Food and Drink

The food and drink of Asturias are very distinctive, and very different from traditional Spanish fare.

Fabada - The signature local dish. A hearty stew made with white beans, morcilla (Asturian black pudding) and pancetta. The key to a good fabada is in the ingredients - they must be authentic Asturian produce!

Traditional Asturian fare - fabada and seafood, washed down with sidra

Seafood - As you'd expect from a region with such an extensive coastline and tradition of seafaring, good, fresh seafood is a mainstay of local menus. Try oricios (sea urchins) or navarras (razor clams.)

Cheese - Asturias is famous as the region of Europe with the most varieties of cheese - over 100! Many of these are from small, artisan producers. You may very well stumble across them in your rambles across the Asturian mountains.

Sidra The local tipple and a cultural experience not to be missed! Served by the bottle, the barman or escanciador (pourer) will uncork the bottle for you and, pouring arm at full stretch above his head, tumbler held down at a 45` angle and eyes fixed on the middle distance, allows the sidra to splish-splash into the glass (and onto the floor & occasionally unwary onlookers!) Thus, this uncarbonated drink is aerated - but only briefly. You have a few short seconds to knock it back while it is in this state of grace. Rinse the rim of the glass, return to barman and he pours and passes to the next person in your group. One culín down (a culín is literally a drop and describes the small amount of sidra per serving), the cork is placed on top of the bottle, the barman departs and returns an unsecified amount of time later to pour your next round.

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