What Does “Made In Spain” Really Mean Today

What does "Made in Spain" actually mean? In this episode, Nalini and Laura take the podcast name literally and dig into the Spanish brands quietly carrying the country's soul — from a Madrid espadrille shop that's stood on the same corner since 1845, to the secretive leather workshops of Ubrique that craft bags for the world's biggest luxury houses.

Inside this episode:

• Casa Hernanz, the family-run espadrille maker just off Plaza Mayor, five generations in
• Ubrique: the hidden engine behind Loewe, Polène, Strathberry and more
• Mint & Rose's quiet luxury out of Valencia, plus Pokihomba's handcrafted boho hats from Barcelona
• La Bien Hecha's modern bags made the old-school way
• The unspoken language of the Spanish fan (and where to buy a beautiful one in Madrid)
• La Chinata's Pimentón de la Vera — Spain's protected smoked paprika, fourth-generation family business
• Fun facts on Lladró porcelain, world-leading olive oil, and 1917, an award-winning Cava you can only buy direct
• Laura's first Romería de Santa Faz — pilgrims, canes, rosemary, and a few shots of Jäger before 10am
• Plus a show-and-tell on Medicube skincare and Netflix's Running Point

Sentence of the day: hecho con amor — because something made the way it was five centuries ago still tastes better than anything made at scale.

This episode is powered by GoKo Energy — clean, natural energy made with coconut water, natural caffeine, and real fruit. No crash, no jitters. Order at gokoenergy.com.

Follow us @madeinspainpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Made In Spain

SPEAKER_02 0:06

This episode of the Made in Spain podcast is powered by GoCo Energy, clean natural energy for life at the speed of Go. Welcome to our exciting episode about the brands carrying the country's soul. This is the latest Made in Spain podcast episode. And I am Laura Senior Garcia.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I'm Nalini Sharma, and we are your co-host for the podcast Made in Spain. And we thought, I don't think we've ever done this, you know, sort of literal translation, made in Spain. And we are focusing solely today on products made in Spain. So uh it's a it's kind of a you know little tongue-in-cheek, but also hopefully a nice discovery for our listeners.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Absolutely. We are very excited to show you some brands that you may not have heard of before, and it is a range. It's from clothing to spices. So we're quite excited about this one. Before we get going, just a quick reminder that if you're not following along on socials at the Maiden Spain Podcast or the Maiden Spain podcast, look for us on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube as well. And also please subscribe or follow in your favorite podcast platform. We would love to have you be a part of our community.

Show And Tell TV And Skincare

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Absolutely. All right. So what are we gonna start with today?

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Before we dive into our actual topic, we started doing a bit of that show and tell. You know, what are you using? What are you eating? What are you watching? So what do you have for us today, Nalini?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Uh, I okay, I know you have something to show, but I will tell you what I'm watching right now is the um second season of Running Point on Netflix, which uh it stars Kate Hudson. And the last episode that I just saw, it's uh, you know, I mean, whatever, spoilers, everything is a spoiler these days, but uh her best friend, who's her her assistant, gets transferred to, you know, a fictional Toronto basketball team to work for the team in the back office. And the way they portray Toronto is super hilarious. It is so funny. Is it realistic? Not really. I mean, I think it's the funniest part to me is that the the lighting. So the their team is located in sunny California, and everything is beautiful and bright and blonde and you know, palm trees, and then they show Toronto, and everyone is lit with this kind of blue-gray, you know, filter. Everything looks dark, and then the you know, the the manager or the CEO or whatever tells her the character, look, you can on a clear day, you can see, you know, downtown Buffalo. And it's just so, it's so funny. It's just really funny that Canada is still portrayed that way to Americans. So yeah, that's what I'm watching. I got a big kick out of that.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

That's hilarious because I mean, Toronto's not like that, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Based on what you shared with me, is like definitely not like that. He does say in white uh that he has to leave because his uh there's a lockdown at his child school. And the woman's, she's like, Oh my god, is everything okay? Can keeping in mind she's American. Right. And he's like, Yeah, it's just a small bear. Oh and I thought, oh, come on. Bears do not roam the streets of Toronto. That doesn't happen. Raccoons, yes. Fake news, but anyway, that's that's what I'm watching. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Well, I want to share my latest, and this is not sponsored. I really want to say this. I'm obsessed with this thing. Okay. I've actually tried to talk Nalane into buying one. So this is from Medicube, and again, we do have a bit of uh I know both of us really like the whole beauty space. So I'm gonna turn it on just so you can hear the noise. Okay. So then you can level one booster mode. So what it is is like you put your cream on than you normally put on, and then you use this, you know, on your face with uh different motions, and it's got microcurrents. Okay. And it's become part of my daily ritual, and I absolutely love it. I'm kind of obsessed with Medicure products, and I was telling someone that I met the other day from Korea that I think there's a real thing in Spain where so many people are into Korean uh dermatology pro uh dermatology products. There's even like shops uh specialized for it, etc. So if you're into skincare, this little HR proaster is amazing.

Setting The Rules For Spanish Made

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Okay, there you go. Yeah, that's what I'm watching. That's what you're using right now. I like this segment. It's good. It kind of shows the you know another side to what's going on in our life. All right, so we're gonna we're talking about uh brands made in Spain. And do you have a favorite brand or anything that you you would say that you really love and that you would recommend?

Zara’s Scale And Travel Shopping Tips

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Okay, so I have to say that, and this may be an unpopular opinion, but you know, I think the mother of all Spanish brands that is known around the world, and I know we've had debate about it, is Zara. Right. Uh, I'm wearing Zara right now. I do try to shop other places other than Zara, but I always end up defaulting to them because it is great for like, you know, your the background, you could say, of your closet. You know, they just have so much stuff, all the collections are new. Mind you, they do not produce in Spain, they do not manufacture in Spain because if not, they would not be able to have the pricing that they have. So I know they do a lot of the production in Mexico, India, Morocco, etc., and some in China, I'm sure. Uh, but I think to me, it is kind of hard to ignore the elephant in the room, which you know how huge Zara actually is.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

You know, is he not the wealthiest? I think he's one of the wealthiest mm people in the world, yeah, you know, on that list, at least in the retail space, you know, the clothing space and in Spain.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

And if you actually look into the history of how they got started, uh I mean, it was like I think 1975 in Galicia, and I think their first store was like a jeans store.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

You know, so to build this mammoth of a brand and all the brands under it as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

It's not just Zara, it's all the other brands. But I mean, I think that is obviously it's a monopoly, it's a dominance, it's the go-to. But there is also a space for the smaller creators, and it's not to put a knock against Zara or any of their uh their other brands because I shop there. I think every human being on the planet shops with Zara at some point, at some point, whether you have a child, you're a man or woman, it doesn't matter. You have gone into a Zara and you probably have purchased something.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

So one just little note about Zara if you are traveling to Spain, you will notice some of the collections are different here, and the price point is way different than in the US and Canada. So I do have some friends that when they travel here, they they go out of their way to shop at Zara because the price point's different.

Casa Hernanz Espadrilles And History

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, I think it's more affordable here, even with the currency exchange. Yes. Yeah. All right. I want to talk about Casa Hernandez, and you are wearing their shoes today. Yes. They make Espadrilles. Um, okay, while Laura she gets her shoe, I'll tell you a little bit about them. They have uh, there you go. That's and how long you've had it now for a week.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

And the funny thing is, I've had it for a week, and I am almost embarrassed to say how many days out of that week I've worn it. Even for a trip to Rotterdam, you wore them in the very kind of much cooler weather. They are so comfortable that I couldn't bring myself to actually wear anything else.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Right. I yeah, I completely understand that because for a heeled shoe, um, Espadrilles are really super comfortable, they're a really nice style. Um, Casa Hernandez, I had the pleasure this week of speaking with the woman, uh, she runs it with her brother now. Her name is Marta. They've been running this company through their family for five generations. It's so impressive. It's so, it's incredibly impressive. And what I would say is that like a brand such as Casa Hernandez and other smaller brands, it's not about the money, whether you're saving or you're spending a little more, you're supporting uh part of the history of this country.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

However, the price point again is still very affordable. I bought these shoes for 55 euros, which by the way, some of the kind of market as designer espadrilles go up to like 300 or even more. It's pretty unbelievable to me that their prices are so good for such a well-made shoe.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

And Mart and I talked about it. So they've been in the same store, the same location in the center of Madrid since 1845. That's real. And the company, they haven't sold it, they don't have outside investors. It is a family-run business. The store originally started as uh, for lack of a better way of sort of saying it, almost like a farm store. So they would supply certain things to the farmers that they needed to work in the fields. Part of that were shoes, and Espadrilles were always flat shoes, they were never healed shoes. So that's the history of it. They were discovered in a cave in a particular part uh uh in Spain. I'm not gonna say where because I'll that will uh open up another channel of debate. But the original sort of, you know, shoe this has been passed down for hundreds of years. Um and it was a very simple shoe. So it they started with two styles and two colors, and it was worn by the workers. It was a worker shoe. It was something that people could afford, made very simply. The outside of the shoe originally, you know, the the rope part originally was made with hemp, but then became too expensive. Hemp is difficult to grow uh with the climate here and also difficult to work with. So now the outside of espadrills, uh properly made ones at least, um, it's jute, that that is the the material, and inside the heel is cork. So it if you notice that if you buy a less expensive something kind of cheap or imported and you try them on, sometimes the heel is hard. Yes, very hard. Hard or it feels no and it feels hollow or sometimes oddly very heavy, and that's because it's cheap construction inside. So the cork is what gives it the comfort because the cork has a bit of springiness to it and gives you that cushion.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Um that's super cool. By the way, I have to say, I love hearing you say ute because in Spanish it's yute. Oh actually, I think the exact same word. It's just the way you pronounce it the way you pronounce it. No, no, I think you're you're I'm sure you're saying it right. I've never heard it say in English, but in Spanish, it's yute. So I'm pretty sure it would be like it's spelt the same.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Well, so now imagine you have this company, it's existed for since the 1845. They since 1845. They've not moved their store. They used to have a bit of a factory there, but obviously they need space now. Uh, I think a lot of their shoes are now made in factories in the south of Spain. Some of their shoes are still hand hand stitched, certain models. And you'll see if you look at an espadrill, um, depending on the model, when you see that kind of stitching between the actual shoe and the heel, there's still people where their sitting is like kind of like a cottage industry, you know, they're in their homes stitching this on by hand. And when you buy that, you are buying their labor, yeah, you know, and that work that they put into it. It's not, yeah, it's just a shoe, you know, it goes with your outfit, it looks nice, but there's also a whole history behind it. The first high-heeled shoe came uh because of E. Saint Laurent. Oh, and he met up with another very famous, I don't want to take away from Casa Hernandez in this uh segment right now, but they met up at a trade show and he asked the other Espadrill maker, do you think you can make me one with a wedge? I want to feature it on my runway. And that was in the early 70s. Wow. And Yves Saint Laurent, by the way, his uh grandmother on his mother's side was Spanish. That is fascinating. So you might think, like, you think, where would he get that, you know, from that he's this, you know, a French fashion house? And that was the first heeled espadrill. And from there, on the runways of Paris, it's became popular. And the heel wasn't the as high, but it was still a decent wedge. And it took off from there. That's amazing. And it became, you know, uh the the it girl, the summer look, these, you know, very, in a way, exotic looking shoes. But at the time.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

But they're very, very comfortable. Yes. I think that's the I think I have like five different Espadrills right now. Yeah. But now, like I said, I'm really in love with these Casa Renanth uh shoes. I do want to say about Casa Renanth and a shout out to Marta that I mean, she was even the one responding to the DMs on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, and they're in the store. So and she's very happy. She, you know, she said we're welcome. Obviously, anybody's welcome there. But if you look at the price point of their shoes compared to what you would spend for a designer, quote unquote, designer label. But when you say designer, you also have to think, what does that actually mean? Because they're actually the copier. You're paying for the marketing team. Yeah, you're paying for them. So they've copied a shoe that was originally designed here. So you know, like they're they're the designer.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

I think it's important to tell our listener that we are not being sponsored by Casa Hernanth. We, like Nalini said, bought the shoes. Marta was kind enough to give her time to do an interview with us. And this goes back to us wanting to highlight less known real Spanish brands that you know people may not find otherwise. So, Casa Hernanth, for those of you who are looking for the spelling, so it's Casa C-A-S-A, and then Hernanth H E R N A-N-Z. Yes. And you can go on their website. I'm not sure if they ship international, but I would suspect they do.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Uh, I I I'm not 100%. You'd have to check with that. But they have a very um dedicated following. And she says they sell espadrilles through the entire year, 12 months out of the year. It's not just a summer shoe. People are buying all different types. They've launched a new sort of style, a Mary Jane, that she said is doing really, really well. But it's just the thought that goes into it. Yes, it obviously, okay, Zara is everywhere. You can go into Zara, you can buy a pair of espadrills there or Mango or whatever, you know, the big name is, but you can also maybe go to the source and spend a lot less for a quality-made shoe and maybe be a little different, you know, like you lead the trend as opposed to have the trend lead you. Yeah. So yeah, I was empowering everyone. Yeah, but yeah, anyway, I just thought it was so fascinating and they're right there, located right off Plaza Mayor in the center of Madrid since 1845. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Um I would actually say it's a nice little visit to the store as well.

Ubrique Leather Bags And Quiet Luxury

SPEAKER_00 15:44

100%. We're going. We've already made a plan that we're gonna go for a little day trip, have lunch, buy some shoes. Nice. Should we talk about handbags?

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Yeah, go ahead. So, one of the things that I know we've touched on before, but it still is like a big unknown to a lot of people is that there's this little town uh near Cádiz or in the Cádiz province called Ubrique. Yes. And in Ubrique, they are actually hush hush making some of the biggest brands out there with some of the best quality. And there's also some brands that are kind of Spanish brands that are also producing there. But I think it is something that is definitely on our list to visit Ubrique. But the handbag and high-quality leather industry here in Spain is absolutely amazing. Do you have any favorites that you want to mention?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Um, I do have some favorites. I will say for uh we have not been to Ubrique yet. It is a trip that we do want to organize and um sort of discover the town, but I do know that they tend to be quite secretive. Yes, they are very secretive, which I completely understand. There's I'm sure the factories and they actually, I told you they have a little bit of a um like a university course there where you sign up and it's several years where you learn the artisanship behind it, making these handbags by hand in most cases, or at least parts of the construction. Um, I think I read that about 5,000 people, which is quite a large percentage of their population. It's not a big town. It's a small town. They work in that industry. So, and it's been passed down from generation to generation. Now, we've tried to, I've done my research. I've you know watched YouTube videos of people deconstructing bags. It's hard to for the really, really big names, you know, the you know, the very luxury brands. Like Louis Vuitton, like Hermaise, like to say that maybe not the whole bag, but maybe parts of the construction are done in Ubrique. They don't confirm it. They never say. So that's because they want to say it's from Paris or it's a French brand or whatever. That's understandable. But Loe V is one of my favorites, so I think they have a really unique and it's uh, you know, a very um storied Spanish brand.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

I think that was like our second episode.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, it was our second episode, and I do like um okay, so Polen. Polen is actually become really big. Right, but their the brand is Polen Paris, but it's made in Ubrique. So, and that's not a secret. It I made sure I went on their website to see if they actually attribute the where their uh bags are crafted, and it is in Spain, as well as Strathberry, which is a Scottish brand, uh quite popular with some of the you know, the it girls in um the UK, yeah, in the UK, in Canada, in America, designed, created, you know, kind of conceptualized in Scotland, but also made in Spain.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

And by the way, I don't think there is anything kind of uh that diminishes the value of the brand by it being made in Ubrique. If I had a brand and my pieces were made in Ubrique, I would be extremely proud of it. Because again, you're talking about somewhere that is raising the artisans of the future.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Exactly. And then there's the fear that what if that artisanship is not passed down? Yeah. Which is a big issue for a lot of trades. Yeah. What if it's not passed down? What if people, you know, just it's slowly you saying, well, we're not gonna do this, or this can be automated. Okay, so now if it's automated, are you still paying that same price? So a bag that's 2,000 euros, dollars, whatever denomination, do you still want to spend that money if it's just coming out of completely a factory?

SPEAKER_02 19:39

To me, if it's like if someone tells you, here's this bag, it was handcrafted, you can picture the amount of hours, the love, and the effort that went into it, that can't be taken away by automation or AI. So I think to me, it's kind of like they say now you one of the safest jobs you can go into is like being a plumber. You know, you're not going to be replaced by a robot immediately. I think it's a very honorable line of work to be in.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Right. I do want to uh have a honorable mention. I have two. Um, one is from Valencia, Mint and Rose. Yes, Mint and Rose. Do yeah, I went in their store the a couple weeks back, and um, it's sort of this the you know, the concept of quiet luxury. So I quite like their style. And again, they have um, you know, they have espadrills, they have nice heeled shoes, they have bags, they have leather, and all handcrafted in Spain.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

And their branding is really cool. I love their Instagram. I think Mint and Rose is very cool. And I even like the name, it's got like a bit of a cool sort of it's definitely, and it's in a really fun part of the city.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

So if you do go to Valencia, you can check them out. And one more is uh Pokihumba hats. Oh, yeah. Pokihomba. Yes. Pokihomba hats, which she is an artisan, again, a hat maker based in the Barcelona area, and she custom makes these really cool boho kind of cowboy hats. It's not the it's not the straw hat, it's a felt hat, but she customizes it and they come in different colors, but she makes it herself from scratch. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

And so again, if you look them up, it it pokeumba. Uh they she shows the whole process. Yeah. And I think it's really nice how she shares that process on socials as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yeah, she we haven't had a chance to chat with her, but I've been eyeing some of her things for a really long time now. And I keep saying, I want to go to Barcelona to visit her studio to just see what she does because I think they're really unique. And these brands that we've talked about, they are not over the like super expensive. Like, let's say 300 euro and below, definitely with the Espadrills. So they're artisans, they're small producers, designers, they're designers. And if you choose to go down that road, it's something that I I think even though you're spending maybe a little bit less on it, you're you should be proud to wear it.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

And also Because it's original. And a lot of these things as well, you can fix them later. It's something that can stay with you and within your family for a long time. I do want to do a kind of like you said, honorable mention. One uh handbag designer and manufacturer or maker that I've been looking at a lot and we haven't had the chance to speak with them as well, is La Bien hecha, which translates to the well made. And it is uh mostly run by women and they show their whole process with very high quality leathers and they're very modern looking bags, but it's made very much the old school way.

unknown 22:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

That's yeah, really interesting. And I always find it interesting that um they, even though most of these brands are on social media, they they they tend to be a little bit more quiet. Yes. And they also don't, because they make everything by hand, they don't sell them in big quantities to, let's say, an El Corte ingles or um, you know, any other big store. It's their little studio and they're making this and they have a following. So you And it's direct to consumer. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

It's not going through major distribution channels, it's direct to consumer.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

So yeah, it's yeah. So I think it's a good mix between, you know, the kind of the fast fashion, but also there are brands that you can support for this really almost the same amount of money. And it's being curated and made by hand. Absolutely.

The Spanish Fan As Culture

SPEAKER_02 23:35

So I definitely think recommended if you're coming here or even if you're not coming here, look these brands up. I think you'll find it fascinating. And I think for some of you that like things that are a little bit different that not everybody else is wearing, definitely worth checking them out. Okay. Do you want to talk about the fan? Okay. All right. So, and then I think we'll go to some of the the food products. But I have this fan here, and I think, you know, I'm just gonna kind of yeah. So this is such a kind of cornerstone of Spanish culture. You know, it's gets hot here in the summer, particularly. That fan's beautiful, by the way. Yeah, it's a big one, and this is not an expensive fan, but the point with the fan is that it's a little bit of a fashion statement, but it has been around for so long. And you will see women of all ages, and even sometimes men, you know, when it gets really hot using these fans. And I think that it's beautiful. And I know you told me about a store in Madrid. Uh, was it Casa Diego? Yes. Casa Diego that, you know, sells like hand-painted fans, also a big range of prices. So, you know, again, I think something that I would always say to people, oh, what do I bring back home? You know, for people that, oh, I've had a trip to Spain and I don't just want to buy like a fridge magnet, you know, which again is fine if you want to get a fridge magnet. But I think a fan is something that people will really appreciate.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Also, it has a certain style to it. Like I think it's really cool. Like some the hands, the fans that are hand painted, yes, they're obviously gonna cost a little bit more. Um, but it's something that you can keep for a long, like you can pass it down even. They're just really pretty. And I don't know, I think it would be a really cool kind of fashion trend to accessorize, just like the way people accessorize their outfits with sunglasses or you know, a bag. Having a fan that kind of matches your outfit is a really nice statement as well and unique.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

When we're going into the Holy Communion and wedding kind of and baptisms and all that time of the year here, which is usually May and June, you will rarely see a nicely dressed Spanish woman without her fan at these events. Like it is definitely a thing. So Spanish fans dates to the early 17th century, and it was adopted from the East. So we're not claiming that fans were invented here. Uh, however, it is also uniquely Spanish in the way that they've been modified. And something cool is that at court, the language of the fan was an entire social cord. How you held it, how you opened it, how you passed it, each gesture communicated something specific. So it's actually something that has a lot more historical connotation than you would normally think about.

La Chinata Smoked Paprika Origins

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Oh, interesting. Almost like being at an auction, in a way. You know, the you know, this way. Signal, like signal. Yeah, that's actually uh really that's interesting. And it also makes a lot of sense. So, next, do you want to do we want to talk about Latinata? Yes. Okay, how did this come about? We've got some products here that they sent us, which is super exciting. Um, I have not, I mean, I know about paprika, but I've not seen this brand before.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

If next time you go to the supermarket, okay, if you look in the spice section, I think you're gonna find it at most spice sections in the supermarkets here. So you want to hold up the little can.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

So we have this La Chinata smoked paprika.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Uh, and it is a company from Malpartida de Plasencia. That's a bit of a mouthful. And it's a small village in Extremadura, okay, uh, in the green hills of the Sierra de Gata, de Gerte de Bat uh de Gerte Valley. And what it's one of the most beautiful and least visited corners of Spain. Their flagship product is Pimentón de la Vera.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

This is very specific because it has a protected designation of origin. Yes. So in order to be able to be called Pimentón de la Vera, it has to be smoked in the Vera Valley in Extremadura. So we're talking the same as like designation for wines and so on. So very, very special. So the way that this came about, and I want to thank La Chinata for sending us these products, is I was actually looking through socials and their brand popped up, and I thought that is really cool branding. And then I was like, I think I've seen this before in the supermarkets. And it turns out historically, it is just amazing, you know, what again, family-run business, what they have accomplished. So inside this box, there's a bit of a different kind of spices and um a hotter version of the pimenton de la vera, even like a hot sauce. Right. And do you mind if I show the little barbecue? Of course. Really cool. So they sent us this that I think is a very like new product that they have is this little barbecue that Nalini and I agree that you can probably kind of uh make one steak on it. Yeah. But uh, let's see, we can unfold it here.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

It's very cute. It looks like a little um almost like a purse. Yes. Like you can or a lunch.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

You have like a little, you know, and there's a whole few more things that go into it. But this little barbecue kit I thought was super cool. And they also sent us a oh, don't move. They also sent us a paella kit that includes the pimentón de la vera, which is very much an ingredient or the sazonador de paella. It's within the seasoning for paella, and it includes some olive oil and the rice to make the paella. So they have this little paella kit. Are you gonna make that? Let's do that for one of our socials. It is a small pan. It's very small, it's very cute. It's a one-person paella kit, let's put it that way. Yeah. But I think this is so cool that, first of all, the response are very, very nice and approachable. I would definitely recommend checking out La Chinada. Um, so I think worth noting that. Well, let me let me ask you something because you probably cooked a lot more with uh smoked paprika than I have. Do you would you want to say anything about that?

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Well, I know for okay, I did a little bit of research into paprika or pimenton. It is not native to Spain. Christopher Columbus brought it back from the South, South America. That makes sense. Yeah, or the Americas. So it is not indigenous here, and some of the varieties that he did return with um were quite hot. But the soil here, throughout not just in Spain, but throughout Europe, as because when you think about paprika, other uh cuisines in Europe, they use it very frequently and it's part of their you know daily cuisine. Um the soil caused the peppers to sort of lose the fieriness. So a lot of the paprika here is flavorful, but it doesn't have that um, you know, the hot the heat to it. For example, in Hungary, they use I mean, paprika is huge, right? It it's huge. So you think, how did it travel? Because of the explorers, they brought these plants back and it traveled and it's it's spread. Also, it's quite easy to grow the peppers here. The climate is very suitable, particularly in that region. Murthea also has very dry. Yeah, but Morthia also has a very uh vibrant paprika production as well, because again, of the climate, and but their paprika is different, it is not smoked.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

So this is particularly smoked. Yes. So I want to just mention who's behind it because sometimes we see the brand, but you know, getting the history was very interesting. So behind it is the oliva family, four generations based in the town that I mentioned, and the name La Chinata actually comes from what the people of that village are called, which is Los Chinatos. So the brand is literally named after the neighbors.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Oh, that's really cool. It's kind of a funny name. It's does not really sound Spanish when you read it out, but that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yes, yeah, and then the two starting dates that I think are worth mentioning. They're Olive Grove goes back to 1932, and the family first bought the first line in Sierra de Gata around that time, and the company as it exists now was founded in 1975.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Okay, wow, that's really interesting. Yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah, so should we move on to our slice of life?

GoCo Energy Break And Reset

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Yeah, slice of life. So before we dive into our slice of life, quick shout out to our amazing partner, Goco Energy. You have to try this.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

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SPEAKER_02 32:39

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SPEAKER_00 32:49

I agree. I'm not necessarily a fan of all energy drinks, but this is one that I truly enjoy. My favorite flavor so far is pineapple, and you can order it straight from gocoenergy.com. That's g-o-k-o-energy.com. Shipped right to your door.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

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SPEAKER_00 33:23

Yay! All right, uh we're gonna start with some fun facts first.

Olive Oil Lladró And Wine Facts

SPEAKER_02 33:27

We're gonna start with some fun facts.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Okay, all right, fun facts. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil and it produces more olive oil than Italy and Greece combined. Um, very interesting. I do believe that some of the olive oil from Spain is exported and it isn't repackaged in in other countries and sold as under that under their brand.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

That is a fact.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Now we're not gonna name the brands that do that, but it is a fact.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Yeah. I mean, it's very funny. Olive trees here, they're they grow everywhere. Yes, they're everywhere. I think I have six in the garden here. I yeah, I have about six. Which I never know what to do with the olives.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

We can talk about that because there are things you can do with the olives that you can actually treat them at home without having to go through a big process. But my dog, huh?

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Whoa, my dogs eat them.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Yeah, well, I'm sure that helps them with their restroom habit.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

They eat them. So fiber.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Another fun fact, yadro. Okay, which I think there's a little bit less for the new generations, but yadro porcelain, this used to be such a big thing for older generations to collect the yadro porcelain. I remember going to my grandma's house in Australia and she was like, you know, she had this like piece of yadro. Oh, okay. It's an iconic glazed figurine. And they uh were founded by three brothers in the village of Almacera, just outside of Valencia, in 1953. And they started in a small Moorish kiln in the back garden. The brand exports to over a hundred countries now.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

So, Yadro, that's L-L-A-D-R-O. It's really cool. But some of their pieces, I will warn you, are extremely expensive. Like they're collector's items. Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

That's interesting. It's also maybe some of the sometimes the art of collecting those types of things doesn't pass down.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Yeah, it's just, you know, before when you used to go to people's homes and they had like their cabinet with their you know, glass kind of and they had their little, you know, things that they didn't want the kids to touch, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

That would be there. That's it. All right. Now, uh other interesting fact, Spain has more land under basically wine cultivation than France or Italy, but produces less wine because yields are intentionally kept low. So that is, you know, I think part of the culture here as well. That's very specific, the regions and the types of wines that they produce.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Yeah. So and I think that again, no disrespect to French wines. No, absolutely. There's some really amazing ones, but I do think we have some great, great wine in this country. Very, very affordable.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

I will say, okay, we're we'll get to the reason we're holding a cane in a second, but I want to do a mention to this particular um winery, Masette. They are there, it's really funny because we ran into them. We got to know them at a food show we went to in uh Alicante. Alicante. And since then, I'm on a regular call list with the with the woman. I know I don't know her name, but she actually calls for my son because she doesn't speak English. So he places the order. And they spent I'm I they're friends. I don't think she knows his yeah, I don't think she knows his age, but they have very long conversations about the wine order. And he's and he negotiates with her on the phone. It's really very funny. However, this particular Kava, it has won awards for being the best Kava in the world. Ooh, 1917. The the brand 1917. So the they have been in the the family themselves, a family again, family-run business in the Barcelona-ish region. So that part of the country, which again, that actual area of Spain is known for cava yeah, production. And, you know, you had that the plague in the late 1800s that wiped out a lot of the vines, not just in Spain, but throughout Europe. And part of the recovery process was to make a different type of product to, you know, to produce something. And that's really sort of the birth of Kava. Um, this is fantastic, and they are direct to consumer. You cannot buy it at a store. You have to order from them. I'm still holding on to the cane. Uh, you have to order straight from them, they deliver it. Uh, guy comes in a little van, he puts your order at the front door and you pay him in cash and off he goes. And probably four weeks from now, I'll get another call and I'll make another order. But it's a fantastic product. So if you're looking for something different that you don't just pick up from the supermarket, um, it's not, you know, mass produced. They actually tell you how many uh units they have in their catalog. So once it's gone, that particular vintage, it's finished. So let's cheers. Oh, cheers, yeah. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Which in Spanish is salud, which is health. This is nice. Yeah. So in the last episode we had non-alcoholic, but it is alcoholic.

Santa Faz Pilgrimage And The Cane

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Tiny, tiny little bit. Now, did you want to explain why we're just randomly holding a cane? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

So if you're watching on YouTube, you will have noticed that we have transitioned to holding a big cane. Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Cane as in not like a walking cane.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Yes. Well, it is a walking cane.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

It's a walk, but it's bamboo. It's bamboo.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Stick. We should say stick stick. Big stick with some rosemary stuck on the top. On the top. And I had to fight really hard to get these canes, so I wanted them featured in the episode. Just want to say. Okay, so this is from the Romeria, the Santa Faz. That happens once a year. Right. Uh, and it goes from Alicante to San Juan, where they have the Santa Paz, which allegedly, like we said with the chalice. The chalice is a piece of the sheet that Jesus Christ wiped his face with or something like that uh after the resurrection. Okay. So again, allegedly. Well, how many people attend this pilgrimage?

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Thousands and thousands of people. So not all of them are wrong. No. Like if it's I I read that it was upwards of like a couple hundred thousand people.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

I don't know how many people were there this time, but we will show some images on socials. It was intense. Okay. So it's so the reason why I said I had to fight to get the canes. If you do not get there early enough, these canes are actually given by the town hall. Okay. They actually stack them outside the town hall. Right. And everybody on the way there, because we actually travel from San Juan. I was with my brother's family in the tram because parking is just Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

So you go from there, you take the tram, you're in the Alicante, and then what happens? You gather?

SPEAKER_02 40:37

You gather. Well, thousands and thousands of people gather at the town hall. Right. Uh fight to get these canes because they run out. Yeah. You know, they don't have enough for everyone. So if you don't go early enough, you won't get a cane. Right. And you grab a cane and then you start your Romeria. Right. Uh towards uh San Juan, where it ends near where they have the Santa Faz.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Okay. And then you people cue, right, to get into the church to view it, no?

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yes. And full transparency, I did not cue to get into the church because it probably was at least a solid four-hour queue. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

And so what is the significance of this?

SPEAKER_02 41:12

So I had to look this up because even though I was with people that do this romeria every year, I'm afraid to say I don't think it's about the historical significance. It's more of a tradition. Right. And I will say there's a lot of day drinking that goes on at this thing.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

So it's not, you should say it's morning drinking. It's like La Tomatina.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

Eight o'clock in the morning kind of drinking. Yeah. So it's it's serious. So what they symbolize is devotion, tradition, and a physical way for the um, what do you call it? Pil pilgrimms. Sorry, I was gonna say pilgrimagers. Okay, so pilgrims to actually support themselves uh with something in this walk. I just looked up the actual amount of kilometers, and I have to say it's eight kilometers. Like it's not it's not like it's eighty kilometers. No, but it's a lot, it is a lot, and some people do it barefoot because maybe they've made a promise.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Did you see people doing it barefoot?

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Yes, we saw a couple of people doing it barefoot. Apparently, some people do it on their knees. I didn't see anyone do the eight kilometers on their knees on tarmac, but apparently, you know, if you've made this promise that you want to come true, uh, you know, they do do it. So they it's interesting because the rosemary also has a significance, and that's why these uh sticks or canes are called romeros. Okay. So romero is rosemary in Spanish. So a little bit about the experience that I thought was really, really cool. I've been telling my family that I was gonna do this for a while. My brother lives there, and he's like, You have to come, you have to come. I have to give a shout-out to my brother, you know, who brought Jaegermeister to do shots of Jaegermeister on the road. I was like, you know what? This is a first for me. Like I've done Kaba with Nalini in the podcast at 10 o'clock in the morning, but 9:30 in the morning, Shots of Jaegermeister while doing supposedly a religious kind of walk was very interesting. But we were not in the out crowd. There's a lot of people who are also celebrating with their family, and obviously there's people that also do it uh with no alcohol as well. But it is a moment of reflection, of celebration, and it is very significant. So if you're in the Ali County region in April, I definitely would look up the Romería de Santa Faz and would give it a try. I mean, it is really something very special that is worth being a part of. One funny thing that I wanted to mention about the canes, and I told you. At one point we stopped to have a sandwich, right? And a nine year old kid tried to steal our canes. And I was like, excuse me, those are not yours. And then he tried with someone else that was in our group. So it wasn't just once, and I'm like, okay, I don't think. This is like good values from a kind of you know religious standpoint that you're trying to steal our canes, but yeah, definitely a recommended experience. And you know, this year we were lucky, the weather was good, uh, but it's super enjoyable. I would definitely recommend doing it. Nothing like doing a full pilgrimage, right? But I think a Romeria is something really nice to be a part of.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

All right.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

So now we can put the canes down.

Hecho Con Amor And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah, we can put the canes down. Do you want to do our sentence of the day?

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Yes. So our sentence of the day today is hecho con amor.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Uh made with your made with love.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

Made with love, which is the explanation of how something made, for example, in a village in Extremadura, is the same way it was five centuries ago, still tastes better than anything that's made at scale.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah, that's nice. All right, well, cheers to that. Cheers. The Made in Spain podcast is fueled by Goco Energy, refreshingly real energy that keeps the good vibes going.