Festivity in Lugo, where it is ”obliged” to eat octopus inside those special stalls which are built thereto in the park of the city, and where the octopus is sold during the month of October. During this time they serve almost half a million portions. Considering that every dish takes 200 grams, it takes a total of 90.000 kilograms of octopus a year.
been displaced first to Salgueiriños and then to Amio where the weekly fair is now being celebrated. The pulperia disappeared with the fair and every Wednesday they offer their merchandise to farmers and to the different people from Compostela who come to try this food.
Nowadays, the octopus á feira is prepared with the fresh cephalopod (it is previously frozen in order to avoid ”beating” them, in a time there were no freezers and when it was essential in order to soften the meat).
In Compostela they do not sell the octopus in every corner in order the consumer may eat it in the nearest bar or at home, as they do in Ourense. However, in the area of Vidán it is possible to find one of these pulpeiras selling octopus in the street on Saturday and Sunday.
The octopus that comes to the Interior of Galicia and to the rest of Spain has been cured in the air and sun almost during the whole century. This method is still being used with the conger in Muxía. This was the only way to preserve a perishable product. In the coast areas of Galicia where there was fresh octopus, the most common way of cooking it was stewed with potatoes and other vegetables such as peppers, onions and stew. In the Galician coast, the octopus is cooked by using exquisite recipes such as the octopus in Mugardesa style, from Mugardos, in the Ferrol Ria or those recipes from the Ons and Arousa Islands. The octopus á feira has been imposed throughout the country and it can be found both in the Interior and in the coast. Santiago de Compostela, with one of the most important cattle fairs in Spain, which is held every Wednesday of the year, cannot ignore the octopus á feira. In the past, the fairs were celebrated in the Carballeira of Santa Susana where the pulperias are still located during two of the main festivities of the town: Ascensión and Apóstol. There is no more cattle in the Carballeira and it has
In Santiago the good traditional octopus stores can be found in Concheiros or in Vista Alegre. The stewed octopus can be found in some traditional restaurants such as Vilas or Paz Nogueira. The octopus pie and the octopus with rice are also popular. Octopus, salt, oil and paprika In the fairs, the pulpeiras use big copper pots to cook the octopus. It was a tradition to make the fire with oak firewood, but now gas, butane or propane burners are preferred, because they are less problematic than firewood. The pulpeira puts every octopus in boiled water twice or three times and finally they leave it in the water. There are many myths around this tradition, almost rites responding to a single objective to preserve the animal skin and suckers; without this procedure, there is a risk that they come off.