Txarriboda: a festival surrounding meat. Cultural aspects to the Spanish courses <

Txarriboda: a festival surrounding meat. Cultural aspects to the Spanish courses

Hi everyone,

It´s clear that almost around the world has heard of ham, chorizo, black pudding etc…but not everyone knows how these foods were initially obtained. This is what I am going to try and explain to you briefly in this blog post.

The killing of a pig, or “Txarriboda” (as it is known in the Basque Country) has its origins just as much in religion as in mythology, where it was thought that spreading crushed pork meat in the countryside would make the fields much more fertile and allow them to produce a much better harvest.

In Spain, the killing of pigs started as a way of surviving in the ancient rural world, where the isolation of villages during cold snaps meant that solutions to food storage issues had to be found.

The killing started with the bleeding of the animal, the burning of its “hair” and quartering its rear. Once all the parts were separated, the preparation of black pudding, chorizo or ham then began.

It is quite normal to hear Spaniards saying things like “the pig is eaten right up to its tail” and “from the pig we eat everything except its nails” etc… This gives us an idea of how pig is one of the most important components to the Spanish “diet.”

Just as you would expect, we even have songs related to the killing of pork, for example “A todo cerdo le llega su San Martin.” And it is because “San Martin,” which is the 11th of November, signals the start of the pig-killing season, or “txarriboda.”

For more information, I am going to leave you a few website addresses and a YouTube video so that you can “enjoy” this little anecdote with a few visual aids as well.

What do you think? Did you already know the process of obtaining delicacies like ham and chorizo?

In my next blog entry I will write about Spanish festivals : )

Best wishes,

Alex

Web addresses:

http://blogs.elcorreo.com/culinariosidad/2010/1/21/la-txarriboda

http://www.deia.com/2011/01/24/bizkaia/costa/txarriboda-un-rito-que-perdura

PS. Re.: this video. It’s a bit heavy but I wanted you all to see the killing process exactly as it is. It explains everything and the part of the bleeding has been removed, you will be pleased to hear!