For the Mediterranean people food is not only a question of good nutrition, it is a question of lifestyle, of pleasure and in their culture no food tastes great without being shared in company. You have to take time, lay back, try and taste and share with the family and with friends. The same happens with the wine and desert. Food has an intrinsic social aspect; the culture of the Tapas couldn't have flourished without this outgoing character of South-European people.

For Spaniards the terms of generosity and hospitality are a question of education, pride and above all, a matter of course. Naturally, people of the countryside neither eat that abundantly every day, nor do they indulge themselves with dishes such as brown crab or scallop fish on a daily basis. However, on festive days and family gatherings, their efforts and details are almost unsurpassable and it seems that only the best is just enough, when family members return to their grandparent's house.

• Pan casero: Homemade bread
• Pulpo: octopus with olive oil and red pepper powder
• Embutidos: plates with cold meat of different kinds such as chorizo and ham
• Pimientos de padrón: small green peppers, some are really hot others aren’t
• Pimientos de piquillo: red peppers
• Navajas: razor shell
• Empanadas: bread pies with different fillings such as tuna, scallop or chorizo
• Tostón: Pingling, etc.,etc., etc...  

• Zamburiñas y Croquetas:  small clambs and croquettes with different fillings, jam, fish, chestnut and boletus
• Marmitako: a tuna stew
• Arroz con bogavante: The full name of this delicious dish is "Arroz caldoso con bogavante" and it is made of a soggy rice, lobster, prawns and clambs and seafood

• Caldereta de Pescado: a stew with different types of fish and seafood
• Arroz negro con tinta de calamar: This really delicious dish is called "Arroz Negro". It is similar to the Spanish Paella but it gets its colour from the ink of the octopus. Usually it is consumed together with a nice Spanish white wine and after eating don't wonder about the dark colour of your teeth and tongue
• Migas del Pastor: Bread crumbles fried in a spicy sauce of chorizo-sausage it is served many times with fresh grapes and fried eggs

Favorite Spanish Wines with D.O. - Denominación de Origen/Designation of Origen. Actually there are 69 different designations of origen in Spain, some of them mentioned below: 

                     D.O. Rioja (La Rioja-Aragón)                                          D.O. Somontano (Huesca-Aragón)

                     D.O.Toro  (Zamora-Kastilien-León)                                 D.O. Rías Baixas (Galicien)
                     D.O. Ribera del Duero (Kastilien-León)                            D.O. Valdepeñas (Kastilien-La Mancha)
                             D.O. Rueda (Valladolid, Segovia, Avila)                            D.O. Penedés (Barcelona, Tarragona-Katalonien)

                             D.O. Ribeira Sacra (Lugo, Orense-Galicien)                      D.O. Ribeiro (Orense-Galicien)

The best way to try and taste them in Spain is with a "tapa" or of course, with cheese or Spanish ham.

Typical dishes of the North of Spain:

• Cazón: fried fish 
• Percebes: Goose barnacles, this dish is considered a real delicatessen among the Spaniards
• Cachopo: The Asturian cachopo is very similar to a French Cordón-bleu and it is filled with "jamón serrano" (Spanish jam) and cheese

Food of the centre of Spain, Madrid’s Cocido Madrileño

• Sopa de Cocido: a strong meat soup with fideos
• Caldo de garbanzos con relleno: Chickpeas and eggbrea
• Carne cocida: Different types of cooked meat, beaf, pork and chicken 

Arroz caldoso: it's a soggy or soupy rice, usually with lobster and shellfish

Merluza con Salsa con gambón: hake in it's  own sauce

Sopa de Marisco: fish soup with prawns and mussels

Tostón: roast sucking pig

• Paella: Rice with "marisco" or meat or "mixtas".
• The typical paella gets its yellow colour from saffron, however, many times they use artificial colour

• Tarta de Santiago: an almond songe cake
• Turrón duro y blando y de chocolate: there are different types of turrón, Spain's nougat candy, soft or hard nougat, with chocolate, eggs, etc.
• Flan de huevo (o tb. de queso) con helado de turrón
• Rosquillas de anís y cocos: ring-shaped pastry with a slight note of anis and cocos, with a coconut filling - foto still missing
• Tarta de queso: cheese cake with crawnberry
• Tejas con almendras: puff pastry with a toping of almonds and honey
• Spanish pastry

• churros with chocolate: it's a fried dough pastry, to be dipped in hot chocolate
• porras: the same as churros, but it's a thicker pastry
• churros dipped in chocolate: the last foto shows how to eat them