Itziar Telletxea Rocha's Pintxo visual guide

pintxo

pintxo

Itziar Telletxea Rocha

In the XII century, king Alfonso the wise, ordered his servants on the court not to serve any cup of wine without some food.

Pintxos or Pinchos (pronounced peen-chos) are small portions of food, eaten in bars, and are an expression of miniature cuisine. They come from the Spanish tradition of tapas, which are small portions of food, generally taken from a bigger part, that are served in many Spanish bars along with the drinks. This new phenomenon reached the north of the Peninsula in the 1930s.

Pintxos origins are in San Sebastian, Basque Country, where some bars started to create small portions of miniature cuisine (similar to canapés), and were displayed on the bar counters so the customers could take them by themselves. But they weren´t pieces of bread with ham or cheese anymore, they were small dishes of typical Basque food made with fine ingredients and served with a small stick (pintxo) to eat it without cutlery. That is the way they soon begun to be called “pintxos”. This custom evolved, as many more bars started to create different kind of pintxos, not to be mistaken with tapas, offered in "hot" and "cold" versions. Locals and visitors enjoy eating those pintxos as well as drinking, just as an appetizer, or in a pintxos crawling.

This visual guide is meant to serve as a food Photography and Layout Design portfolio. The guide will also serve to show a visual process of making pintxos and how creative and simple it can be. There is no instructions, just layers of food to be put in order and a stick that can hold the food together.

It is now time to enjoy PINTXO.

See image overleaf boiled potato pâté kiwi raisin guindilla olive king prawn cherry tomato marinated anchovie fried jamon mushroom asparagus sweet red pepper bread

© Itziar Telletxea Rocha Food Photography, Styling and Layout Design Body text in Soleil by Typetogether Title in Avant Garde by Bitstream Inc. Printing Plusprint Dublin www.itziartelletxearocha.com