recipe. A pinch of salt and if you want it to have a lighter texture a teaspoon of boiling water at the end. You might consider using walnut or hazlenut oil depending on what else is going in your salad.
Mayo is not the same thing at all. Salad cream is disgusting.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
This ranks as the funniest thread I've read, thank you.

Food chickpea stew with tripe.

Why I was really hoping it was just a vegetable stew as I don't eat meat.

Where on the Camino did you try it? In a bar facing the marina in Ferrol, where the Ingles starts. The afternoon I arrived in Ferrol and had time on my hands.

Does it have a local name? I expect so but I wasn't even asked if I wanted it.

What motivated you to try it? Having been given it for free with a soft drink that I did order, I didn't like to leave it. Being on my own there was no one I could pass it to. I really really hoped it was a vegetable stew. Then when I came to some pale lumps at the bottom I really really hoped it was chicken. Iffy but I thought I could swallow chicken. It was definitely tripe. I did swallow one lump and the rest I tried (unsuccessfully) to hide under my spoon. I can't honestly complain about the flavour, but I'm not 'sin carne' because of flavour.

Have you changed your mind? No. I was very wary of buying a drink in a bar after that.

This thread has made me even more grateful I don't eat meat. A Chinese friend cooked us supper and offered me something that looked odd. When asked she told us it was jellyfish. I quickly said it wasn't vegetarian. My friends had no such good excuse, it was later described as tasting like salty rubber bands.
 
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trecile said:
When I visited my son in South Korea he tried to get me to eat this - silkworm pupa, which was set out at a bar in the same manner as we would have peanuts in the US or olives in Spain.

I declined.

Click to expand...
Had them in Vietnam, excellent
 
As an aside my son's wife's parents live in Mexico and their visits have been memorable. No fancy meals and the chicaronnes come equipped with pig hair.
 
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Robyn Scott said:
Arn it's called Marmite here in South Africa .
Click to expand...
I don’t understand all the jokes about North Americans and marmite/vegemite. Do North Americans try to eat it straight out of the jar, as we do peanut butter? My mother used to mix a tiny bit of marmite with butter and spread it on crackers for us. We didn’t particularly like it but it wasn’t awful. I also knew a South African fellow who‘d use a minuscule bit of marmite to darken his gravy.
 
Robyn Scott said:
Arn it's called Marmite here in South Africa .
Click to expand...
It's a marketing thing. Vegemite appeals to vegetarians because it made from vegetables. Marmite is for the carnivores. It is made from marmots.

Not really. And I say Ew to the 'mites.
Icacos said:
I don’t understand all the jokes about North Americans and marmite/vegemite. Do North Americans try to eat it straight out of the jar, as we do peanut butter?
Click to expand...

I spent some time in vegemite country. The natives tell Yankees that it is spread "like peanut butter" knowing what will happen. Hilarity ensues.
 
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Those were one of the few things I did eat. Didn't like most of the food on the Camino. I ended up eating salads and soups.
 
Careful with the Marmot thing , both mites are strictly vegetarian.

In NZ the Marmite is made by the Seven Day Eventists and from what little I know of them they are very definitely and very strictly vegetarian.
 
Icacos said:
..... My mother used to mix a tiny bit of marmite with butter and spread it on crackers for us. We didn’t particularly like it but it wasn’t awful.
Click to expand...
What an excellent mother! All those B vitamins.
Icacos said:
I also knew a South African fellow who‘d use a minuscule bit of marmite to darken his gravy.
Click to expand...
Miniscule?

He obviously wasn't a good cook then. I spoon buckets full into gravies, soups, stir frys and anything else that seems even remotely appropriate. Plus, of course, I have it on my toast and occasionally crackers. Either on its own or with fresh ripe tomatoes straight from my garden.
 
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"Please, Sir, I want some more."

Consider yourself well in. Consider yourself part of the family.
 
Reactions: Arn
You, sir, are pulling my leg. Well, maybe not about the tomatoes.
 
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Marmite is made from yeast, i think. Now Patum Paperium is interesting. Made from anchovies. Yummy but not too much at a time due to the salt.
 
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Cocido Maragato, also in Hotel Gaudi in Astorga, was the most disgusting meal I have ever had. First came a plate of boiled meats: various pieces of sausage and black pudding, pig’s ear, pig’s trotter, ham hock, salt pork, beef shank, cecina (dry cured beef, thinly sliced), boiling fowl (hen), and dumpling all piled up on the plate. Then a plate of chickpeas, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Then a plate of soup made from the broth the first course was cooked in. Plus bread and a bottle of wine—the only redeeming features. When the first plate came I ate as much of it as I could; I didn’t know then what was to come later. So when the chickpeas and vegetables came I was nearly full already. The chickpeas and vegetables would have been enough on their own. The soup was thickened with thin pasta and was nice enough. I declined the desert and just took coffee, paid the bill quickly and staggered back to the albergue!
On the other hand schweinshaxe, which I had in Leipzig on a Bach-pilgrimage, is wonderful!
 
@BedDavid, my similar experience on the Norte a couple of years ago...
"They had no menus and we knew no Spanish, so we nodded our heads to what the waiter proposed. He literally brought out six courses one at a time, which became very humorous to me. Unfortunately each course became more wonderful than the one before it and we filled up on the early ones, having no clue there were more and more coming. Finally we stood up to pay, worrying how much we were going to be charged for the huge meal. The waiter seemed surprised and said..."What? No flan?" "
 
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Grapes hovering over the trail are a) still someone's property and b) regularly sprayed to kill off the mould. Figs are fair game though.
 
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I hosted 2 German exchange students a few years ago.
They were both keen to try just about anything, but balked at Marmite on toast after the first bite. Marmite and cheese toasted sandwiches are the BEST!
They both bought Marmite to take home with them, as they didnt think anyone would believe them otherwise.
 
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In Galicia and Asturias....so rare (and expensive)...lucky if you get to taste it once in your life: Percebes

 
pepi said:
In Galicia and Asturias....so rare (and expensive)...lucky if you get to taste it once in your life: Percebes

Click to expand...
There was an interesting thread on Percebes a while ago which included a fascinating video about how they are collected during low tide...a bit dangerous, too.
 
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You speak this blasphemy about the blue ribbon award winning cheese of Cabrales?!! It DOES overwhelm, in every way... and is not a choice for the tepid. Or, as you say, if you want to know what the rest of the meal tastes like
 
SabineP said:
Mayonaise should only be served with frites aka chips. All other options are out of the question...
Click to expand...
Belgian frites: the best in the World. Of course served with mayonaise
 
dick bird said:
Grapes hovering over the trail are a) still someone's property and b) regularly sprayed to kill off the mould. Figs are fair game though.
Click to expand...
I’m not challenging you, just wondering how you know that. My understanding, though I have not taken any time at all to research this, is that anything hanging over the public right of way is fair game. In France, for instance, on the LePuy route, I remember walking with French people who told us with confidence that we could eat the strawberries that had grown through the fence and were snailing around the grass on the side of the road. Same thing in Spain with cherry tree branches hanging over the road. But I have never bothered to find out the truth of the situation, so I may have been breaking the law without knowing or intending to!

In the US at least, this is becoming more of an issue, because the “urban foragers” want to harvest edible plants on public property.
 
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I based it on English law, which definitely states that anything that grows on a tree or bush is the property of the person on whose land it grows, unless it falls off, in which case it is the property of the person on whose land it falls. You may cut off a branch if it overhangs your land, but you are required to chuck it back onto the land of the person on whose land it was growing before you cut it off. This is Common Law of course, based on custom, practice, and whatever the judge who first adjudicated the case happened to decide. All of which serves to show that the law is not only an ass, it is a very complicated ass. As for picking fruit off overhanging bushes etc along the camino, I just think it is a bit rude. But you are right that what is law in one country is by no means the law in another country. And I was deadly serious about the spraying. By the lurid blue colour I would guess copper sulphate is a favourite with vine growers, but god knows what was being sprayed by all the tractors and planes I have seen in Spain. As for fruit, we were on the ruta historica of the Norte (bypassing Ribadasella) a coupe of years ago. An old lady spotted us picking figs off her tree. Typically Spanish, she invited us in to her garden, bemoaned the fact that young people nowadays don't properly appreciate fresh produce and entertained us with a detailed lecture on the fig tree (I never knew it had two seasons) and as many figs as we could carry. They were bloody nice figs, too. Cheers.
 
Frankly, I find it a bit frivolous to debate legal interpretations in this forum. Even professional lawyers rarely agree when discussing the law. Along the Camino, only Spanish law applies; French, British, U.S., and "common" laws are not relevant, and citing them in this context is not only confusing but can potentially lead to problems with local law enforcement. When in doubt, do not guess, but check with the relevant authorities.
Sigue caminando recto en el Camino
 
Long long ago somewhere along the path from Lourdes to St Jean de PdP I bought some sheep's cheese across a farm gate. It was in an area with minimal infrastructure in terms of food and was very welcome. And very very tasty. Years later the (not unpleasant) smell of the cheese still lingers in that rucksack which I no longer use!
 
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...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
I don't think anyone was trying to be frivolous. I think we were trying to point out as gently as we could that what is legal in one country is often illegal in another, and I'd be very surprised to hear a lawyer disagree with that opinion. Incidentally, both pregrina 2000 and I pointed this out quite explicitly.

Food gathering is obviously a contentious issue in Spain: apart from the ubiquitous 'coto privado' signs, I have seen notices put up by the local council warning people not to gather mushrooms without permission and pointing out (e.g. in As Medulas) that certain chestnut trees are private property and not to gather chestnuts from the trees or the ground around them.

But even if you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. I have known pilgrims to help themselves to tomatoes and corn as they walk along. Snacking off fruit trees in the garden of a derelict house is one thing, helping your self to someone's crop is another. This does not endear us to local people.
 
Hi ALL!
Bit late to the party but i wanted to add my addiction to the list ;after listening to some of the horror stories in this thread!
I am afraid it's not spectacular; just MARMITE a food for the discerning palate !
Perhaps my parents food choices for me as a child were normal in the early 1960's.
I was a little fat boy who had dripping and marmite or butter and marmite on bread/toast for my tea 4 or 5 times a week . I remember being very proud that i ate 10 slices on one occasion;sad!
When training with my boy Yankee at a residential hotel for a couple of weeks the Chef made really great scrambled eggs(baveuse/soft and smooth).
When i spread marmite on it everyone thought YUCK but no one would even try it!
Oh and cheese omelette spread with marmite!
It is also great to add in stews and gravy as Doug said etc a MARMITE is the name of the french stew pot on the jar (it is also banned in several countries) full of vitamins and lasts forever; never stays in the cupboard for long!
Been eating it for over sixty years and still here love it!
Woody
 
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Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
It's not as good as it used to be though. They removed about 1/3 of the salt and now they mature it for a lot shorter time.
 
Moorwalker said:
It's not as good as it used to be though. They removed about 1/3 of the salt and now they mature it for a lot shorter time.
Click to expand...
Not forgetting it had its origins in the scum left over in the bottom of barrels during the beer brewing process - that's got to be good for you, right?

Foreman at factory "What do we do with this sludge in the barrels, boss? The Public Health people say we can't flush it down the sewers!"

Factory owner "Mmm, scrape it up and bottle it, some sucker will buy it!"
 
Hilarious, Jeff...love it!
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Being a vegetarian, my forays are limited. I must admit to eating silkworms, crickets and a sort of spider thing in Vietnam, and I am quite a fan. Also I have no problem with vegamite with the exception I’m not a scan of salty stuff, and I found it way too salty for me. I did sort of like the yeasty taste
 
I like black pudding as well; Marmite cant be any worse can it Jeff?
We eat eggs Jeff and look where they come from ha!ha!
All the best
Woody
 
Food: Pig ears

Why: Tastes like an old shoe

Where on the Camino did you try it?: Burgos at a fiesta

Does it have a local name? Can't remember

What motivated you to try it? I like to try new things

Have you changed your mind now? No - still tastes like an old shoe
 
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You description of the eels feeding on the horse's head has now scarred *me* for life too.
 
Octopus ---
 
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I’ve eaten those bugs too, but I hate marmite - Strange !!
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Camino Preparation Guide
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2nd ed.
Year ago I was on a business trip to Lisbon. My business partner refused to eat any crustaceans equating them to bugs that live in the sea. One night we were out for dinner and I remarked that the window of one Asian restaurant had a lot of small deers hanging the window, my friend asked when was that last time I saw a deer with paws.
Arn said:
In some countries you won't know you are eating cats and dogs.
Click to expand...
 
Camino Chrissy said:
These two plates of pulpo look like they are fried in a bit of oil...yum. All the ones I have had were just boiled with a bit of paprika added when served.
Click to expand...
I found cooked octopus tentacles in a local place here recently. Far less messy than boiling a whole octopus for 40 minutes and stinking out the house!!! Sliced up with boiled potatoes, salt & paprika and tossed in a drop of olive oil, no frying at all! 15 mins start to finish and as good as any pulpo a feira I've eaten in Galicia...
perfect!!
 
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Never heard of these before but, from today's First Dog on the Moon cartoon, I offer you Australia's Chiko Roll*:

"A Chiko Roll's filling is primarily cabbage and barley, as well as carrot, green beans, beef, beef tallow, wheat cereal, celery and onion. The filling is partially pulped and enclosed in a thick egg and flour pastry tube"

Mmmm, pulped beef tallow certainly gets the gastric juices flowing!

Oh, and it's deep fried. Did I mention that? Deep fried, pulped beef tallow - I'm practically drooling.



* note: no chickens were involved in the production of this item.
 
Very often people (including myself) allow themselves to be led by what we are used to in the country/culture where we live, discarding other ways of doing things. Thus missing out on maybe very worthwile experiences.

Maybe we should try the way the French do it: they‘ll eat anything that moves.

 
I think this thread is supposed to be about food related to a Camino. Back on topic please!
 
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That's how Prawns are served in most parts of the World, unless they come frozen in a packet

The heads are he tastiest part..............according to 'she who must be obeyed'.
She gets my heads
 
Robo said:
That's how Prawns are served in most parts of the World, unless they come frozen in a packet

The heads are he tastiest part..............according to 'she who must be obeyed'.
She gets my heads
Click to expand...
I agree with the Rev regarding prawns served with all their body parts...not very appetizing. How nice of you to share with "she". I often ask for the tails of family members castoffs as they often have bits of flesh.
 
Camino Chrissy said:
I agree with the Rev regarding prawns served with all their body parts...not very appetizing. How nice of you to share with "she". I often ask for the tails of family members castoffs as they often have bits of flesh.
Click to expand...

Is that a US thing? Your prawns come dismembered?
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Robo said:
That's how Prawns are served in most parts of the World, unless they come frozen in a packet

The heads are he tastiest part..............according to 'she who must be obeyed'.
She gets my heads
Click to expand...
When I was living in Madrid, the paella from the local takeout (which they made twice a week) had shrimp with the heads on. I used to give the heads to my flat-mate's cat.

My wife prefers shrimp completely peeled, with even the tails removed.
 
David Tallan said:
When I was living in Madrid, the paella from the local takeout (which they made twice a week) had shrimp with the heads on. I used to give the heads to my flat-mate's cat.

My wife prefers shrimp completely peeled, with even the tails removed.
Click to expand...
I recall ordering a seafood plate somewhere in Spain, because I had been told by a fellow diner that I would get more seafood that way than if I just ordered gambas. It came with various large creatures (I did not recognize them as shrimp with all their original parts). I could not even touch them to remove the offending parts, and my dinner was skimpy indeed. Such are the perils of a vegetarian being a temporary pescaterian when travelling in Spain. Do they have to serve fish with the heads on? But I had to eat something and off the Frances vegetarian restaurants are very rare indeed.
 
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Flog said:
Indeed! Treated myself to it just last week..View attachment 102769
Click to expand...

Pulpo!
Now that, has to be the most over rated food on the Camino.
Seafood flavoured rubber, with paprika!

And Yes I've tried it a few times, including the 'best place' in Melide.

Even my wife, who loves Octopus and Squid couldn't finish it.

But I guess when on Camino, we have to try it
 
Robo said:
Pulpo!
Now that, has to be the most over rated food on the Camino.
Seafood flavoured rubber, with paprika!
Click to expand...
Sacrilege! I love it so much I buy it in Sydney. Cooked properly it is not at all rubbery, but melts in the mouth. Served with my best Spanish smoked paprika, bought back with me from my last visit.
 
Kanga said:
Sacrilege! I love it so much I buy it in Sydney. Cooked properly it is not at all rubbery, but melts in the mouth. Served with my best Spanish smoked paprika, bought back with me from my last visit.
Click to expand...

Have you discovered http://www.rodriguezbros.com.au/ in Sydney @Kanga ?
You might find your Paprika there along with lots of other yummy stuff.
They have Morcilla de Burgos!
 
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Robo said:
Have you discovered http://www.rodriguezbros.com.au/ in Sydney @Kanga ?
You might find your Paprika there along with lots of other yummy stuff.
They have Morcilla de Burgos!
Click to expand...

Morcilla de Burgos! Now that I love. I will investigate.

Edited to add: A find. Thanks @Robo. Excursion to south west Sydney booked with better half, who will keep me buying it all.
 
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Remembering a cold rainy day (similar to today in Sydney) and holed up in the bar in San Juan de Ortega eating hot fried slices of Morcilla....
 
Kanga said:
Morcilla de Burgos! Now that I love. I will investigate.

Edited to add: A find. Thanks @Robo. Excursion to south west Sydney booked with better half, who will keep me buying it all.
Click to expand...
You'll find it in the freezer near the door!
Lovely helpful staff there.......
 
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Kanga said:
Sacrilege! I love it so much I buy it in Sydney. Cooked properly it is not at all rubbery, but melts in the mouth. Served with my best Spanish smoked paprika, bought back with me from my last visit.
Click to expand...
I feel like preparation is everything...if you slathered fish or prawns in olive oil, garlic and paprika the result might be equally delicious!
 
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