scubish.com: Scuba diving Lanzarote - Spain

Understand

Not all that much is known about the Island's early history, because most archaeological evidence has either been buried under lava or carried off by raiders. The Phoenecians were there, followed by the Romans. The Arabs then settled the island, the French explored it, and the Spanish conquered it.

The island thrived for a while by producing cochineal, an expensive, crimson dye taken from the carapace of a scale insect that lives on cactus. Cochineal is used for dying fabric, decorating china, in cosmetics, and as a food colouring.

The eruptions in 1730-1736 covered a quarter of the island's surface, destroying its most fertile farmland and eleven villages.

The coherence and beauty of the island's cultural and tourist centres is largely the legacy of the local artist César Manrique (1919-1992). He also played a key role in having the island declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1993.

Eat

Traditional

The local cuisine is typical of the Canary Islands:

Mojo means sauce. The most common varieties are:

* mojo picón (hot, spicy) made from red chillis,

* mojo verde (green) made either from green pepper or coriander (cilantro),

* mojo hervido (boiled) made from spices and lemon.

Papas arrugadas ("wrinkly potatoes") are cooked unpeeled in salt water then baked dry. Customarily served with a mojo sauce.

Gofio is a flour substitute milled from a variety of cereals like wheat, corn (maize), barley, etc., or a mixture of them. It is sometimes served by local restaurants in entreé dishes as a small patty of moist dough, and also forms the basis for local pastries and pie bases.

Restaurants noted for local cuisine:

La Era, Yaiza.

Casa Monumento al Campesino, San Bartolomé.

Restaurante Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo, Castillo de San José, Arrecife (on the coast just to the north of Arrecife, inside a Castle turned museum).

However, it is worth noting that in many of the resorts there are very few true Canarian restaurants. Most of those present tend to focus on English food (English fried breakfast, Roasts etc). If you are going on a package holiday it would be a huge saving to pay the extra for all-inclusive, especially if you're not likely to travel far from the resort. Self catering can be quite difficult in resort areas; the supermarkets open at 8am, siesta between 1pm and 4pm and close at 9pm, making it quite difficult to plan in advance.

Non traditional

There are many non-traditional places to eat out in the main resort towns, serving a wide range of food such as Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican.

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