Lent and Easter Week with Caminos de Pasión are a real feast for the senses. Aside from the emotive processions, the sound of the drums that mark the rhythm and the intensity with which locals prepare for Easter Week, the start of Lent also fills the towns with sweet and savoury recipes that have been passed down the generations for centuries.
Only served during Lent and Easter Week, these dishes are highly influenced by religion or popular traditions and the products grown in each of the towns. Some of the cakes and pastries typical of this period can be found throughout Andalusia but each of the Caminos de Pasión towns ardently preserves their own unique recipes too. Every home serves a wealth of dishes with three main ingredients: cod (ajoarriero [cod, garlic, mashed potato and paprika], in stews, in tomato sauce, with almonds and prawns or in potaje de vigilia [together with chickpeas and spinach]), oranges (both sweet and savoury) or locally grown vegetables mixed with scrambled eggs or in stews. The most typical cakes and pastries are torrijas (bread pudding seeped in milk and honey), pestiños (sesame-flavoured pastries coated in honey), roscos fritos (doughnuts), leche frita (fried milk) and fairy cakes.
These recipes are not only enjoyed at home, many bars and restaurants offer special Lenten menus and pastry shop windows are full of the traditional pastries and cakes. All establishments that offer typical “Lent and Easter Week Food” have been awarded a sticker to promote such.