Chapter One: Levante
The Spanish have a phrase, leyenda negra, to indicate a bad reputation so obstinately perdurable that it takes on the quality of myth. And there have been few legends blacker, if you discount the Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews by the Catholic kings, and the atrocities of the Spanish empire in the New World, than the abominable food supposedly served in the fondas and posadas of Spain. What was attractive about this country to foreign writers and artists was the exotic archaism of a place out of step with the rest of Europe, its wild and little visited landscapes, its immense wealth of architectural and artistic treasures, but never or almost never the quality of its food.
Generally speaking, when writers on Spain have turned their attention to the national cuisine, it has been to cast aspersions. Literary travelers of all eras turn ...
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