Ganarse el pan or earn someone’s daily bread is just one of many Spanish expressions that point at food to convey a secondary meaning. The phrase we are presenting you in this post is often used to talk about hard work. If you want to read this in Spanish and click here, you'll learn more about earning your daily bread.

Here you go with an example of how this expression is used:

Juan trabaja en el campo y se gana el pan con el sudor de su frente.

(Juan works in the fields and earns his daily bread with hard work).

From the beginning of civilization, bread has always been a priceless symbol. It has inspired stories, it has led to wars and forced men to travel. Today, it is still a diet basic in many cultures.

Ancient texts talk about manna, an edible substance God provided his people with in the desert.

Bread has also been used as a social uprisings deterrent. Marie Antoinette gave brioches away to calm the French Revolution crowd down.

In the Soviet Union, baguettes were inflated with air to ease the protests against food rationing.

Among the many religious references pointing at this food, like the breaking of bread in the Eucharist or its absence during Ramadan, the Bible introduces the concept we are talking about in this post: earning someone’s bread.

When God casts Adam and Eve out of Paradise for having disobeyed, he inflicts a punishment on each traitor. The snake is forced to crawl forever and have an everlasting fight with the human race. Eve is condemned to suffer painful childbirth. Lastly, Adam faces the sanction of having to work in order to survive. These are his words:

By the sweat of your face, you shall eat your bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

There is no evidence that indicates when this expression started to be used to speak of the effort that survival requires. However, all these ancient references seem to suggest that the relationship between bread and life, and work and pain have been in the oral tradition for a long time.

If you want to learn more expressions with bread, we invite you to watch this video with eight ways to enrich your Spanish while talking about bread:

December is a period of the year full of celebrations and family events. In many countries around the world, festivities begin on the week around December 25^th. However, Latinos start with some ceremonies way earlier than that.

Most holiday traditions in Latin America have to do with great food and the company of loved ones. Yet, some countries have special habits that make this time of the year a wonderful moment to pay a visit.

In this post, we show you some of their holiday customs. Click here if you want to read it in Spanish.

Candles Day

December 7^th marks the beginning of the holiday season in Colombia. Families, friends, and neighbors light up many ornamental candles on the street.

They do it to honor the Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Conception, which is celebrated the day after.

Posadas or Lodgings

Children in Mexico and Guatemala, among other countries, dress up as Mary and Joseph. They then participate in small parades that go door to door around the neighborhood to find shelter.

Inside, hosts offer them hot beverages, cookies, and some traditional foods such as steamed tamales. To close this ceremony, they hit a big star-shaped piñata.

New Year’s Eve

In many countries around Latin America, people still preserve a very special tradition to bring the year to an end. On New Year’s Eve, they make life-size puppets with cardboard and fabric pieces.

At midnight on December 31^st, they burn the puppets to get rid of all negative things and make a good start to the new year.

Frequently, these figures represent popular characters from the political arena. Every year, this tradition becomes a satirical showcase of today’s society.

Christmas with Warini

Warini is the character who brings Christmas to Honduras. Covered with a mask, he dances at home on Christmas Eve accompanied by a band with drums.

These are just some of the most popular Latin American traditions for the holiday season. You may have spotted some differences with the Spanish holiday habits.

If you want to discover more about Latin customs, take advantage of your Winter Break and sign up to one of our Spanish programs. We are waiting for you!

Bread, in all its varieties, is a basic food and a very important component of human diets.

It runs through our lives so much that, sometimes, it leaves the kitchen to enter the universe of language. For this reason, there are many expressions that contain references to bread.  

In our previous posts, we learned the meaning behind some of these expressions, such as ser más bueno que el pan (being a very good person) or estar de toma pan y moja (being very attractive).

Today, we would like to explain what is behind the expression más largo que un día sin pan (longer than a day without bread). If you prefer to read this article in Spanish, please click here.

In Spanish, being longer than a day without bread may stand for two different things. The first one is the most commonly used one. It is employed to describe something that becomes tough due to its long duration.

For example, a bad day at work can last longer than a day without bread.

The second meaning of this expression is applied to people. If someone is longer than a day without bread, then it means he or she is very tall. For example:

Mi amigo Juan es más largo que un día sin pan. Mide casi dos metros.

If you want to learn more about the close relationship between Spaniards and bread, we invite you to discover our learning programs in Spain.

For Spaniards, as well as for other people around the globe, the holidays are a time to celebrate with the family. Special dinners with a lot of guests around the table, Chistmas carols, and long soirées become the perfect plan for many.

However, Spain has some traditions that make this time of year something special. In this post, we invite you to explore the 10 most typical Spanish holiday habits.

Read it in Spanish by clicking here.

1 – Lottery draws

Some of the most eagerly expected events these days are the Christmas Extraordinary Lottery Draw and the Child’s Lottery Draw. The first distributes more than 2 billion euros in prizes. Its TV spot is already a classic and it is a tradition to buy different numbers for the raffle and split them among friends and family.

On December 22nd children from San Ildefonso School sing the numbers that come out of the raffle and their corresponding economic compensation. The second event takes place on January 6th, bringing the thrill back to those who were not lucky enough to get the “Gordo” in the previous lottery draw.

2 – Setting up the Nativity Scene

The nativity scene or Belén is a miniature reproduction of the place where Jesus was born, in Bethlehem. In many houses, it is a tradition to work together as a family in the decoration of this element.

Pouring some wood dust to imitate sand, creating a river with aluminum foil, and placing each figurine are part of this age-old practice.

3 – Family dinners

Another must during the holidays in Spain, as in many other countries, are family gatherings. It’s the perfect moment for travelling, going back home, and having a special dinner with our beloved ones. Some of the plates that are always present contain seafood or suckling pig. Cava and champagne are the most typical beverages. And as a dessert… nougat!

4 – Turrón, turrón

Without any doubt, nougat or turrón is an essential winter sweet. There many kinds of it: with nuts, chocolate, cream, fruit-flavored…

However, the most popular ones are made with almonds. Both the soft version (a sweet dough) and the hard one (with bigger pieces of almond and a white wafer) are always on the Christmas table.

5 – The King’s speech

On Christmas Eve, all the Spanish media attention is focused on the King. From the Zarzuela Palace, the monarch reviews the most important happenings of the year and sends his best wishes to all Spanish citizens.

6 – Collecting aguinaldo

Even though this is becoming an obsolete tradition, some villages still preserve it. During these festivities, children practice Christmas carols and sing door to door, asking for some pocket money at the end of each song.

7 – Gifting a flor de Pascua

The flor de Pascua (poinsettia) is a sign that winter time is already here. With low temperatures, this plant blossoms and shows all its splendor. With its shiny red leaves, this is the perfect gift to decorate our houses for the holidays.

8 – The 12 bell chimes, better with grapes

This is probably one of the most popular Spanish holiday traditions. Every New Year’s Eve at midnight, families gather around the TV to watch as the clock from La Puerta del Sol, in Madrid, strikes 12 times.

Each time the bell tolls, Spaniards eat one grape, continuing until they finish all 12 of them. Once this ritual is over, they welcome the new year with all kinds of celebrations.

Even though the origin of this tradition is yet unclear, all the existing versions point at it being a gesture to attract good luck for the incoming year.

9 – Eating Roscón de Reyes

One of the top holiday foods is the roscón de Reyes (Epiphany cake). It is a sweet dough shaped like a ring and filled with candied fruit slices in different colors. Traditionally, the inside is stuffed with whipped cream and there are two surprises in the interior: a figurine and a bean. Whoever finds the bean will have to pay the price of the roscón.

10 – Santa vs Three Wise Men

Some of the most popular characters around this time of the year are Los tres reyes Magos (the Three Wise Men). Riding their camels, Melchor, Gaspar, and Balthasar come from the Far East to visit all children’s houses each January 6th.

If the kids have behaved well through the year, they will receive presents from the Three Wise Kings. However, if they haven’t been good children, they will get coal instead.

Every January 5th, big parades take place on the streets. Escorted by their pages and camels, the Three Wise Men give candies to the children that go to see them. Back at home and before going to sleep, it is the right time to leave some water and food out for the Three Wise Men and their animals to restore some energy before continuing with their long trip.

Early morning on January 6th, all the presents will be under the Christmas tree. Many times, it is helpful to leave a shoe of each member of the family around to help identify for whom is each gift.

Even though Santa is getting more and more popular in Spain, the Three Wise Men are still the most popular gift-givers in the country. However, many households are visited by both of them.

Now that you know how Spaniards celebrate the holidays, come learn Spanish in Spain during our your vacations and join the Spanish festivities!

If someone has ever told you that you estás de toma pan y moja (to take bread and dip), congratulations! That is actually a compliment. Another version of the same saying is estás para mojar pan.

Read this article in Spanish

This expression is used in Spain to positively value someone’s physical appearance. In other words, you are a beauty!

To better understand the origin of this expression, we must look at gastronomy. Bread is such a basic food for Spaniards that they even use it in their sayings.

Have you ever tasted a dish so delicious that you wish it was never over?

In these cases, it is almost a sin to miss a drop of it. To leave the dish completely clean, we have our eternal ally: bread.

All in all, dipping a piece of bread in the dish indicates that food has an amazing flavor.

This is not the only case in which we use expressions related to food to describe different kinds of people. For example, ser más bueno que el pan (being better than bread) means being a very good person.

If something is pan comido (or eaten bread), then it’s very easy. In order to earn your bread (ganarse el pan), however, you will have to work very hard. In Spanish, babies come with a bread under their arm (un pan debajo del brazo). That is to say, they are a blessing.

Another example of using food to comment on someone’s good looks is the expression estar como un queso (be like cheese). This culinary synergy between beauty and food runs deep in the Spanish culture.

Discover more common Spanish expressions with bread by watching our video:

Have you ever tried the famous Spanish ham croquettes?

Why not make them yourself?

Read this article in Spanish

Today, we’re going to put on our aprons and start cooking!

First, we’ll need to get the ingredients together:

To make the croquettes

• 200 g Serrano ham (Spanish cured ham or jamón)
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 100 g flour
• 100 ml olive oil (or 100 g butter)
• 1 L warm milk

To batter and fry them

• Flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• Breadcrumbs
• Olive oil

Is everything ready?

Before we begin, I’ll tell you that in Spain we usually use olive oil to coat the pan, but if you can’t find any or prefer not to use it, you can use butter as a substitute.

Let’s get to work!

We’ll start by making the croquette dough.

Mince the onion and garlic and cut the Serrano ham into small pieces. Heat the oil (or melt the butter) in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until golden, then add the Serrano ham.

After a few minutes have passed and the ham takes on the flavor of the onion and garlic, add all the flour and sauté everything together. Be careful! It’s easy for the flour to burn, so you’ll have to stir the mixture constantly to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Shortly after you add the flour, slowly and gradually pour the warm milk into the pan. Keep stirring! It’s very important to stir constantly as you add the milk to prevent lumps from forming. Once you’ve added all the milk, let the mixture cook until it forms a thick paste (keep stirring this whole time!).

When the dough is ready, transfer it to a flat dish and let it cool.

(If you want your croquettes to come out as good as a Spanish grandmother’s, spread a bit of olive oil over the surface of the dough, just to prevent a crust from forming.)

When the dough is cool enough to handle, cut it into pieces and roll them into even-sized log shapes.

Once you’ve made all the croquettes, prepare a plate with flour, a bowl with the beaten eggs, and a plate with breadcrumbs.

Roll each croquette in the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs (in that order), then fry them in hot oil.

When the croquettes are golden brown, take them out of the frying pan and…it’s time to eat!

Hats off to the chef!