Galician cuisine refers to the typical dishes and ingredients found in the cuisine

Cuisine

Cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. Cuisines are often named after the geographic areas or regions that they originate from...

 of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. These include shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

, empanada

Empanada

An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...

s, polbo á feira

Polbo á feira

Polbo á feira alternatively known as polbo estilo feira and pulpo á galega is a traditional Galician dish....

 (a dish made of octopus

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

), the cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 queixo de tetilla, the ribeiro

Ribeiro

Ribeiro is a surname common in Galicia, Portugal and Brazil. It is also a wine-making region of Southeast central Galicia.* Jose F Ribeiro Providence RI*Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian football striker born 1982*Alfonso Ribeiro, American actor...

 and albariño

Albariño

Albariño or Alvarinho is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galicia , Monção and Melgaço , where it is used to make varietal white wines.Albariño is actually the Galician name for the grape...

 wines and orujo

Orujo

Orujo is the name in north-west Spain for pomace brandy . It is a transparent spirit with an alcohol content over 50%...

 liquor.
The potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 is a staple food in the region, first arriving in Spain from the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

 in the 16th century, and then grown first and foremost on the coasts of the Ría de Noia. In Galician cuisine, neither the cook or the recipe really matters; what is being served is the central part of the cuisine.

In Galicia, a wide variety of sea produce can be found in traditional dishes, due to the province's long shoreline and traditional fishing economy. Agriculture products such as potatoes, maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

 and wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 are also a staple in the Galician diet, along with dairy and meat products from animals such as cows, sheep and pigs

PIGS

PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...

; Galicia's grasses and shrubs are green year-round and are excellent for grazing

Grazing

Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...

.

Due to the history of a weak economy, little industry and overall a less than prominent position in Spanish politics and culture, the development of a Galician "haute cuisine" has been slowed until recently, with chefs such as Toñi Vicente gaining national attention only since the 80's.

Typical recipes

• Pulpo á feira
• Empanada
  Empanada
  An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...
  
  
• Caldo Galego
• Lacón con grelos
• Carne ao caldeiro
• Androlla
  Androlla
  An androlla is a Galician embutido made from pork. It is similar to the botillo sausages of León.It is prepared from the "cueras" . Cueras are well cleaned, without the skin; rib meat is added with portions of the diaphragm muscles...
  
  
• Botelo or butelo
• Filloas
• Bica
• Tarta de Santiago
  Tarta de Santiago
  Tarta de Santiago is a famous type of almond cake or pie from Galicia, literally meaning cake of St. James, invented in the Middle Ages. The Galician name for cake is Torta whilst it is often referred to Tarta, which is the Spanish word. The filling principally consists of ground almonds, eggs and...
  
  

See also

• Galician wine
  Galician wine
  Galician wine is Spanish wine made in the autonomous community of Galicia in the northwest corner of Spain. It includes wine made in the provinces of A Coruña, Ourense, Pontevedra and Lugo. Within Galicia are five Denominación de Origen -Monterrei, Rías Baixas, Ribeira Sacra, Ribeiro and Valdeorras...