It is not well known that produces a large variety of excellent cheese originating from the country's different regions. Cheeses made from cow's, goats, and sheep's milk come in virtually every variety of texture and strength. Cheeses labeled 'curado' (meaning cured) are more aged and stronger.

 Jamón (cured ham, similar to the italian Parma ham) is almost a religion in . It comes in a huge range of qualities and prices. While cheapest varieties are very edible, the best jamón is almost a climax experience for an aficionado. Jamón should be properly cut ( has many competitions to determine the most skilled at this art) and eaten fairly soon after is has been sliced. Apart from its high price, one can recognize the more exquisite jamón by it's black hoof which comes from a particular breed of pig known as Ibérico or Pata Negra, fed exclusively on acorns.

Other cured meats include chorizo (cured spicy sausages); salchichón (like salami); cecina (cured beef or goats meet) and lomo (cured back bacon)

Spain has a huge variety of wine in many different prices, colors and varieties. We would strongly recommend any one interested in wine to invest in a book dedicated to Spanish wine as we have neither the expertise nor the space to describe this here.

is probably best know for its strong oaky flavored Rioja wines, but there are many other areas in producing excellent wine, often with unique grape varieties. These include the vastly underrated sherries (fino, oloroso, amontillado, palo cortado, manzanilla, etc.) from southern Spain, the powerful wines from Ribera del Duero (which include Spain's most famous red, Vega Sicilia); the unique white wines from Galicia (Albariños and Ribeiros); modern vineyards in Catalonia area (Penedés, Costers del Segre, Priorato, Montsant,...) which have produced some of Spain's most prized wines in addition to excellent cava (Spain's chamapagne). And this is only a short list of the growing number of areas producing wine.