Pork in Spain

Everywhere we have been, we have seen a lot of pork legs on display as well as gourmet pork products - great for charcuteries and sandwiches. But we wondered where that tradition of eating pork came from when Spain had been occupied for so long by Muslims and Jews, who didn’t eat pork.

Well, I found an answer…

During the Spanish Inquisition, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issued royal decrees that gave all Jews and Muslims living in Spain three not very appealing options: convert to Catholicism, leave the country for good or burn at the stake. Many chose to leave, however there were some who decided to stay.

The problem was that they wanted to stay, but they didn’t want to convert to Catholicism, so they had to pretend that they had converted. So they hung pork legs to show that their religion had changed and they were willing to eat pork! Of course, once one person started to do this as a way to show their Catholicism, everyone started doing it. So it spread around the country.

Sounds like a good answer…Read more