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Spanish food history may be among the most varied and interesting in the world. Since before the Romans the Iberian Peninsular has received influence from many cultures and regions and its gastronomy has evolved along with each century, each invasion and each conquest.

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The gastronomic legacy left by the Andalusian culture was important in the Spanish culture since its varied customs were implemented in Spain, with its exceptions since the Arabs preferred to eat lamb and poultry because they had little fat, but in Andalusia the tradition of eat cerno meat. Many products used by the Arab culture that were implemented in the Iberian Peninsula were aubergine, spinach, sugar cane, rice, apricots and citrus.

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A part of the Iberian peninsula where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in the same city, this allowed each culture to develop and with this its gastronomy, and thus Sephardic gastronomy was born in which one of its most recognized plans was a recipe that It contained: battered and fried zucchini and aubergine, a patty made with different types of cheese, egg and spices that was called djadjik, this was a type of soup.

Some historians claim that it is not really possible to speak of a Sephardic gastronomy specifically, since it was basically a kosher tradition adapted to the region where they lived.

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The Christians were direct heirs of the Visigoths, who in turn were heirs of the Romans, and this is also true of their gastronomy. The Christians were the ones who processed the now incredible Spanish ham since the Christians ate it at least 1 or 2 times a week, the amazing thing that the Christians produced it is that the Muslims and Jews were forbidden to taste meat, which Christians if they could. In addition to using any type of meat for the ham, but they not only had an influence on the ham, they also had a great influence on desserts and sweets, they invented the marzipan that was made of sugar and almonds since they did not have wheat at that time

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Cold drinks became especially fashionable in Madrid. What contributed to the making of frozen beverages, such as sorbets and ice cream

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In Spain they considered their gastronomy as a tradition and were reluctant to change their habits, but the new dynasty of Felipe V took their customs to the courts.

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What is considered the first Spanish gastronomic treatise was published. This cookbook implies that cooking and cooking is an act of pleasure and health.

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When a new continent was discovered by mistake, in 1492, new foods were discovered such as: Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cocoa and wheat.

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Spain goes through a difficult economic situation, recipes from all regions of Spain begin to unify due to the influence of authors and journalists, new recipes and cooking utensils appear, food prices drop and Spanish cuisine expands.
The war influences Spanish gastronomy, generates new customs and cooking becomes a symbol of national identity.

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In Buñol began a tomato war, it is not well known how it originated, it is said that by a bad musician or to defend themselves from a person, the important thing is that it became a tradition every year, on several occasions tried to stop but failed.

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Chocolate was sent by the conquerors of America to Spain, it became popular in Spain and was traditionally consumed hot and was so addictive and popular that even the same church and the authorities wanted to stop it without success, fortunately.
It went from being a medicine to one of the favorite foods, which made it the target of counterfeiting with all kinds of elements that finally turned out to be harmless.

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The March bread or marzipan, although there are many ways to prepare it, it is generally a dough made of almonds and sugar.
This delicious preparation has its official origin in Toledo, although many other countries and places debate this idea.
marzipan became known mainly after the conquest of America, since it reached the Spanish colonies.

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Spanish beer went rather unnoticed in Europe for hundreds of years until emperor Charles V came to Spain from Flandes, brining with him his court and their strange customs. Charles was born in Ghentt in 1500. In time he would become the most powerful man in the world of his time, but as condition to access the Spanish crown, he must comply to learn Spanish and live in Castile. Flandes was not a wine producing country and therefore had quite a taste for beer, which the king imported to the Iberian country.
The Spanish beer factory was built next to the Manzanares' river bank due to the great quality of its water (the Spanish capital was Valladolid then, not Madrid by the way) and it functioned from 1537, manufacturing beer for the King, who liked to drink it ice cold, to his doctor's dismay, and it closed in 1558, when the king abdicated and retired to a monastery in Yuste (Cáceres).
Spanish beer factories in Madrid opened in 1611. Even so, no one in Spain really liked beer.
However the dice did turn and during the 60's it became the prefered summer drink for two reasons: it's low alcoholic content and that it was very refreshing.

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It's impossible to determine the exact origin of vines in Spain, as seeds have been found from the cenozoic or tertiary era (as much as 2.5 million years ago), and the great abundance of native vine varieties allowed the early viticulture. Some archeologists believe that the vines were cultivated as early as 4000 years ago.

The Phoenicians invaded the South of the Peninsula and founded the city of Cadiz around 1100 b.c. and viticulture increased, however it was the Carthaginians (from modern Tunisia) who brought new and advanced techniques for cultivating wines. However it is said that the real Spanish wine history began after the conquest of Hispania by the Romans, once Carthage was defeated by Rome in the Punic Wars.

During the Roman control of Hispania, Spanish wine was traded and exported to the entire empire. For many years more Spanish wine was exported to Galia (France) than Italian.
Rome was a huge empire and the need to supply its legions increased the already notorious Spanish wine trade, despite the fact that its quality wasn't always great, and some of its harvest "were only good enough to get drunk on" Ovid wrote of a popular wine sold in Spain, known as Saguntum.

In 1492 two important events took place. The Muslims were either kicked out or forced to convert, those who didn't had rather a hard time. This all happened because the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand decided they wanted to unify the peninsula exclusively under one creed: the Christian one. On the other hand America was discovered pretty much by accident as a Genovese sailor, Cristopher Columbus, was really looking for an alternative route to reach the Indies.

In 1587 Francis Drake sacked Cadiz and Martin Frobisher took back to England a load of 3,000 bottles of sherry wine as booty.

Some varieties of Spanish wines, specifically sherry, rioja and malaga enjoyed great popularity during the 17th and 18th centuries.

However there were more hardships to come. In the 1930's civil war hit Spain which meant that Spanish vineyards were abandoned. And once the Civil War was over Second World War broke out in Europe, which froze the wine markets. Spanish wine would not recover from these setbacks until the 50's.
Only in the 1950's did Spain reach a certain stability that allowed the rebirth of the Spanish wine industry. Several cooperatives were founded. Sherry was rediscovered and the world soon would be craving wines from La Rioja.

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Olive trees were not unknown in the Iberian Peninsula, but olives were not greatly cultivated until the Romans invaded Hispania in 212 B.C. The locals accepted the new customs brought by the Romans without great rejection. Infrastructure was built and new techonology was imported and put to work, trade grew and prospered and Hispania bloomed.