So usually at this part of the week I talk a little bit about what kind of food you should be having with your drinks this weekend. But this is Cava, and having spent the sum total of 48 hours now in Barcelona, I can tell you they’d drink it with their breakfast if they could. I think make sure you go with something salty, like a good helping of serrano or iberico ham, maybe something deep fried like croquetas, or go with Ant’s favourite, fish and chips!
What I’m going to do is bore the crap out of you for the next two paragraphs. I went on this Culinary Backstreets food tour, which was awesome, and I’ll be writing up a piece on it when I get home. Our guide, Paula, was right up there with her knowledge of the whens and hows of all the food and drink we were having a go at. So she let me know what I thought was quite a cool little story about why Cava started up.
I haven’t checked google or anything, so the “facts” might be a little on the hazy side, but long story short, Cava was started by people who made corks for champagne. There’s a region just round here called Girona, where all the corks for champagne were made. Every time the cork merchants popped up to France to sell their stuff, they’d ask a little bit more each time about the techniques and all that. This ended in a few of the them, Codorniu and Freixenet I think were amongst the first, deciding to give it a try in their area of Spain. Hence the birth of Cava, and why it uses the same production technique as Champagne.
I liked that story, not sure why, but thought I’d pass it on. Anyway, off to another afternoon of tapas bars and Cava crawls. Love this city!
Cheers
Previous Posts in #NWTW Week 25
#NWTW Week 25: So What’s So Different About Cava?
#NWTW Week 25: What Do I Reckon Cava Should Taste Like?
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