Drinking in Spain

Thanks to Sarah, I've realized that this blog is more than just a diary of my thoughts while traveling. Special shout out to Soren!!!! Anyway, well how do people drink in Spain... It is quite different than in the US. Well breakfast is very different.

Coffee:
If you ask for a cafe con leche(coffee with milk) you will get a normal sized coffee, but if you ask for a cafe solo, you'll get a mini slightly larger than shot sized glass of coffee. Like the lil soup appetizer sippers that you get at fancy dinners. This is what you get for breakfast, and again it's very different from the US. It was a little weird especially compared to the US where you get the same sized coffee regardless. The coffee though is very strong and pretty tasty. However, I like a little more liquid with my food. But then again, the Spanish don't really eat breakfast and I'm assuming a cafe solo is really for the caffeine.

Wine:
Now this is a really interesting thing and would lead an American to believe that the Spanish and their wine consumption is unhealthy. So how do the Spanish consume wine... constantly but slowly. Anyway, when eating in Salamanca we were given a choice of wine or water. The obvious choice to ensure that we got the most for our money was wine even though they let us get water too. Now the wine at these meals was not meant to get sloppy drunk, nor do I think it was meant to get anyone intoxicated. Realistically a bottle of wine shared between 3 people amounts to about a glass and a half for everyone. I realized going along with the theme of really enjoying the taste of their food rather than getting full, the wine was the same way. Rather than drinking it to get drunk, it was an opportunity to enjoy each other company, as well as the taste of the wine. So the wine was swirled, sipped, then swallowed at a VERY leisurely pace.


Wine Vs. Soda
How unhealthy is their wine consumption? Now I believe a study was done that provided evidence that a glass of red wine was good for the heart. (just one glass, getting hammered on white wine will not help) So when you look at how Americans drink soda, I would side on behalf of the Spaniards. I mean the high fructose corn syrup in sodas pretty much turns directly into fat, which leads to all the bad things that overeating leads to, then I'm not so quick to say that a glass and a half of wine is worse. Especially when you think about how much soda a person drinks. I mean most people drink 2 to 3 cans per major meal, which is probably at least 600 calories worth of liquid death. I mean is this beverage which is not only killing our liver and kidneys, but the acid as well as the sugar is DESTROYING our teeth. So, the moral of the story is MODERATION!!!!