A woman from Madrid visited Logroño for the first time last year in San Bernabé and there was something that surprised her, above everything else. “You eat a lot here, don’t you?” She repeated without stopping. For a resident of the capital of Rioja, perhaps that statement may seem … somewhat exaggerated, but it is not so exaggerated if you look at the festive program and see that the tastings play a very important role.
A clear example is this Sunday’s day. At ten thirty in the morning there was already an event related to eating, the first of the tastings, starring the Aster group. El Espolón was almost empty at that time, the sky looked dark, but not a single drop was escaping. However, in a corner of the central square, Aster’s pink blouses were already in the kitchen preparing their squid sandwiches.
“With the rain issue we had to wait a little to be able to set up, but we are ready,” he told Laura Cara, one of the members of the group, who soon had to get down to work since the The arrival of the first visitors to the tasting has not been long in coming.
The Aster club has given the starting signal, but just half an hour later the options to fill the stomach have multiplied significantly. There was a choice: if the passerby walked towards the Doctor Zubía roundabout he would meet the members of the La Alegría group who, honoring his name, distributed chorizo with wine with a smile. If, on the other hand, the walker chose the Portales area, in the Martínez Zaporta square, those from Sympathy prepared gluttons. “We already have four casseroles,” noted one of the cooks while he turned over his preparation. «At the moment, things are going slowly; “We must keep in mind that, with the elections and so on, today is a strange day,” added another of those present. Both, however, were pleased with something: “The good thing is that it’s not raining.”
Without searching too much, a citizen eager to eat could find more stops on his gastronomic tour. Chistorra and Roncal cheese at the Hogar Navarro, the salchichón from La Unión in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento… There were many options. And while some ate, others prepared to do so. On Paseo de Dax, the La Uva club had organized a contest of Rioja dishes, with stew as the protagonist. From early in the morning, the crews, fifteen of them, were already peeling potatoes so that everything would be perfect for the moment when the jury chose the winner. “In total, about 300 people are going to gather,” the organization stated.
Food, food and more food. And the list of similar events for this Sunday did not end there: migas in the Extremaduran home at noon and in the afternoon bacon cured with peppers and loin, also with peppers, make the menu broader if possible, which can be completed with the beers from the ‘San Bernabeer’ fair of the La Rioja club.
And for Monday there are embuchados, melva, torreznos and many more tastings. And on Tuesday there will be more gastronomic stops, including the traditional delivery of fish and wine. And on Wednesday, in fulfillment of the vow of Saint Barnabas, stewed bull will be eaten… In the end, that woman from Madrid who last year repeated without stopping: “You eat a lot here, right?”
