El Cid at the table

At the table of an 11th-century Castilian knight, there is neither "appetizer" nor "dessert": first come the sopas and bread, the nourishing base that opens every meal; then comes roasted or stewed meat, the centerpiece reserved for days of strength and celebration; the whole is washed down with wine cut with water. But as Rodrigo fights alongside Moorish lords as well as against them, his table mingles the Christian heritage of the North (bread, lard, game) with the refinement of al-Andalus (almonds, honey, saffron, sweet-and-sour agridulce). Field rations — salted meats, almond pastes — are kept apart, in the rider's saddlebags.

The sweet-and-sour marriage of honey, ground almonds, and spices (cinnamon, saffron) is the hallmark of al-Andalus cuisine that Castilians adopted. On the reconquered lands of Toledo and then Valencia, El Cid ate at this frontier of flavors: it perfumes both his festive meat and his saddle provisions.