Sunday, April 16, 2006

Fast Food Spanish Style

One of the first things I did in Barcelona was try to buy some clothes. Kuwait has a lot of shopping malls but the prices are pretty high. So I headed to the outlet block (on Girona) and hit the Mango Outlet, as well as scoured the shops along Portaferrissa in the Old City.

A pretty pointless exercise, since, as I've mentioned here before, the clothes in Spain are generally too small for me.

So I could buy size Large clothes, but I didn't. I am not much of a shopper, and by the time I finish trying a few things on and discovering they are too small, I'm just bored and ready to not shop again for another six months.

So I guess the question is WHY are Spaniards so much thinner than Americans. WHY did I come home from Spain last time ten pounds lighter than when I'd arrived? I hadn't even gone to the gym while I was there.

It's got to be diet and lifestyle, of course. Fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, and good-for-you stuff are all readily available on the Mediterranean coast.

Even the fast food is better in Barcelona. In most of the world, fast food is about fried things—burgers, fried chicken, and… well, more burgers.

In Barcelona, when I'm too lazy to make something and too uninspired to look for a sit-down restaurant, I run to Bocetta or Pans and Company. They're just fast food chains, but they're Spanish fast food chains. Instead of serving up fried foods, they sell bocadillos, which are skinny baguettes on crusty bread.

Of course, having just been in Kuwait, it's not enough for me to get the chicken or turkey baguette… I get the ham or the chicken with bacon. Yum!

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