If I had a euro for every minute I spent in conversation about jamón (ham) in Spain, I would just quit my job and cruise the rest of the way through May. I might be exaggerating a bit, but hardly. One night at tutoring, we veered off of the topic I had prepared (typical foods in Spain and the United States and how to order at restaurants and such) with no hope of return. I spent that whole hour listening to the many types of fantastic hams you can find in Southern Spain. Listen up: there's this type of ham, called Pata Negra, that comes from special pigs. These pigs are never farmed. They run free in the cork-tree forested hills of Andalusia. And you know what else? They don't feed these pigs. They only eat the acorns that fall from the trees. And that gives their meat a unique, nutty, dark element. And their meat is very lean. They don't have animal fat like other pigs--oh no! It's lean, delicious, healthy fat on these pigs! And there's a festival every year when they kill the pigs and eat the first ham, and there's a restaurant near El Rocío that has the best cut of jamón on special in the spring, and it's very expensive, and Oh! you should bring some back to the states for your family...I was interested, maybe even fascinated by all of this at first. An hour later, I didn't really care to hear much more about ham. Since then, I've had the same explanation about 4 times from various kindly people. Sometimes I just don't have the heart to steal their joy and tell them that I know all about this ham. But you know you're in Southern Spain when...you have a lengthy conversation about ham at least once a week. :D
In honor of the occasion: a picture of my friends and me in front of a café with a typical display of ham. Ummmm, my favorite food.
