There is No Love Sincered That the Love of Food

One of my favorite hobbies here in Spain is collecting badly translated or poorly constructed English quotes. I found this little gem written on a roof beam in a bar called Covent Garden in Bilbao, our last stop after a jam packed day celebrating the loving union between two friends like only the Basques can. I thought this statement, which in layman’s terms would be something like “There is no more sincere love than the love of food”, was unusually fitting for the occasion since anyone who’s ever been to a Spanish wedding (especially in the north of Spain) knows that the true protagonists are not the bride and groom but rather the tasty treats you get to shovel down during the many hours following the actual ceremony. The first word that comes to mind is ABUNDANCE and the second is YUMMY. Saturday’s shindig kicked things off with an outdoor cocktail including a variety of pintxos (little Basque canapés), such as rape stuffed peppers and the all important jamón ibérico, without which no wedding celebration would be complete.

After about an hour of this, we moved into the dining room to enjoy an EIGHT COURSE MEAL (and I am so not exaggerating, not even a smidge). Lobster salad, rice with prawns, chipirones con cebolla confitada (cuttlefish with caramelized onion doesn’t sound nearly as nice does it?), a little codfish and mushroom stew (which I must admit I skipped due to my aversion to fungus), a salty pastry filled with shrimp and leeks (see what I mean about English names?), grilled rape with a clam sauce followed by several slices of meat raw enough to make you worried about getting a flesh eating bacteria but yummy enough to make you throw caution to the river. And then just when I thought I could eat no more, the happy couple cut that gorgeous chocolate cake and served it up with ice cream just to prove me wrong.

And of course you can’t talk about the food without mentioning its bosom buddy, the drink. You can rest assured that my cup runneth over well into the night. Red wine, white wine, rose wine, a Basque cider called txakoli, cava, all sorts of liquors and mixed drinks, the sky’s the limit at a Spanish wedding. And no need to worry about drinking and driving, that’s what the rental busses are for. Just hop right on the bus after the wedding is over and the driver will take you straight to another bar where our bride and groom await you with, you guessed it, more pintxos and wine so that you can continue to celebrate way into the night.

So here’s to Pulky and Vanessa. May you be the happiest of couples and always remember: There is no love sincered that the love of food.