Spaniards Love Jamón!

On a recent trip to Seville to study flamenco, I discovered an unexpected fact about Spaniards. They adore jamón (pronounced ha-MOAN). Perhaps it's not all Spaniards, but in Andalucia it's a way of life.

When you say it out loud, it must be spoken very proudly and seriously with a deep throaty voice and sharp accent on the 'MOAN'. It's even better if you imagine yourself to be Antonio Banderas when you say it and shake your head slightly from left-right while maintaining eye contact with whomever you are speaking to. I am not kidding ... jamón is serious business. Jamón!

You can get jamón everywhere! It is served proudly in every tapas bar ... on a baguette, on strangely pale, thick and stale pretzels or all on it's own. You find legs of it hanging behind every bar. They even have dedicated jamón shops intermingled in the busiest shopping district. In some cases there were a few jamón shops in one block. Legs and legs of jamón just hanging there begging to be purchased.

Jamón definitely has an elevated status in Spain. You should be aware ... it's not meat ... it's jamón. It is so important, in fact, it comes served on top of everything. For example, you order a sandwich ... the sandwich is described as grilled chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato. There is no mention of jamón. Jamón is implied. And, it comes on top of the sandwich attached delicately with a cocktail toothpick. Jamón is implied in every recipe. You may ask "does this dish have meat?" and receive the reply "No. No meat." But, don't be surprised if it comes with jamón. In fact, anticipate that it WILL come with jamón and if it doesn't come with jamón, you should be disappointed.

One last word of advice, do not insult the jamón. It is a great source of pride for Spaniards. They love it and may even be obsessed with it. To insult jamón is to insult the Spanish way of life. Long live jamón!