Last Meal

During Franco's rule in Spain, many people were very poor.  The family we have here, who reside in more rural areas of Spain were hit hard and truly knew hunger.  They subsisted off of eggs and potatoes, which still continue to make up a substantial portion of their diet.  Jonathan and I have spoken previously about how this may shape a large portion of the food culture here, as nothing goes to waste.  Yesterday we saw this in action as they gutted the pig.  Everything is used, feet and ears for stew stock and hunks of fat for greasing pans.  As they were bagging up the intestines and other guts yesterday, I made the joke, "what you guys aren't going to eat this?!"  Also, when we finish eating lunch at their house, they take the scraps and feed them to the pig, and the leftover bread to the duck.  They grow and dry corn to feed to their chickens.  They then use the cobs, once the chickens have eaten all of the kernels, as kindling when they barbecue food.  Some days Jonathan and I will end up letting leftovers go bad because we just feel like having something else.  I don't want to eat leftover chicken, I'd rather have mac and cheese today.  They don't do that here - nothing gets wasted. 

Today I had an interesting conversation with Chelo and Gonzalo, which further illustrates this mentality.  We had an amazing feast for lunch of fresh pork chops, pork liver and onions, french fries, mussels, and salad.  For dessert we had the cake I made (everyone loved my celebratory pig cake :) and croissants that Marianieves made.  During lunch Jonathan asked Chelo whether she preferred pork liver or pork chops, to which she replied that she liked them the same.  I then asked Chelo what her favorite food was.  She then told me that she liked all sorts of food, and then began listing tortilla, meat, fish, stew.  Jonathan and I then explained that in the US, when people are on death row (they don't have the death penalty here) they are offered a last meal.  I then asked Chelo what she would order as her last meal and she reiterated again that she likes all different types of foods.  The family then made fun of Chelo, stating that she wouldn't order anything fancy and just order caldo (stew with cabbage, potatoes, pork, and chicken) and tortilla.  I then realized that to Chelo, she just eats whatever she has, and is grateful to have food.  Thinking about what her last meal would be seems silly to her because she is just lucky to have food...I then leaned in and made a joke to Jonathan, indicating that this must explain why food always gets cold (Chelo is horrible at timing her meals.  The french fries always get cold waiting for other things to cook.  But this must not bother her, as it does me, because she's hungry and happy to eat what's in front of her).