Merigoesaround

I am not sure for how long a Spanish ham lasts at home. Looking at my parents’ chunky shapes and at my rosy cheeks after 3 weeks of mama’s food, I am guessing not for too long. Every time I come home for Christmas the ham ritual is initiated when my mum announces to the rest of the family that the old ham is finished and we need to buy a new one. Buying a Spanish ham is like buying a good quality turkey for Thanksgiving: not every turkey tastes or costs the same. A ham can go from 60 EUR or so to thousands. I once met a Spanish diplomat who told me that the Spanish ham should be a hidden secret of the Spanish gastronomy and that we should stop exporting it abroad. Hygiene-conscious Americans and their multiple and complicated phyto-sanitary rules, haven’t allowed Obamaland to enjoy the taste of this Spanish delicacy until very soon. Pigs are very dangerous animals in terms of exporting diseases. True. My grandma used to say that pigs are great because you can eat almost every part of i...

In the few weeks I’ve spent home in Barcelona I’ve learned more about the Main Street meaning of the financial crisis than reading the best FT analysts from sunny India or Benin. Sometimes faces and voices say more than books. This crisis is deep down penetrating the brains and psyches of my Spanish fellows. Tightening the belt means cutting consumption. I am surprised by the discounts that most retail shops are doing, in theory the sale season should start at the beginning of January but since shops are empty and hairdressers sit in their saloons lonely…discounts have started everywhere. One shop displayed the words: PROMOCION CRISIS -30%. The blackboard of a restaurant around the corner announced MENU CRISIS 6.50 euros. Bittersweet marketing to tackle poor sales. And where is the money being spent? Mortgage payments are higher. True. Mine has increased more than 100 euros in a period of 2 years, half of that amount in the last 7 months or so. Some money is going to the bank savings a...