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SPANISH HABITS

Why do Spaniards find it embarrassing to eat the last bite?

You may have noticed that your Spanish friends refer to the last bite of food on a shared plate of tapas as 'la de la vergüenza' (the one to be ashamed of or embarrassed about). 

Published: 11 March 2021 12:57 CET
Updated: 19 February 2024 14:37 CET
Why do Spaniards find it embarrassing to eat the last bite?
The last piece of a serving of 'pulpo a la gallega' (octopus with paprika and olive oil), one of Galicia's most delicious treats. Photo: Noel Feans/Wikipedia

Eating in Spain is more often than not about sharing, so much so that restaurants all over the world refer to their group finger food platters as being ‘tapas’ even though the food isn’t actually Spanish.

With eating being such a social affair here, you may have picked up on the fact that whenever the plate of food is down to its last piece, friends and families will put down their forks and just let that last bocado (mouthful) sit, sometimes even until the waiter takes it away. 

On other occasions some jostling and jeering will ensue as each person eggs on the other to eat la de la vergüenza, ‘the shameful last piece’. 

Just to be clear, this is all done in a comical tone, and eating the last piece won’t bring great shame on you and your loved ones for being such a ‘greedy’ eater. 

It’s simply customary for nobody to want the last bite, or at least to pretend not to initially. 

Where does the tradition come from?

According to some sources the tradition started in Spain’s rainy northwestern region of Galicia, where instead of la vergüenza it’s referred to as a vergoña , in Galician. 

The tradition is meant as a courtesy for those who are feeling hungrier.

But in antiquity a Galician host would want his or her guests to eat until they burst.

It was a matter of honour back then, and the discreet way out of it for the guest was to leave a single piece on the plate to show they were completely stuffed and could eat no more (Galicians still have a reputation for eating a lot, by the way).

Nowadays the tradition of leaving the last piece of food on the plate is customary all over Spain. 

It’s a way of showing respect and good manners to the people you are dining with, as well as a good way of feeling like a local. 

And if you forget about it and gobble up the last piece – don’t worry – there will always be another ‘one of shame’ to have a friendly debate over.

READ ALSO: The many ways Spaniards refer to your face if you’re being cheeky

Member comments

  1. How customs differ in different countries.
    I’ve always considered that the greatest compliment you can offer the cook is to eat every crumb, and accept more if it is offered.

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FOOD AND DRINK

How hi-tech hops are keeping beer bitter in Spain as climate bites

Outside a warehouse in northwestern Spain, it's a freezing, foggy morning but inside it's balmy, the warmth and LED lights fooling 360 hop plants to flower as if it were late August.

Published: 21 March 2024 09:27 CET
How hi-tech hops are keeping beer bitter in Spain as climate bites

Mounted on a soaring grid system of cables and wire, these vigorous climbing plants are in full flower, covered in delicate papery-green hops which are prized for giving beer its unique aroma and crisp, refreshing bitterness.

Normally farmed outside, the hop plants are part of a unique indoor farming project by Spanish startup Ekonoke, which has developed an alternative way to cultivate this climate-vulnerable crop in order to protect the drinkability of beer.

Experts say rising temperatures and increased droughts have made Europe’s hop harvests increasingly unpredictable, lowering yields and reducing the quality of the alpha acids in its resins and oils that are so crucial to the taste and character of different beers.

“Climate change is affecting the field, and last year we were down 40 percent on hop production in Europe,” said Giacomo Guala, policy adviser on hops for Copa-Cogeca, which groups the European Union’s main farmers unions.

“You don’t get rain when you’re supposed to, or too much rain when you’re not supposed to, so that predictability is no longer there,” he told AFP.

Hi-tech hops

Brewers are already feeling that unpredictability.

Having a stable supply of hops was “crucial” as there was no alternative to give that bitterness, explained Jose Luis Olmedo, head of research and development at Cosecha de Galicia, the innovation arm of Spanish brewer Hijos de Rivera, which makes Estrella Galicia beer.

Reliant until now on field-grown hops, the Galicia-based brewer quickly saw the potential of the indoor hops grown by Ekonoke.

When the startup raised €4.2 million in investment rounds in 2022, it said “a significant” chunk of it came from the brewer.

An employee hand-picks indoor-grown hops during harvest at Ekonoke company’s facility. (Photo by Brais Lorenzo / AFP)

It also caught the attention of the world’s largest brewer AB InBev, joining its startup accelerator programme.

“What brewers are most interested in is the guaranteed supply of quantity and quality,” said Ekonoke chief executive Ines Sagrario at their 1,200-square-metre (13,000-square-foot) pilot farm in Chantada, where they harvested their first crop in mid-February.

They began trials at their Madrid lab in 2019, starting with four plants and scaling to 24, slashing the growing time and using “15 times less water” than outdoors, while aiming “to reach 20”.

“In this warehouse, we control all the environmental and nutrient parameters and the lighting factors, using LED lights to provide the plant what it needs when it needs it,” said Sagrario.

The lights replicate the different colours and intensity of sunlight at each stage of the growth cycle when they bathe the rapidly growing plants in an ambient purple glow.

Halving the growth cycle

The heady scent of hops permeates the air as a huge bine laden with hop cones is cut from its trellis, tumbling to the floor before being carried out to a red harvesting machine.

Grown without soil, the bines are fed by a closed system that allows constant reuse of the nutrient-infused water and doesn’t use pesticides, relying instead on tightly controlled access protocols.

“In the field, although the cycle is six months, they can only harvest once a year, because you need the correct growing conditions,” said agronomist and chief operations officer Ana Saez.

Ana Saez, 45, agronomist and chief operating officer, harvests indoor-grown hops at Ekonoke. (Photo by Brais Lorenzo / AFP)

“Here, as we can control and replicate ‘spring’, we’ve reduced the crop cycle to three months.”

Multiple trials had shown their hops contained “more alpha acids per kilogram” than those in the field, Saez said, pointing to the abundance of yellow powdery lupulin clinging to the cones.

By summer, three grow rooms will be operational with more than 1,000 plants maturing on a staggered basis.

“Once we finish learning everything we need to learn in this pilot, we will be building a full-scale industrial facility with 12,000 square metres of growing area,” said Sagrario, whose 12-strong team has so far managed to replicate five different hop cultivars.

For Hijos de Rivera, it’s a project of “strategic” importance, with the brewer planning to have the facility fully operational “by the end of 2025”, said Olmedo.

Mirek Trnka, a bioclimatologist from the Czech Academy of Sciences, said hydroponics was one solution, but scaling up to meet market demands would be tricky.

“Even though the hop is a minority crop, you’d have to upsize operations quite significantly to match the current production globally by hydroponic growth,” he told AFP.

At Ekonoke, they see their role as using science and technology to protect the hops’ biodiversity and eventually developing new hybrids “to give more quantity and quality using less resources”.

“People ask us if hop farmers outdoors feel threatened by us, but we’re not threatening them. Climate change is threatening them,” said Sagrario.

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