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LIFE IN SPAIN

The secrets of El Menú del Día: The surprising story behind Spain’s fixed-price lunch menu

Madrid resident Paul Burge discovers the story behind Spain's popular Menú del Día and asks - is it on its way out?

Published: 4 February 2020 16:34 CET
Updated: 19 November 2021 12:19 CET
El menú del día is a culinary institution in Spain.
El menú del día is a culinary institution in Spain. Photo: Cpgxk/flickr

Wander up and down any street in Spain and you’re bound to see a blackboard propped up outside almost any restaurant announcing ‘Menú del Día‘.

A list of two courses with various dishes for each will have been hastily scribbled down by the chef that morning. And no menú would be complete without the final flourish of, ‘Pan, Bebida Postre o Cafe‘ (Bread, Drink and Dessert or Coffee) followed by an appetite-inducing and implausibly reasonable price.

There is a catch of course. El menú del día is only available from Monday to Friday and as the name suggests only at lunchtimes, normally 2 – 4pm. You’ll also have a fairly limited two or three options for each course. Hence the incredibly good value. I’ve eaten fixed-price menus in Spain for as little as €7. They can be as ‘expensive’ as €15 at more high-end establishments. But the average is around €12. 

So how did this fantastic value lunch menu come about and why is it so popular today? 


A  maincourse of swordfish and potato at Madrid’s El Maño restaurant. Photo: F Govan
 

By the late 1950s Franco realised just how much Spain had to gain economically from tourism. The ‘Spain is different’ marketing campaign of the late 1950s saw an enormous boom in tourism from 2.9 million visitors in 1959 to 11.1 million visitors in 1965.

General Franco’s Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga subsequently decided to introduce legislation to implement a standardised format for a fixed-price menu to make sure all visitors could enjoy Spanish cuisine.

Originally it was called El Menú Túristico and was aimed specifically at tourists. El Menú Túristico was made law in Spain on March 17th, 1965 and an official state bulletin from the 29th March 1965 described in excruciating detail what was to be provided by all restaurant owners.

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Accompanying legislation also laid down the law regarding the management of cafeterias, university and factory canteens, as well as restaurant and café cars on trains.

It was inevitable then that the economical fixed-price menú became incredibly popular with Spaniards, and soon spread right across the country. By the early to mid 1970s el menú túristico had become el menú del día and was available in every single town and city in Spain, as it is today.

Yes, el menú del día is a culinary institution in Spain – culinary may sound a little pretentious, as el menú is anything but. Think basic and hearty.

So what’s the format? 


A typical menú del día of starter, main course, dessert, bread and a drink. Photo: F Govan

The menu includes three courses; ‘primer plato’, ‘segundo plato’ and ‘postre’. First and second courses plus dessert. You’ll also be brought an often generous basket of bread.

So what can you expect to eat?  For the first course you’ll be given between two to four dishes from which to choose, usually based on vegetables, eggs or pulses.

The offerings will vary depending on the time of year, as Spaniards love to use fresh seasonal produce. In colder months, think soups, stews or paella.

When the heat kicks-in salmorejo and gazpacho (cold tomato soups of varying viscosity) are common choices along with salads. Meat and fish dishes are mainstays of the second course, often grilled, sometimes fried. You might be lucky enough to find seafood, calamari or prawns on offer too.

And for dessert? Well, they rarely come as a surprise.

Expect a stream of egg-custard style desserts, like natillas, flan or pudding. Arroz con leche is nearly always on the menú too – creamy rice pudding. Personally, I find these options too heavy after eating two substantial courses. So you can always opt for fruit, which will literally be an orange or an apple which you will need to peel yourself!

‘Un surtido de helados’ – a selection of ice creams is also standard. But why do they only ever have vanilla!? If you get really lucky there might be Tarta de Santiago which is a delicious almond-flavoured cake from Galicia.

Will el menú del día be around forever? 


Photo: AFP

Well, it is no longer the law to provide one. Yet, so ingrained has el menú become in the daily rhythm of life it’s hard to imagine it disappearing. It’s true that gentrification, and the closure of family businesses due to retirement are taking their toll on the bargain menu. 

But menú del días are still springing-up in less traditional restaurants. Italian, Chinese, Indian, Senegalese, you name it, they all commonly offer a fixed-price lunch menu, such has it become a national institution. 
 
Paul Burge is a former BBC journalist who moved from Oxford, UK to Madrid in 2013 where he now hosts the highly entertaining When in Spain podcast, a free weekly show all about Spain – culture, travel, lifestyle, work, interviews and much more. Follow Paul’s observations and advice about living in Spain on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter .
 

READ MORE:  Eight steps to dining out like a local in Spain

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WORKING IN SPAIN

Why the Basque Country is Spain’s industrial powerhouse

Mining roots stretching back centuries, an astute transition to R+D, locally-run companies, and a special fiscal agreement with the government. When it comes to industry and jobs, the Basque Country is just different to the rest of Spain.

Published: 9 April 2024 10:20 CEST
Why the Basque Country is Spain's industrial powerhouse

The Basque Country is something of an exception in Spain. It’s one of the country’s smaller regions, with a little over 2 million people living there, yet also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and the second highest per capita income after Madrid.

Much of this economic strength comes from a centuries-long industrial history in the Basque Country, as well as a bespoke fiscal agreement with the national government that gives the region greater control over taxes. In recent decades, it’s overtaken Catalonia to emerge as arguably Spain’s real industrial powerhouse.

Though it’s not what it was, industry is still the main economic motor in the Basque economy, making up almost a quarter (23.1 percent) of GDP according to INE data from 2022, meaning it’s the region with the second largest share behind only neighbours Navarre.

It also has a high percentage of people working in industry, 18.5 percent, which is well above the national average (11 percent) and it is also far and away Spain’s strike capital, accounting for around half of all industrial action in Spain. 

READ ALSO: Why the Basque Country is the strike capital of Spain

Though historically Barcelona was Spain’s industrial base for many years, a combination of factors have propelled the Basque Country to its status as Spain’s industrial powerhouse in recent decades.

As is often the case with this northern region, the Basques do things slightly differently to the rest of Spain. It has used its pre-existing industrial heritage to take advantage of new technologies, keep industrial hubs at home, introduced effective traineeships and career paths to keep the industrial motor going with local staff, all while benefiting from the regimen foral (chartered regime) that gives the region a level of fiscal autonomy (some would say unfair advantage) from the central government.

Industrial roots

But this is nothing new. The idea of the Basque Country as an industrial powerhouse goes back centuries to the mining industry. From as early as the 14th century, Basque iron-ore mining contributed to economic growth that outpaced many other parts of Spain, and then, in the 18th century, Basque industry shifted its attention to the steel industry.

Around a century or so later, in the 19th century, blast furnaces allowed Basque’s to export iron in bulk quantity, mostly to the UK. As a result of this thriving export business, the Basque Country underwent a period of industrialisation which not only boosted steel production due to increased iron ore production, but it also put Basques firmly in the tool and machinery industry and set the region up for a strong industrial future.

The Basque Country’s mining roots stretch to the 14th century. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

Technological transition

One of the main reasons the Basque Country has emerged as an industrial power is its adaptability. Fernando Barciela, a long-time contributor to El País’ business section, has written on this transition, and how the industrial past set the Basque Country up for success in the future: “In the Basque country, the old blast furnaces, steel industries and tool manufacturing companies of that period have been transformed into a high-tech industrial infrastructure, which includes the automotive and aeronautics sectors, as well as new energies, [and] machine tools.”

As Barcelona’s industrial power wanted at the end of the 20th century, the Basques positioned themselves at the cutting edge of global industry and have established a highly successful export industry, something that contributes to the region’s wealth overall.

READ ALSO: Why are the Basque Country and Catalonia so rich compared to the rest of Spain?

Barciela notes that “they [Basque companies] export between 70-90 percent of their production, achieving surpluses for the region’s trade balance, of some €5 billion in one of the last few years.” Long-term investment in technology and R&D from the regional government has helped solidify the Basque Country as one of the most innovative parts of Europe.

As such, the Basque Country boasts the headquarters of major international industrial names like Iberdrola, Tubos Reunidos, Aernnova Aerospace, Arcelor, Cie Automotive, Irizar, Mondragón, and ITP Aeronautica, among many others. And unlike any other regions that have multinational companies based there, or indeed other countries, the majority of the companies based in the Basque Country are owned and run by long-established Basque families, many of whom work together.

There are also apprenticeship schemes to help local youngsters join industries easily and a more balanced population distribution across the Basque Country as R+D plants and factories are found in smaller towns and villages, not just close to the big cities of Bilbao and San Sebastián.

Barciela also suggests that the Basque Country’s industrial base (and economy more broadly) was insulated from the worst effects of the financial crisis and “it was also a great help that the Basque savings banks were saved from the property bubble. This meant that most of them avoided going bust.”

While around the rest of the country most banks focused on property and mortgages, “the Basque savings banks continued to support industrial projects developed by the companies and backed by the government in Vitoria.”

Bilbao’s port is the most important in northern Spain. Photo: ANDER GILLENEA/AFP

The future

However, the future isn’t entirely rosy for Basque industry or its economy. According to Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, the region’s economic activity rate is falling and is currently lower than the national rate (57 percent compared to 59 percent nationally).

Similarly, the decreasing weight of its regional GDP in terms of the national economy, and the combination of an ageing population and a worsening public health system, all indicate that changes could be needed in the future. These sorts of structural changes will be costly and could impact on the Basque Country’s position as one of the wealthier regions of Spain. Though with its regimen foral it is unclear how big of an impact this will have.

Even the traditional high wages in the Basque Country are falling closer to national levels. Jon Bernat Zubiri Rey, professor of Economics at the Universidad del País Vasco, told RTVE that in “the Basque Country there was a large wage differential in relation to Spain, but this has tended to decrease” in recent years.

Similarly, the Basque economy itself is beginning to change. Though its industrial base is so well established that it will always likely form the backbone of the Basque economy, the tourist sector, traditionally not as integral there compared to other parts of Spain, has grown since the disbandment of ETA and pivoted to the tourist sector, perhaps most notably with then opening of the Guggenheim museum Bilbao in 1997.

Basque hotels registered 3.6 million check-ins in 2023, 10.4 percent more than in the previous year.

The Basque Country is also having a slower post-pandemic economic recovery than most regions. In 2023 the regional economy grew by 1. percent, well below the national average of 2.5 percent.

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