Cuisine of Spain

Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by regional cuisines and the particular historical processes that shaped culture and society in those territories. Geography and climate, had great influence on cooking methods and available ingredients, and these particularities are still present in the gastronomy of the various regions that make up the country. Spanish cuisine derives from a complex history, where invasions of the country and conquests of new territories modified traditions and made new ingredients available.

Authors such as Strabo, however, write about aboriginal people using nuts and acorns as staple food.

The Romans introduced the custom of collecting and eating mushrooms, which is still preserved in many parts of Spain, especially in the north. The Romans along with the Greeks introduced viticulture; it also appears that the extension of the vine along the Mediterranean seems to be due to colonization of the Greeks.

The Visigoths introduced brewing. The change came in 711 AD, when Muslim troops composed of Arabs and Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, invading the Iberian Peninsula. The Muslim conquest brought new ingredients to Spanish cuisine from different parts of the world, such as Persia and India

The cuisine of Al-Andalus included such ingredients as: rice, sorghum, sugar cane, spinach, eggplant, watermelon, lemon, peach, orange and almonds.

The discovery of America, in 1492, initiated the advent of new culinary elements, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, bell peppers, spicy peppers, paprika, vanilla and cocoa or chocolate. The latter caused a furor in the Spanish society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Spain was where it was first mixed with sugar to remove its natural bitterness. Other ingredients traveled to the Americas, such as rice, grapes, olives and many types of cereals.

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Wikipedia