Andalucia food, paella?

Hi Sammy,
What I always do is check out a cookbook devoted to the region, but I'm a bit more food obsessed than most and also being a pescetarian, I feel I need to be more knowledgeable when ordering. If going to the library/bookstore is overkill, then there are probably tons of websites covering cuisine. My personal favorite dish is spinach with garbanzos.

Spain is a very diverse country in climates, landscapes, meals, traditions,..., and quite different from one area to another. Paella would be a dish from Eastern Spain, mainly Valencia and neighboring areas, but not that much a "classic" Andalusian dish, although it will be offered in many places. Granada has a big mooring influence and expect lots of vegetable dishes, but would not expect paella to be a typical thing there.

From what I observed spending nearly a month in Andalucía, plan to eat grilled fish, marinated anchovies and other similar tapas, and lots of fried food. It wasn't my favorite cuisine, though I love anchovies in vinegar.

Granada is inland so you will not find as much emphasis on seafood dishes. I recall more meat dishes—-lamb, pork, some beef. And good vegetables. But I cannot think of any “signature” dish for Granada.

Paella is traditionally associated with Valencia. But Andalucia grows more rice, so expect to see "paella-like" dishes. Although, often the better Andalucia versions wont use the word paella and will just be called "arroz ..." (rice) such as Arroz a la Marinera (seafood with rice).

Andalucia (specifically either Cadiz or Seville) is home of tapas. So there are plenty of tapas bars or places which serve tapas (or racione, the larger version) as the meal.

I can take it or leave it, but you'll find plenty of local versions of salmorejo (cold tomato soup with extra stuff). There is also porra, which is a thicker version

Seafood appears in plenty of regional dishes, of course. But ham - jamon - might be the top thing.

I don't know if croquettes are specifically Andalucian. But you'll see them served all over with various fillings and they are fabulous.

Not sure specifically what is associated with Granada. But perhaps San Anton (a rice based meat stew, with sheep or pig) or tortilla del Sacromonte (a sort of omelette with ham - traditionally pig testicles, I was told, but not sure that is true these days. Chorizo seems more common ingredient today).

In Andalusia you will find rice dishes, they just may not refer to it as paella, if they do, be wary, there is a lot of frozen quick paellas for the tourist crowd.

You will find a variety of fried fish, and fried items in general (the eggplant is wonderful). Cold soups are plentiful, everyone has heard of Gazpacho, but Salmarejo is more common, and if you are lucky enough to find ajoblanco, get it. Of all the cities in Andalusia, I found Cadiz to be the most interesting for food. In Seville, you can make a meal visiting several bars and ordering tapas.

In Granada, local food would be dishes from North Africa, things like lamb and various cous-cous dishes. There is also a very good Tapas bar in Granada, Bar la Riviera. Just a watering hole, but one of the few places that when you order a drink, you get a healthy size tapa, and you get to pick from 20 or so items, hot and cold.

As others said, do some searches on "typical Andalusian dishes", just be aware that just like Spain is wildly regional as to food, Andalusia is as well, with a big difference between Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Cordoba.

For breakfast, get churros con chocolate (“choo-rose cone chock-o-lah-tay”), sort-of long fried doughnut sticks that you dip in super thick, dark hot chocolate.

In Andalusia, thanks to its proximity to the sea, they have many fish dishes, which was a bit of an issue for me since I’m allergic to fish. So, for meat options, I highly recommend the carne en salsa in Granada, which is a stew I found delicious everywhere I tried it. Also, the meatballs in almond sauce, it’s a combination I’d never imagined! And, of course, the cured ham. The Spanish tortilla is another specialty, although it’s not specifically from Andalusia. I also recommend a private dinner I had during my visit to Granada at a home with a terrace. Lola, who prepared the meal, made me feel very comfortable in her home. I booked it through this website Sazon. In the same way there are also many tour options on TripAdvisor , as well as some great bars in Granada that others have recommended, like La Riviera and Los Manueles, which both serve excellent food.

"Spain is wildly regional as to food", as a non-native English speaker, I just love this expression :)...and so accurate!!

No national dish, each region (and within each region, almost every town...) has its own specialties, both in meals, drinsk and sweets, so the "classic" idea of Spain with paella and sangría does not work in most places (btw, I´ve practically not seen any Spaniards having "sangría").