The Spanish refuse to not eat well at all times and take their food very seriously. Just 100 feet outside of the family’s house in the small town of La Granja lies a Michelin starred restaurant called “La Reina.” And so far, every restaurant and every meal I’ve had has been exceptional. People are nearly always eating and the Spanish love sharing their food. Someone is always shoving a tapa, beer or coffee in my face. The food the family eats is almost exclusively Italian or Spanish. Breakfast tends to consist of some combination of Jamon, Bocadillas, slices of goat cheese and pastries from the bakery down the road. Supper usually consists of 3-4 of the following: jamon, pasta, chicken, bread and/or some type of Spanish soup. Jamon has been a part of every meal, and a giant pig leg sits on the kitchen counter and slices are cut off for every meal.  Maria is currently working on perfecting a type of Spanish soup that Saulo’s mom has already perfected. Saulo’s mom refuses to share her recipe with Maria. Maria has told me that she asked several times for it and that she simply says, “the soup will speak to you and tell you what to do.” From what they have told me Saulo’s family is full of great cooks. Saulo told me that his grandmother ran a restaurant and during the Franco dictatorship she used to smuggle in spices and sugars and sell them on the Spanish black market. Proving that even fascist dictators are no match for the appetite of the Spaniard. one night at supper Saulo asked me to explain to the family a few differences between Canadian and Spanish dinning culture. I explained that in Canada that slices of bread usually go on the plate instead of sitting beside it on the table and that the bread isn’t used like a utensil to scoop up things like it is Spain. This perplexed Maria. I then explained that liquor laws are different in Canada you can’t serve alcohol past 2am in most Canadian cities . This also perplexed Maria and she responded “where do people hang out at night? If I’m going to meet someone at night it’s going to be at a bar.” I then explained a concept that is little known in Spain: the house party. On my third night with the family they took me out to a restaurant that made traditional tapas of the region. The meal included Spanish style chorizo and Torreznos de Soria with patatas revolconas (fried pork belly in Spanish style mashed potatoes). Both of which I had never tried before. The last tapa brought out to the table was something called “Empanadillas de morcilla.” It’s a sort of deep fried dumpling and they told me that I wasn’t allowed to know what was inside before trying it. It turns out that it is a dumpling filled with “The pig’s blood.” It’s pretty good and I’ll tell you this nothing fills you up quite like some pig’s blood.