Page 49 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2024

Land of
Fantasy
and
Reality
SPANISH ALLOY: THE BLENDING OF CULTURE
BY J.R. PATTERSON
On one sultry afternoon in Granada, I lay in bed in a stupor of near-sleep. Through the haze of the siesta came the clip-clop of donkey hooves and the strange quarter-tone hum of a passing man. There was a smell of roasting garlic and dust, and the heat was just south of feverish. Perhaps it was the almond tart I had just eaten, or the rose water I had bought from the merchant at the gates to the Alhambra, but the scene belonged as much to fantasy as reality, and, as I slipped in and out of conscious- ness, it was easy to believe I had been transported to some fabled Arabian land.
Spain, jutting from the west of Europe like a clenched fist, is an absolute. For centuries, it has followed no fashion but its own com- mitment to tradition and dignity, remaining unique in its association with bulls, flamenco, paella and duende (a heightened state of emotion brought on by the arts). Yet as emblematic as these things may be to the country, they draw from deep historical roots, which run south from Andalusia, across North Africa, and over the Nile to the Levant.
The germinators of those roots were the Moors—a Spanish name for the blend of Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians and Berbers who made up the conquering force—who crossed the Mediterranean in 711 AD and remained rulers over Iberia for 700 years. Moorish Spain, while not peaceable, was a place of enlightenment and learning. Under the Moors, it was the enjoyment of life, rather than the afterlife, which was glorious. With new leadership came a turning tide on illiteracy and cultural stagnation—universities and libraries were founded, food and art were elevated to the level of virtuosity, while poets and musicians attained celebrity status. Córdoba became the Western answer to Baghdad, a place of education and culture. From Zaragoza,
FUN FACT
THE CREATION OF
SPANISH CUISINE
Besides sowing the seeds of modern Spanish cul- ture, the Moors were also germinators in a literal sense; they used their experience with irrigating deserts to turn Spain green and make it a place of produce and shade. A new cuisine followed, one underlaid by the staples of the Mediter- ranean diet—wheat, wine and olives—but given its particular primacy by ingredients brought north from the Middle East and North Africa: spinach, rice and eggplants; cinnamon, cumin and saffron; dates, pomegranates and apricots. One of the oldest surviving cookbooks is Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī’s Fiḍā lat al-Khiwā n fī Ṭayyibā t al- Ṭaʿā m wa-l-Alwā n (Best of Delectable Foods and Dishes from al-Andalus and al-Maghrib). Recently translated into English, it contains among its hun- dreds of recipes directions for mustard sauce, cured meat and yoghurt.
SPRING/SUMMER 2024 DREAMSCAPES 49
PHOTOS: TOURIST OFFICE OF SPAIN
ROMAN BRIDGE, CÓRDOBA
MEZQUITA-CATEDRAL DE CÓRDOBA