ORGANISING FOOD INTAKE. OTORDUAK

La abundante información etnográfica que hemos ido acumulando desde las primeras décadas de nuestro siglo sobre la alimentación, nos permite afirmar que en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX un elevado número de ocupaciones, como pastores, pescadores, leñadores, carboneros, etc., realizaban únicamente dos comidas al día.

MEALS OUTSIDE THE HOME: SHEPHERDS, FISHERMEN AND OTHERS

Bermeo fishermen (B), up to a few decades ago, got up at five in the morning when at sea, had a coffee and started working. Around 10.00 a.m., depending on the fishing, they had the first meal that was called armuzue. They would then continue to work until around four or five in the afternoon, always depending on the fishing tasks, when they would stop for the second meal, marmitxe. Nowadays, nearly all the boats follow the shore timetables, in other words, they have breakfast between half-past seven and eight, have lunch at around one p.m. and have dinner at about 7.00 p.m.

SUNDAY MEALS

On Sundays, people have a lighter breakfast-brunch and they have a later and better midday lunch. They sometimes skip the afternoon snack and dinner or high tea is similar to the one on weekdays.

The midday meal has traditionally consisted of, in most of the country, soup, chickpeas, the meat used to flavour and in the cooking of the former, with the meat used to add its flavour and juices to those dishes, in a tomato sauce; along with the odd dish such as salt cod, chicken or rabbit and homemade desserts (rice pudding, custard, egg custard, etc.) or fruit. In addition to the wine, many men also had coffee, a glass of spirit and cigar to round off such a splendid meal.

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

The ritual of seating everyone at the table was very similar throughout the Basque Country: the father sat at the head of the table, the mother near to the fire to look after and serve the meal and the rest of the family around the table, or failing that, around the stewpot or dish in which the food was served.

Traditionally, meals were eaten in the kitchen, near to the fire and the dining-room was only used, when there was one, for large gatherings when there were many guests at home.

FROM THE COMMUNAL DISH TO THE INDIVIDUAL PLATE

Around forty or fifty years ago, the majority of people ate from a communal dish, placed in the middle of the table and which everyone could reach. Everyone drank from the same water jug or from a single glass in the case of wine.

Nowadays, everyone has their own dish, even bowls and flat plates for the first and second course respectively and small plates for the dessert. Only the salad and some specific dishes, such as one-pot meals in frying pans, chops, some pastry desserts, etc., are eaten directly from the dish in which they are served and which are placed in the middle of the table.

CUTLERY

In the past, the people used their fingers to take the food from the dish placed in the middle of the table and put it directly in their mouths. The oldest people living in Sara (Ip) had been told by their parents that people even ate stew with their hands ahurka (from agur, cupped hand).

The spoon was the first piece of cutlery to appear. At the start of the century, boxwood spoons were used throughout the country, though they were sometimes made out of beech, as both types of wood are very fine and do not fade. Those spoons were deep and thin.