Today's diet is not as good as it used to be. So maybe we should adopt the diet of the past again! The Mediterranean diet is a diet based on the food and eating habits of inhabitants around the Mediterranean in the early 1960s. So this mainly refers to Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.

• The food from Mediterranean cuisine is very healthy and balanced. At the same time, this way of eating also makes you less likely to get diseases.
• That the inhabitants of the Mediterranean region were so healthy was not just down to the food. Besides eating fiber-rich meals, they also really took the time to eat. Something the Dutch could sometimes learn a thing or two from.
• The diet itself is not only a way to lose weight, it can also be used to simply live healthier. In fact, research has shown that the diet reduces the risk of disease.

As mentioned above, the diet is based on the food of inhabitants around the Mediterranean Sea. It consists mainly of all kinds of fish, fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts and olive oil. In addition, legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, white beans are also popular in Mediterranean diet dishes. Frequent use of garlic and herbs should of course not be missed. This contains a lot of healthy fiber, good (and just enough) carbohydrates and an abundance of antioxidants. A simple meal from a Mediterranean cuisine recipe book will bring you a healthy dose of nutrition that is filling. However, every ingredient is completely fresh and often from your own garden. The fact that it is much cheaper to cook with fresh produce there than in, say, the Netherlands, makes it much easier to adopt the eating habits of Mediterranean cuisine.

Cooking with olive oil

Something we can easily adopt, though, is the use of olive oil. Its use is perhaps the main difference between the Mediterranean and other regions. Whereas the people of the Mediterranean region use olive oil for everything, we use butter for everything. Olive oil consists overwhelmingly of monounsaturated fat. The fatty acids in these unsaturated fats improve your cholesterol levels and this in turn reduces the risk of disease. In other words, olive oil is super healthy! Mediterranean cuisine is especially appreciated by the Mediterranean people themselves. The freshness and quality of the products and the simplicity and/or purity of the dish are key. A drink with dinner? You wouldn't expect it but red wine perfectly matches the taste of the food, is healthy and it suits your diet.

Not only is the Mediterranean people's diet healthy, but their lifestyle is something we Dutch might take an example from. Too much busyness and stress is not healthy. The inhabitants of the Mediterranean are very calm and relaxed; their lifestyle is relaxed and they take enough time to enjoy the food.

The diet itself is long lasting because the ingredients are highly nutritious and fill you up well. The easiest way to follow the diet is through a book, which gives you great ideas for recipes that fit right into the picture of Mediterranean cuisine. Recent research has shown that this diet is good for overall health and that it even prevents aging of the brain. Furthermore, it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. A 2003 study found that those following a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, olive oil and fish were 25% less likely to die of cancer. Long live the longer life with the Mediterranean diet!

The encierro, the running of the bulls, is an activity that originated in Spain and is still popular in Spain today. During the encierro, a small group of bulls are let loose on a cordoned off route through the (usually) narrow streets of the city. The remarkable thing about this is that a group of (often young) people run in front of the bulls. This article is about the San Fermín festivities of Pamplona, where bull running is the main event.

• The whole event revolves around only one thing: the running of the bulls. And this happens not just once, but every day for the entire fiesta.
• It starts the night before when the bulls are brought from the corrales del gas to the corrales of Santo Domingo.
• In addition, the night before the encierro, the bulls are separated from each other and people can watch them from a balcony.

The Bull Run

The encierro was originally created out of necessity. The bulls had to be transported to the bullring for the bullfights, and the only way to do this was to run the bulls through the streets. When at some point people started running in front of the bulls, this became an activity that came back every time. It became increasingly popular and eventually grew into a tradition. The first legal bull run was held in 1899, but it did not become internationally popular until the event was mentioned as "the feast of survival" in a novel by Ernest Hemingway.

The fiesta as it is known today is held in Pamplona every year from July 7 to 14. Every morning, when the church bell has struck 8 o'clock and 2 flares are shot into the air, about 6 bulls are let loose to make their way to the corrales of Santo Domingo, with a lot of brave gentlemen running ahead of them. Of course, the bulls do not let a few men get away with it and, as a result, as many as 200 to 300 are injured each year. Most injuries are caused by falls and so are not serious. The narrow, bumpy streets do not make it easy for the men, but the bulls are also often surprised by a sharp turn. Falls are inevitable.

The movement of the bulls from the corrales del gas to the corrales of Santo Domingo, the place where it all begins each morning, also has a name: the encierrillo. The encierrillo takes place the evening before the encierro. A distance of 440 meters is covered in silence and is almost as popular as the encierro itself. To see this move, you need a special pass that can only be obtained at City Hall. For people who do not like the violence of the encierro, the encierrillo is a perfect substitute to still enjoy this special event.

A small part of the tradition surrounding the bull run is the apartado: segregation. The night before the encierro, the bulls are separated and spectators and fans can watch the bulls from the balcony. The bulls are viewed and judged based on appearance and characteristics. Probably this is to assess the animal during the run, or else just interest. It is part of tradition, so fun to participate in.

Spain was overwhelmed on Feb. 26 by the sad news of the death of Paco de Lucía.

Paco is the unsurpassed master among flamenco guitarists, winner of many awards such as the “Premio de los Principes de Asturias de las Artes,” “Premio Nacional de Guitarra de arte Flamenco” and many others. A guitarist admired and respected worldwide for his guitar playing and daring in the field of music. His worldwide fame began when he released the piece “Entre dos Aguas. In the late 1960s, he became acquainted with the best flamenco singer ever; Camarón de la Isla.

A friendship developed between the two masters based on mutual admiration for each other's vocal and guitar skills. Together they form an unparalleled duo, release 10 records and put flamenco on the world map.

The death of Paco de Lucía is mourned by many, including non-flamenco lovers. When Camarón died in 1992, it was a great loss to the flamenco and gypsy world. He is still revered, all young singers try to emulate him and flowers are laid daily at his memorial in “La Línea de la Concepción. It is impossible to talk about flamenco music or listen to it without Camarón and Paco, they ARE flamenco. With Paco's passing, the flamenco world feels like an orphan, the last master is no more, but his music is his legacy. A legacy that deserves a place on the World Heritage list!

• The name day is similar to your birthday in terms of celebration. You get visitors and small gifts and all kinds of treats are brought out. So in Spain, people named after a saint actually have two birthdays.
• For those without a name day, there is All Saints' Day. This day always falls on November 1 and is a day off in many countries.
• It is sometimes said that in Spain every day is a holiday. This is largely because each village has its own patron saint who is commemorated on the day he died. And since there are quite a few villages in Spain ...

Saint

If you are named after a saint, you are lucky to have two birthdays a year. The name day is often celebrated on the day the saint you are named after died and is celebrated to honor and remember that saint. Naming days go a long way; for example, if you are named after Saint San José, you can be called José, but so can Fina or Pepe. In addition, it does not matter whether the name of the saint you are named after is male or female; in fact, the female namings Nicole and Nicoletta of the male saint Saint Nicholas are often used. Name Day in Spain is celebrated much the same as a birthday. It is celebrated with food, cakes, drinks, flowers and visits from family and close friends who often bring a small gift. If you are not named after a saint, you may celebrate your name day on All Saints Day.

All Saints' Day

The Christian feast that falls on Nov. 1 and has to do with Día del Santo is All Saints' Day. It is celebrated among Catholics and Anglicans, and in the Catholic Church it is an important feast. On this day, all saints are commemorated. Many countries, including Spain, consider November 1 a national holiday. In the Netherlands, however, this was abolished in 1960. This holiday is celebrated in Spain with special food for All Saints' Day: huesos de santos (bones of saints, rolled up marzipan) and donuts..

"Every day there is a party somewhere in Spain." That's right! Because because, among other things, every village has its own patron saint, it seems like every day is a celebration. A patron saint is a saint or angel who is considered and revered as the protector of a city and whose name one can receive at a baptism. For example, Valencia has San José and the city honors him with the famous Fallas festival. Benicassim holds a week of fiestas in January to honor San Antonio and in early September Salamanca has a week of fiestas with bullfights and a parade, in honor of the Virgen de la Vega. The saints are very important in Spain and at the same time provide many fiestas throughout the country and year.

A Special Month for Romantic Getaways

Valentine’s day is right in the heart of February, and it’s a day that makes this a special month for anyone with a special someone in their own heart. Allow us to suggest ten places where romance fills the air and mingles with Spanish… the perfect language for talking about love according to Bob Dylan.

Join don Quijote and immerse yourself in the real-life settings of these timeless tales of love!

Spaniards start early in the morning when they go out for breakfast somewhere before work. Of course, there are many types of coffee and the assortment is only growing. There are a few variations on each type of coffee to make the perfect coffee for everyone. The work in a bar doesn't get any easier....

• The first cup of coffee was drunk a long time ago, but not in the way we drink it today. Although you would expect otherwise, for a very long time coffee in Spain was drunk only by the royal family and nobility.
• From black coffee to latte and from coffee with alcohol to iced coffee. Everything is possible. Of course, they all have their own Spanish designation. Always useful to know; also when you want to order a coffee in Spain that most resembles the coffee at home.

Coffee history

Coffee itself has been around for a long time: around 1500, coffee was already drunk by the Yemeni, wise Sufis to stay awake while praying. Around 1600 it came to Europe and here it was considered medicine.Although not officially a medicine, it is a healthy remedy. For example, it stimulates the central nervous system and promotes breathing and digestion.

While Spain is ahead of the rest of Europe in many aspects, however, coffee arrived in Spain late. In the process, it was initially, and for a long time, only consumed by the royal family and nobility. When finally in 1764 (first coffee shop in Amsterdam as early as 1663) the first coffee shop was opened in Madrid, things moved quickly. A few years later, coffee cafes also opened in Barcelona and inspired many other cities in Spain. Spanish coffee was a fact. By now we are almost 250 years on and there are different variations of coffee.

Types of coffee in Spain

Anyone looking for a (side) job in a Spanish café will still need to read up on the different types of coffee. Spain loves versatility, in summer and in winter. Therefore, there are 7 types of coffee for a reason, each with its own variations according to the wishes and needs of the customers. Below is a brief explanation of the types of coffee found in the cafes:

Café solo is a strong cup of black coffee often drunk after meals or with breakfast. A Cortado is a strong cup of coffee with a little hot milk. A cortado is often drunk from a glass and is very similar to foreign coffee. Café con leche, the name says it all: coffee with milk. Café con leche is best known among foreigners and similar to coffee latte. It is a cup of coffee with hot milk often consumed at breakfast.After 11 p.m., the café con leche is replaced by a stronger cup of coffee. An americano is American-style coffee: a large cup of black coffee. An Americano is less strong than a café solo. 

Especially for the men, there is a carajillo, similar to a café solo. A small, strong cup of coffee but with a dash of whiskey, cognac or some other kind of liquor. This coffee is widely consumed by Spanish men. The cappuchino has also reached Spain, although the Spaniards themselves are not such fans of it. The cappuchino is available with a topping of whipped cream or whipped milk. If Spaniards drink it at all, it is with whipped milk. In fact, the whipped cream is for tourists. After all, nothing is "safer" than cappuchino with whipped cream; you know what you're getting. For summer, there is the café con hielo: coffee with ice cream. When you order a café con hielo, you get a café solo or a cortado with sugar and a glass with ice. The idea is that you yourself pour the coffee into the glass with ice and enjoy a delicious, refreshing and cold coffee.
 

Of course, there are many other types of coffee, but these are the most common.

In Spanish they are called Los Pueblos Blancos, the white villages of Andalusia. They are characterized by the little houses with white walls and red/brown roofs on high ground in the areas of Cadiz and Malaga. But what is behind this? Why are they all white and why are they all located in the mountains? The white villages of Andalusia have their own story.

• All the details of the cottages have their own purpose. The small windows, the bright white paint and the thick walls. The cottages in Andalusia are built this way for very logical reasons.
• The area has been populated by many peoples, yet one people has left the biggest mark that makes the white villages in Andalusia the way they are today.

Everything is done for a reason. This is also true of the white villages of Andalusia. All the houses are built with thick walls, small windows and bright white paint. This is typical of the houses in this region. The thick walls are good insulation for both heat and cold. If in winter keeping heat in is essential, in summer keeping cool air in is essential. In addition, the small windows keep too much sunlight from entering the house. Too much sunlight will heat up the house in the summer, which is exactly what is not intended. The bright white paint of the houses reflects the sunlight back, preventing it from penetrating the house. By the way, the reason the walls stay so white is very simple: every spring, each house gets a new paint to usher in spring.

These cottages are made for the climate of Andalusia. You find them mostly in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, but also in the region of Cadiz and Malaga. They are a real tourist attraction. Yet you must not forget that this oasis of beauty is also simply a habitat of people; although perhaps that makes it even more beautiful. The villages bring with them a special Arabic feeling because of their narrow streets and cozy squares. The squares of the white villages, where old men sit quietly in the shade playing cards and where the women keep the flowers beautiful. It is a picture. Despite the Arab feeling you get with the villages, each village has at least one Roman Catholic church that completes the picture.

The Moors in Spain

That the cottages have only a climatic reason for construction was not always true, by the way. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Several caves can be found with rock paintings. Although many peoples have lived in this area, there has been one people who have been hugely influential to the villages; the Moors. They lived and ruled large parts of Spain beginning in the 13th century. When at one point the Spanish reclaimed their land, the Moors fled into the mountains and built white houses with thick walls and small windows. So initially it was also a kind of protection from the Spaniards. From the high mountain the Moors could soon see them coming and so they could defend themselves in time against the Spaniards. Today, the people in the villages only have to protect themselves from all the tourists who want to see this beautiful place up close.

In Spain, the school system is set up by the government and it is the job of the "Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia," the Ministry of Education, to keep quality high. There are also laws associated with this.

In some countries, as a Dutchman, you can get very confused by the school system. The years are divided differently or the level is not comparable. Spain's school system is similar to that of the Netherlands. However, there are some differences.

• Secondary education, Educación Segundaria Obligatoria (ESO), in Spain is similar to high school in the Netherlands. Only they don't have different levels at the schools in Spain.
• In Spain, as in France, they have the baccalaureate, a diploma that you obtain to gain entrance to university/higher education.
• The regulations regarding higher education and university are the same as in the Netherlands.

Education in Spain

Education in Spain does not differ much from the Dutch education system. The first layer is: nursery and primary education. In which we distinguish educación infantil and educación primaria. Educación infantil covers the first six years of the child's life in which the child is not required to attend school. From the age of 3 months until the third year, the child can attend la guardería, the nursery. This must be paid per month and working mothers receive financial assistance from the government. In addition, there is escuela infantil, the kindergarten. After the crèche, the child can attend kindergarten until it reaches the age of 6. From the age of 6 it is compulsory to attend school. Thus, all children must begin primary education, educación primaria. Primary education consists of three cycles of two years each. El primer cyclo begins when the child is 6 years old. With sufficient development, after two years he may proceed to el segundo cyclo and after another two years to el tercer cyclo. In the third cycle, the child is prepared for secondary education. They are taught Castellano (Spanish) as well as any autonomous language and literature.

Secondary education lasts four years and is given to children as young as 12 years old. All children are taught at the same level during these four years. In the second and final cycle, the student does choose a profile to prepare for the Baccalaureate or technical education and after four years of study and satisfactory completion of all subjects, the student receives a diploma: Graduado en Educación Secundaria. This diploma gives access to the Baccalaureate and technical training, depending on what the child's level is.

Higher secondary education is what children go to when they have successfully completed secondary education. This includes two levels: 'Bachillerato' and formación profesional. The 'Bachillerato' takes two years and is comparable in level to the havo in the Netherlands. The profile chosen by students in the second cycle of secondary education is continued as a specialization in an industry in addition to the compulsory, general subjects. The diploma you get after completing the Baccalaureate is a requirement for university admission. There is also formación profesional, which are classes and practical classes. It is training for a practical profession and gives access to further courses, a job and the Baccalaureate.

Higher education and university has been the same as in the Netherlands since 2006. As of 2006, Spain now also works with a Bachelor-Master structure. Before you can enter college or university, you must first take an entrance exam in Spain, "la Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad," better known as the selectividad. This tests the knowledge you learned at the Baccalaureate. The Bachelor in the Netherlands is called 'los Estudios de Grado' in Spain and lasts four years. To graduate, a graduation project must be done that eventually gives you el Titulo de Graduado. The next step is 'Máster Universitario' and takes two years. For this too you have to submit a report, better known as the thesis. For the real go-getters, there is 'Doctorado,' which involves independent research in preparation for writing the dissertation to get the highest title.

"In a place in La Mancha, whose name I do not remember, lived a knight not long ago..." The famous first sentence of the Spanish novel "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. Translated into Dutch, it means "The ingenious nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. A book about an old gray-haired man who, by reading many books about knights, thinks he is a knight himself.

• The author of Don Quixote, Cervantes, started writing the novel when he was in prison for unpaid debts. In addition, he was called el manco de Lepanto (the flawed one of Lepanto) when, in a battle against the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), he so injured his left hand that it remained permanently paralyzed.
• The brave knight Don Quixote was actually named Alonso Quijano, but the knight didn't think that sounded heroic so he went on an adventure with his new name.

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares on Sept. 29, 1547, and died in Madrid on April 23, 1616. He was one of the most important novelists/playwrights in Spanish literature. Cervantes did not have an easy life, for although he was Catholic, his partly Jewish ancestry did not make things easy for him in the Spain of the Catholic Reformation. He left for Italy where he published some elegies and fought with the Spanish army against the Ottoman Empire. When he wanted to return to Spain in 1575, he was captured for 5 years by privateers from Algiers. As if one time in captivity was not enough, he was captured again in 1597, but this time for unpaid debts. He decided to write a story during his imprisonment: thus, the book about Don Quixote and the Windmills was written in a prison! He released the first part of the book ("The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha") in 1605. Although this book was successful, Cervantes died in poverty after he released the second part of the book in 1615.

Alonso Quijano, an old, gray-haired man who loved books and stories about knights immensely. He read so many that one day he felt like being a knight himself. Accompanied by Sancho Panza, a small, fat, illiterate peasant whose main interest was food and lured along by the attractive promise of an island, Alonso, under the name Don Quixote of La Mancha, set out on a wander through rural Spain. His goal? To right all kinds of wrongs and become famous through his good deeds. Don Quixote on his horse Rosinante and Sancho Panza on a donkey too small for this fat peasant. The adventure had begun! Of course, the most famous part of the book is the part where the brave knight battles the giants. While Sancho Panza is still loudly shouting that they are windmills and that fighting them will be futile, Don Quixote heads full of courage and full speed toward the giants. "Do not flee, blode and low creatures! It is a single knight who attacks you." He thrusts his lance into a blade and is immediately swept away. Swinging heavily, the knight rolled into the field. This time he had lost, but next time he will defeat them. And they continued on their way to Puerto Lápice, for there they would encounter many and varied adventures.

2-Euro coins

Nice to know that on July 30, 2005, a coin was issued to commemorate "400 years of Don Quixote". In fact, member countries of the European Union are allowed to issue special 2-euro coins to mark special events. The circulation was 8,000,000 coins, so who knows, you might come across one.

Spanish outside of Spain and the Americas

Equatoguinean Spanish

Spanish is one of the official languages of the small African country of Equatorial Guinea (interestingly Spanish is not defined as an official language in two of the countries with the largest populations of Spanish speakers, Mexico and the United States). Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish territory from 1778 to 1968. Today, although Spanish is generally not used as a first language here, it is still spoken by an estimated 87.7% of the people. This unique variety of Spanish is influenced by local native languages such as Fang. The Association of Spanish Language Academies has proposed creating an Equatorial Guinea Spanish Language Academy.

Notable Spanish language literary works by writers from Equatorial Guinea include the novels Cuando los combes luchaban (When the Kombes Fought, 1953) by Leoncio Evita Enoy, Una Lanza por el Boabí (A Spear for the Boabi) by Daniel Jones Mathama, Ekomo (1985) by María Nsué Angüe, and El reencuentro. El retorno del exiliado (The Reunion. The return of the Exiled, 1985).  

Books of poetry include Voces de espuma (1987) by Ciriaco Bokesa and Sueños en mi selva (Dreams in my Forest, 1987). 

Ladino

Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, is listed by UNESCO as a seriously endangered language. It began to spread in 1492 when Spain’s Jewish community was expelled from the country. Exiled Jewish people from Spain settled in areas such as Holland, Morocco, England, and different parts of the Ottoman Empire, bringing 15^th century Castilian Spanish with them. Local languages in those areas heavily influenced regional varieties of Ladino (particularly Turkish and Greek) in much the same way Yiddish has adopted local linguistic influences. Despite the heavy outside influences and declining numbers of speakers over the centuries, Ladino is surprisingly similar to modern Spanish. A number of efforts and projects are being made to preserve Ladino including The Maale-Adumim Institute for Ladino and the cultural magazine Aki Yerushalayim which is written entirely in Ladino.

Estimates suggest that between 160,000 to 300,000 people speak Ladino today, most of them in Israel.     

Spanish Judeo writers include Sara Benveniste who published a complete anthology of her literary works in 1995 entitled Espertando el Djudeo Espanyol,  and the writer Margalit Matityahu (Curtijo Quemado, 1998, Vagabondo Eternal & Bozes en la Shara, 2001).

Spanish in the Philippines

According to the Cervantes Institute of Manila, as of 2010 there were some 3 million Spanish speakers in the Philippines. An estimated 440,000 speakers have native knowledge of the language. It was an official language of the Philippines from the 16^th century, throughout Spanish rule, the American administration, and all the way up to 1973 when a new constitution declared English and Filipino as official languages.  

Spanish was widely spoken in the Philippines and used in media and literature in the beginning of the 20^th century. The language began to decline here however when the US administration began pressuring newspapers to use English and English was adopted by school systems. Spanish language literature written by Filipinos also thrived during the first half of the 20^th century. Notable Filipino writers from the period who wrote in Spanish include Francisco Alonso Liongson (he wrote El Unico Cliente, Mi mujer es Candidata, among many other plays) and poet-playwright-politician Claro Mayo Recto (Bajo los Cocoteros, Solo entre las sombras).

The Tagalog language also has an estimated 4,000 spanish words. Chavacano is a Spanish-based language spoken in parts of the southern area of the Philippines.

The radio program Filipinas Ahora Mismo is aired nationally in the Philippines in Spanish every day.

The Philippines also has an Academy of the Spanish language which is part of the Association of Spanish Language Academies.