There’s a certain pride too, in knowing what it takes to survive and thrive here. Some locals will tell you the conditions breed a specific kind of toughness and self-reliance, which helps explain, they say, why so many of the original conquistadors grew up around here. It makes for defiance too: in a region that tends to be overlooked by the rest of Spain – and, although things are changing, with the 82 million tourists who visit the country each year – there’s a cussed feeling of ‘we’ll do things our own way, and won’t much care what the rest of you think about us’.
The feeling doesn’t quite translate to matters gastronomic, a sphere of endeavour in which the Extremadurans feel they have a lenghty history and a level of expertise that deserves to be treated with the maximum respect.
The Extremadura region is widely acknowledged as being the home of jamón Ibérico, Spain’s most coveted ham, made, in its finest incarnation, from the native breed pata negra pigs who graze freely for acorns in the region’s ancient oak woodland dehesa.
This story is from the January 2020 edition of Decanter.
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This story is from the January 2020 edition of Decanter.
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