Hola buenas and welcome back to Foodistory! I hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas and were able to share some time with people close to you. Christmas has always been a somewhat interesting festivity to me. I like the fact that Christmas brings families and close ones together. It is often difficult to arrange a gathering with big families but Christmas is always an exception, everybody makes sure to have a seat at their family table.
Additionally, I adore the role and importance of food during Christmas. The dinner table is decorated luxuriously, the best silver and porcelain are being dusted off and the bravest of the family are toiling for hours in the kitchen. It’s also time for experimenting, many people will try to execute that one difficult dish they’ve always wanted to make but never could find the right occasion for. People will challenge themselves with dishes like Beef Wellington, Lamb racks, Turbots, or an English classic, the Minced Meat Pie. It’s always interesting to me to hear what friends will try to create during Christmas. If you feel like sharing your experiences, please do!
Back to Basque
The four weeks in San Sebastian flew by, I met many wonderful people, made friends, and learned many new things. Currently, I’m back in the Netherlands to celebrate Christmas with the family, I will be going back to San Sebastian somewhere next week. I found a wonderful house in the middle of the Parte Viaje that I will share with 3 other friends. Work is still uncertain, I yet have to find a place that is willing to take me under its wing.
In the last week of being in San Sebastian, I had the opportunity to participate in the yearly festivity of Santo Tomás. Live Basque music was being played, crates full of Txistorra were being carried around the Parte Viaje and empty bottles of cider covered the city floor. This was something completely new to me as I had never heard of Santo Tomas and so, allow me to tell you a little about it since the festive has an interesting history.
Santo Tomás
It’s the second biggest, if not the biggest yearly festive that takes place in San Sebastian. For Spain the 21st of December is just a normal working day, for the Basques, it’s a day to go out in the city and celebrate life with friends, family, and even strangers.
The origins of Santo Tomás can be found not that long ago. During the 19th century, most rural states of Guipúzcoa (province in the Basque region) were cultivated by tenants who paid their rent on Santo Tomás Day. The owners of these rural states often lived in San Sebastian, the biggest city of Guipúzcoa. And so, the farmers descended from their green hills to pay their rent in the big city.
The farmer started taking advantage of their visit to the city by stocking up on products not available in the small villages, bringing their top-quality products, and selling them on the streets. More and more farmers began copying this and so it became necessary to organise an official fair. This led to the original Santo Tomás fair that is being hosted on the Plaza de Constitución.
Nowadays, the fair is still being held. However, it looks a bit different compared to the 19th century. During my participation in the festive, I couldn’t find any farmer stalls that showcased their high-end vegetables or meats, except one. On Plaza de Constitución only one (live) pig could be found, nevertheless, this is one very special pig. Each year, people can buy lottery tickets at their local butcher. With these lottery tickets, you have the chance of winning the pig that is being showcased on Plaza de Constitución during Santo Tomás. A big pig would be an understatement as it often weighs around 400 pounds and follows a strict diet consisting of acorns, corn, and beans to make the flesh richer in taste.
Txistorra
Basques being Basques, during the selling and buying of produce, food, and drinks had to be consumed as well. Over the years it became a tradition to drink regional ciders and eat ‘txistorra’ in a ‘talo.’ Txistorra is a bright red sausage that is similar to chorizo but smaller and longer. It is made of 100% minced pork or a mixture of minced pork and beef, the minced meat is mixed with garlic, salt, aromatic, herbs such as parsley, and a good amount of paprika which gives it its characteristic color and flavor. It is then encased in a lamb tripe, and the fatness varies between 55% and 70%.
The origins of Txistorra can’t be found in Guipúzcoa, even though they will try to convince you. Txistorra is from the regions Navarra and Aragon. How this bright red sausage became popular to eat during Santo Tomás is unclear, but it probably has something to do with the ‘talo.’
Talo
You can compare a ‘talo’ with a Mexican corn tortilla or ‘arepa’ from Colombia and Venezuela, however, the talo is a lot crumbier and sandy. When the conquistadores ravaged their way through South America between 1500 and 1600 they stumbled upon the usage of corn in food. Impressed by the amount of food that came from this plant, they ought it to be valuable and brought it back to Spain. Back in Spain, farmers began experimenting with it which resulted in the talo, which to me tastes like a poorly executed corn tortilla.
For years talo was a poor man’s food since the ingredients were very simple and plenty of corn was available. Talo could be found in every dish, if it wasn’t used as a substitute for bread the leftovers of the talo were mixed with milk to make a thick soup. Talo was incorporated into every meal of the day. The Basque indeed have come a long way…
Despite its popularity, too much of something will always bear negative effects. After a good amount of years, epidemics like pellagra started to break out due to the nutritional deficiency of B3 vitamins. Talo lost its popularity, also due to the rise of wheat. But the talo wasn’t completely lost in the history books, occasionally people came together to revisit their old recipes and make the talo for special occasions. The talo became a prestigious consumption.
Being part of Santo Tomas was a blast. Since everyone was in a festive mood, dancing and drinking with people happened quite naturally. Next to that, experiencing the harshness of a Basque during a conversation is also something special but really fun. The festive worked as a perfect epilogue to the first 4 weeks and a prologue to the rest of my stay in San Sebastian. On the 7th of January, I will return to San Sebastian. Until that time I’ll be busy with organizing my papers and job-hunting. ¡Hasta la proxima!
Amazing read on a somewhat unknown story to non-Basques! Thank you for sharing bits of what you’ve recently learned. It’s making me want to visit San Sebastián during that special time of year.