Jewish food in Spain

Jewish food in Spain carries the quiet echo of a community that once flourished across the Iberian Peninsula, blending Sephardic tradition with local Spanish flavors. Before the expulsion of 1492, Jewish kitchens contributed dishes that still feel woven into Spanish cuisine today: slow‑cooked stews like adafina, a Sabbath dish layered with chickpeas, meat, eggs, and warm spices; sweets scented with honey, almonds, and orange blossom; and recipes built around olive oil instead of lard, which later influenced regional cooking in places like Catalonia and Andalusia.

Even now, in cities such as Córdoba, Girona, and Toledo, you can taste modern interpretations of Sephardic dishes that honor this heritage—simple, aromatic, and deeply tied to the rhythms of Jewish life that once shaped Spain’s culinary landscape.