Remembering the Camino, Part 4: Snacking Along the Way

A couple of years ago I was enjoying a potluck dinner with six other ladies when someone asked about my camino experience.  Many were understandably horrified at the idea of sleeping in cramped quarters with numerous other people, and the suggestion of communal unisex toilets and showers turned off the rest of the listeners who were still contemplating a brief portion of the walk.

One of the women then asked: "What did you do for food?"  I have more I can say on the subject of northern Spanish cuisine--another time--but let me say something now about snacking along the Camino de Santiago.

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Our days began with the typical Spanish breakfast: cafe con leche and toast (sometimes just a slice of untoasted bread).  Hardly enough to sustain weary pilgrims on grueling days of 15+ miles of walking.  So, within an hour of starting off from our various albergue hostels, most of us were on the lookout for a place to lay down our loaded backpacks, relieve ourselves at the servicios, refill water as necessary, and refuel our energy with much-needed real food.

These breaks came in a wide variety of forms.  The camino was dotted with innumerable casual "bars" that dispensed the absolutely necessary cafe that kept the pilgrims going.  These bars might have on offer packaged magdelenas (Spanish versions of the better known French madeleines), and many also served cooked foods like tortilla espanola.  These latter were essentially thick omelets with slices of fried potatoes and onions, served cold, room-temperature, or--if you got really lucky with your timing--hot off the frying pan.  And absolutely heavenly after the skimpy breakfasts.

During stretches of the camino when we were far away from towns or villages, pop-up cafe bars (such as the one pictured above) capitalized on hungry walkers willing to devour whatever was for purchase.  On the whole, these pop-up bars did not exploit their advantage (well, not too much) of being the only food on offer within many miles.

Not far outside Estella (less than a week into the Camino Frances), pilgrims even lined up to enjoy a bit of refreshment from a bodega that generously allowed all-you-can-drink wine from a spigot off the wall of the bodega building (photo above).  Some younger walkers filled up quart-sized soup containers of wine, but most people like Will just took a small drink and treated the experience as a photo-op to share with their friends back home.

In the dreaded meseta portion--where services were few and far between--there was a day when Will and I walked for 19 kilometers (almost 12 miles!) without coming in contact with civilization.  It was one thing to relieve ourselves in nature (easily done with not a soul about), but the lack of a coffee break was hard on us, especially because we left our albergue before breakfast to be able to avoid walking too many hours in the punishing heat of the sun.  By the time we arrived at the famous "Bar Elvis" (photo below), we were overjoyed to find people--and our beloved cafe con leche.

Typically, for lunch, we picnicked along the way or supplemented our cafe bar breaks with food we purchased that morning or the night before.  We always tried to carry at least one day's lunch portion of fruit, bread, cheese, and even lunch meat if that available. (And, of course, at least 1 liter of water in each backpack to start the day.)

When we were in a region with a particular specialty, we tried to take an extra break--in addition to our normal coffee, tortillas, and picnic lunch--to sample something fairly unique.  In Galicia, where octopus was plentiful and delicious (so tender!), we had fun with a beer-and-octopus lunch (below).

But let me not mislead anyone.  My favorite break of all came in Astorga--a thriving city, as opposed to some of the mostly-abandoned villages of population 50 or so (which still managed to house a historic medieval church or two!) that we walked through.  It was still morning when we rolled into town, and we made straight for a cafe that appeared still to be serving churros con chocolate.  My coffee came with two donuts; Will ordered the tortilla espanola; and we both indulged in dipping fried strips of dough into a cup of rich, thick, warm, dark chocolate (pictured at the top of post).

I still have dreams about the churros con chocolate from Astorga, Spain, and we will definitely be looking for that cafe bar if we ever walk that way again!