Canarian Food
The cuisine of the Canary Islands combines traditional Spanish recipes with African and Latin-American influences. There are some recipes imported from the Spanish mainland, but true original tastes can only be found in the Canarian specialities. Away from the standard Spanish food and the many tourist-oriented international food restaurants in the hotels, there is a genuine local cuisine. And, as your taste buds will discover, it’s well worth searching out.
The basis of the typical local cuisine is a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish, generally light meals that are easier to digest in a warm climate. Meat usually features as part of a stew and steaks are mostly imported from Spain or South America.
Gofio forms an essential part of the island diet. A stoneground flour made from toasted barley, maize and wheat, it is used in multiple ways such as to thicken soups and sauces and it’s often stirred into children's milk as it’s rich in protein, fibre, minerals and vitamins. It also forms the basis of two particularly scrumptious local desserts, helado de gofio (gofio ice cream) and mus de gofio (gofio mousse).
Also definitely worth trying are papas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes), one of the best-known dishes. Consisting of small, new potatoes boiled with their jackets on in salty water, their real taste comes from the accompanying mojos (sauces). Using olive oil as a base, various herbs and spices are added in to the mix to create either a piquant green, red, or orange-coloured sauce.
If you like fish, you will feel in paradise here. Among the most typical regional recipes are caldo de pescado (stocky fish soup) and vieja sancochada. The latter is a sea-bream casserole. The freshest sardines are also popular, particularly, and unsurprisingly enough, in Sardina de Norte, a tucked-away town on Gran Canaria’s north coast.
Among vegetarian dishes, potaje de berros, a watercress soup/stew, and caldo de papas y cilantro, potato and coriander soup/stock, are perhaps the best known. But check with your waiter if the former contains any pork, as this often forms a key base of the dish.
The most typical dessert is bienmesabe (literally: ‘it tastes good to me’), a mixture of ground almond, lemon rind, sugar and eggs. Besides that, you have a wide choice of tropical fruits, like mango, avocado and papaya. Huevos mole is another popular pudding, a cinnamon-flavoured egg foam. Also look out for the marzipan pralines from Tejeda and the sponges and meringues from Moya, which define moreish.
Our tip:
The tradition of having tapas before meals is one of the most important Spanish contributions to the world of gastronomy. A tapa is a small, light piece of food that Spaniards have either before lunch or dinner, always with a glass of wine or beer. The tapas tradition is a perfect excuse to have one or two – or even more – wines or beers before the actual meal! As the name says, a tapa conceals the appetite (tapa comes from …tapa el hambre = literally ‘covers the hunger’). Tapas can be presented in several ways: as a pincho (with a stick), as a mini-dish of a traditional recipe, as a canapé, etc.... Bear in mind, however, that in Gran Canaria such savoury snacks are known as enyesques.
The basis of the typical local cuisine is a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish, generally light meals that are easier to digest in a warm climate. Meat usually features as part of a stew and steaks are mostly imported from Spain or South America.
Gofio forms an essential part of the island diet. A stoneground flour made from toasted barley, maize and wheat, it is used in multiple ways such as to thicken soups and sauces and it’s often stirred into children's milk as it’s rich in protein, fibre, minerals and vitamins. It also forms the basis of two particularly scrumptious local desserts, helado de gofio (gofio ice cream) and mus de gofio (gofio mousse).
Also definitely worth trying are papas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes), one of the best-known dishes. Consisting of small, new potatoes boiled with their jackets on in salty water, their real taste comes from the accompanying mojos (sauces). Using olive oil as a base, various herbs and spices are added in to the mix to create either a piquant green, red, or orange-coloured sauce.
If you like fish, you will feel in paradise here. Among the most typical regional recipes are caldo de pescado (stocky fish soup) and vieja sancochada. The latter is a sea-bream casserole. The freshest sardines are also popular, particularly, and unsurprisingly enough, in Sardina de Norte, a tucked-away town on Gran Canaria’s north coast.
Among vegetarian dishes, potaje de berros, a watercress soup/stew, and caldo de papas y cilantro, potato and coriander soup/stock, are perhaps the best known. But check with your waiter if the former contains any pork, as this often forms a key base of the dish.
The most typical dessert is bienmesabe (literally: ‘it tastes good to me’), a mixture of ground almond, lemon rind, sugar and eggs. Besides that, you have a wide choice of tropical fruits, like mango, avocado and papaya. Huevos mole is another popular pudding, a cinnamon-flavoured egg foam. Also look out for the marzipan pralines from Tejeda and the sponges and meringues from Moya, which define moreish.
Our tip:
The tradition of having tapas before meals is one of the most important Spanish contributions to the world of gastronomy. A tapa is a small, light piece of food that Spaniards have either before lunch or dinner, always with a glass of wine or beer. The tapas tradition is a perfect excuse to have one or two – or even more – wines or beers before the actual meal! As the name says, a tapa conceals the appetite (tapa comes from …tapa el hambre = literally ‘covers the hunger’). Tapas can be presented in several ways: as a pincho (with a stick), as a mini-dish of a traditional recipe, as a canapé, etc.... Bear in mind, however, that in Gran Canaria such savoury snacks are known as enyesques.
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