Vineyard Times in Barcelona

Good Vibes, Good Times, & Good Wines

    
     On Wednesday night, our Food and Identity class traveled to the city of Madremanya and took a short break at the Hotel El Raco de Madremanya. After receiving a tour of the city, we hiked through the country side and had a great dinner in a Spanish vineyard. Served by our awesome hosts, we had various sliced meats, bread, seasoned olives and nuts, seafood spread, appetizer wine in a porron, soda, grilled lamb, salad, dessert wine, and roscon fruit bread. From the experience, I learned more about the wine porron & its use and the purpose of roscon sweet dessert. For example, the porron is a traditional glass wine pitcher that is typically used in many regions in Spain like Catalonia and contains a spout that tapers off to a small opening. To drink from a porron, a person starts by bringing that spout very close to the mouth, tilts it forward slowly, pours the wine into the mouth, and pulls away & lowers the porron when finished drinking. Referring to identities, porron is a symbol of wine-drinking culture, Spanish culture, farming/vineyard culture, and social (family, friends) culture. The porron is used to drink various wines, so people who like wines can use this instead of the normal glass. For Spanish culture, the porron is used commonly for drinking wine at various occasions like work or social get-togethers. For farming/vineyard identity, the porron can be used on the go and for less spilling opportunities. And finally, the lack of contact with the lips allows a group of people to share the same vessel without offending the sense of hygiene. The challenge of distancing the porron from the mouth also can be used for social times with friends and family. The roscon bread is a sweet bread dessert filled with guava paste and decorated with fruits and jellos. This dessert pastry can be used as a symbol/identity again for sweet-eating/dessert culture, Spanish culture, Christmas/special occasions culture, social (family and friends) culture. Overall, I enjoyed the experience of drinking from a porron and eating the traditional roscon breaded dessert.