Spain, well known for its music, sun, dance, and most importantly, food. One of Spain’s well known contributions to culinary culture are tapas. Small, tasty inexpensive small plates of local delicacies that you eat with wine. This concept has spread worldwide, with the Americans unfortunately deciding that they would be better if they were pricey. Although the capital of independence minded Catalunya, Barcelona has plenty of places to experience these quintessential Spanish treats, with some of its own Catalan flare added to the mix. However, it is the culinary contribution of another independence minded area of Spain that seems to be taking Barcelona by storm that I am happy to have tasted, a Basque cousin of tapas, pinchos/pintxos. Pinchos are small bites of food, generally on a piece of baguette, and held together by a toothpick. The bread acts as a canvass for the food artistry that is created on it. What wonderful flavors that can be put on such a small piece of bread is mouthwatering. Pinchos can have toppings of seafood salads, fish pieces of any sort, octopus, ribs, sausage, chicken legs, croquettes, fritters, vegetables, the choices are only limited by the size of the bar they are spread out on! They tend to be even cheaper than tapas as well, and the server has a unique way of figuring out the price, they simply count the toothpicks. It is no surprise that the center of the Barcelona Pinchos scene is the neighborhood of Poble Sec, not far from the old city. Supposedly there is a significant Basque population there, although the predominant language is still Catalan. While these people may not have spread their unique language to the center of Catalunya, they certainly have introduced the most important aspect of any culture in my opinion, its gastronomical one!
Yummy Pinchos