FUN FACTS

Snails were the first animals herded by man.

Rat paella was a much revered delicacy of the Delta de l'Ebre, and you can still get it if you know where to look. The squirrel paella of Andorra, on the other hand, has now been outlawed as the catching of squirrels for meat is banned.

The amanita caesarea is the most expensive mushroom in the world, costing around £250/kilo.

Eat chestnuts on All Saints Day to keep evil spirits at bay.

Pigs may not fly, but you can get "bacon of the sky" in Spain. "Tocino de Cielo" (literally translated as bacon of the sky) is in fact a delicious dessert made from egg yolks and sugar and, unusually for Spain, contains no pig part whatsoever.

Orujo, the industrial-strength shots you are often given after a meal is actually marc de cava.

The breast-shaped San Simon cheese from Galicia has only six authorised producers in the world and was so highly prized it was used as currency in the olden days, as rent or to pay the local priest for baptisms etc.

A small tin of angulas (baby eels), a Basque delicacy, can cost up to 45 euros. So most 'baby eels' you see in tapas bars will probably be extruded crabstick, with eyes painted on!

One ounce of saffron consists of 14,000 stigmas, and each flower produces only three stigmas each which are, to add to the costs, hand picked.

Catalans love sausages so much, they even eat them for dessert! Botifarra dolca is a sweet sausage made with pork meat, cured with sugar rather than salt (sometimes flavoured with cinnamon and lemon juice) and often eaten with sweet fried bread. It's a speciality of Empordà.

February 6 is the Feast Day of St Amand - the patron saint of bartenders, brewers and vintners.