Meals in Spain and meal times by Shaela Kilmartin

My experience in Spain has been wonderful and life changing. I’ve learned so much about myself, Spain, Spanish culture, Europe and the world. There are many many differences between Spanish and American culture. One of the most prominent things that I want to discuss is the meal times and the culture surrounding meals. This is something that was extremely hard for me to adjust to.
One of the first things that startled me about Spanish food was how much bread is eaten. The first few days, every time my host parents asked me “Tu quiere pan?” I answered an eager “Si!” because I did crave bread and I wanted to be nice and accept whatever they wanted to offer me. Over time, I figured out that this wasn’t very sustainable. For me, I needed to be aware of what I was eating and I needed to not agree to everything they offered me. After eating bread with every lunch and dinner for three days straight - I finally caught myself on this habit. I never eat this much bread in the U.S. The next time and since that day, whenever they ask me if I want bread I say no. After the first week of that, they got used to that and they rarely ask me now.
I think I went one day eating bread for every single meal….tostada with jamon for breakfast, then a bocadillo, and finally bread with sunny side up eggs and peas and carrots. For me, this is not healthy at all. If I kept up that habit, I would most definitely gain weight. Also, bread doesn't have much nutritional value - at 78% carbohydrates, 11% fats, and 11% protein (nutritonalvalue.self.com)
The second thing that was also hard for me to adjust to was mealtimes, especially dinner. Breakfast is on my own, so I’ve always been okay with that (besides the fact that it usually consists of white toast or cookies), and lunch time is fine as well, but the fact that I eat dinner around 9:30pm everyday was not great for me. I usually eat dinner sometime between 5 and 7pm in America, so this was a drastic difference.
When I finish dinner around 10 or 10:30pm (depending on starting either at 9:30 or 10pm) I try to head to bed…but with homework, and the primetime for face timing my parents in America being around 10pm, I often found myself going to bed around midnight. At home in America, I would be in bed by 11pm.. but with dinner here ending around 10:30pm, it would be really hard for me to do this. It’s crazy how much something as simple as a meal time would mess up your entire schedule and day. I am excited to get back home and be able to get back into my own routine.
As you can see, there are many reasons why meals and the culture surrounding meals was hard for me to adjust to this semester. This semester has been phenomenal and I’ve had learned and grown so much. Although some of the differences might have been hard to deal with, they have helped me learn what I truly value in life! I am looking forward to returning to the United States with this new mindset, and be able to have the freedom of what I’d like my meal to consist of as well as when I would like to eat the meal.