And I Would Walk 500 miles…

By: Emily Kastl

Oh, wait. I DID walk 500 miles. Why, you might ask? I should probably explain myself. Rewind to this past summer, and that’s where we’ll start. As part of the Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU), I traveled to Spain and hiked the Camino de Santiago with 15 other U of M students. The Camino, or Saint James’ Way, started in the 10^th Century when Christians began to make their way to Santiago de Compostela, paying their respects to Saint James, one of Jesus’ disciples, at his final resting place. Our journey began in a tiny town in France, Saint Jean Pied-de-Port. It was here where we took the first steps of our 500-mile adventure up the Pyrenees Mountains. Little did I know, Saint Jean also marked the beginning of what would be the best culinary experience of my life. From there, we wove our way across northern Spain over the course of 5 weeks, eating traditional regional foods every step of the way. Literally.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was definitely lacking knowledge in the Spanish culture department before my departure to España. Since my GIEU trip would be my first time abroad, I was geeked to go somewhere “exotic,” somewhere as different from Twin Lake, Michigan as possible. When I found out I was headed to the Iberian Peninsula, I was a little disappointed because I thought it was going to be too much like home. Ha! I told you I wasn’t the brightest pea in the paella when it came to Spainish knowledge. I had no idea what kinds of food I would be encountering, but I did know one thing: I wouldn’t be sleeping in a hut in the jungle and eating bugs like I had originally planned. It took me one meal in Spain to realize that I was about to spend almost 6 weeks eating food from one of the best gastronomical countries in the world. As a self-proclaimed foodie, I had hit the culinary jackpot.

Sure, I wanted to survive walking around 100 miles a week across a country and waking up at 5am every day, but I had a much more important mission: I wanted to try as much of the Spanish cuisine as humanly possible. Often, this meant many experiences with the infamous “food baby,” but I was willing to withstand the discomfort. To accomplish such a feat, one must have a strategy. Whenever we went to a restaurant I took a specific course of action: Step 1: Pick up the menu, stare at it patiently, and wait for a translation. Step 2: Ask what the most traditional/local item on the menu is. Step 3: Order it. This was a fool-proof plan, and I highly recommend it.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about various aspects of Spanish cuisine, including: Spanish food stereotypes (no burritos, who knew?), food by region, the importance of food in the night life/bar scene, and Spanish vs. U.S. supermarkets (Walmart? Not a chance.). So grab your hiking boots and your appetites, as we take a walking tour of Spanish cuisine.

¡Buen Camino!