Food on the Camino

On the various long-distance hiking trips that I’ve been on, the quality of the food along the way at various towns, villages and cities has varied greatly.  For example, the first long-distance hike I ever did, the GR-10 trail in southern France through the Pyrenees, I was quite spoiled with generally great food along the way.  The French are world-renowned for taking their food very seriously and this was evident in even the smallest villages where they took great pride in what they served.  It was a trip highlight.  On the other hand, the food encountered during the Scottish Coast to Coast hiking trip (The Southern Upland Way), the less said, the better.  Outside of a couple of exceptions, it was generally horrific - sometimes inedible.  For the record, that is not a fair characterization of British food in general, which can really be very good, but that route, in particular, is fairly remote, not used to tourism and it shows.

Now, when it comes to this trip, I have to say, I was looking forward to it.  Back home in SF, Spanish food is highly rated and there are some great Spanish restaurants (including the one my niece works at:  The Commissary).  Also, for a number of years, the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli, was in Spain.  So, despite some early warnings from Frank, I was actually optimistic about what we would encounter.  And then the walking commenced.

Similar to the Scottish Coast to Coast, the good meals have been the exception.  The lack of variation of what is available is amazing.  So many meals have been some basic type of protein lacking in quality (chicken, beef, chorizo) with fries/chips soggy with oil and maybe a fried egg.  Again and again.  And breakfast is a slice of tortilla of varying quality.  Again and again.  Salads are heavily comprised of iceberg lettuce as if other greens don’t exist, like salads used to be served back home 25 years ago before mixed greens, spinach, arugula or kale took center stage.  Again and again.

Now, to be clear, you can get great food in Spain - but, generally, it’s in the larger cities or along the coast based on my experience.  And, in fairness, the quality of food seems to be getting better as we get closer to Santiago, so perhaps we’ll end on a high.

One last observation about food here in Spain - specifically, dinner.  When walking a Camino, we are generally getting up early, typically around 6am.  It’s a full day when walking - and if I’m getting up early, I like to go to bed early (by 10pm) and not with a full stomach.  However, dinner service sometimes doesn’t even start until close to 9pm.  So that’s been a constant struggle for me.  Frank is more used to that.