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For those of you who have lived in Spain of some time will be familiar with one of Spain’s bitterest battles, a long-festering confrontation that predates the national and international skirmishes over paella . The Spanish omelette -Tortilla de patata.

The town council of Betanzos, the Galician municipality whose tortillas de patatas, or Spanish omelettes, are regularly hailed as the finest in the land, has spoken out. And the message to those entering this year’s tortilla competition is simple: forget the onions!

The issue of whether cebollas belong in the emblematic dish runs like a faultline under the nation’s bar stools and dining tables, dividing families and communities and pitting ‘con-cebollistas’ (with-onionists) against ‘sin-cebollistas’ (without-onionists).

Authorities in the town claim they are only staying true to their roots with the competition rules. They want to be faithful to the Betanzos tradition of potatoes, oil, egg and salt - Nothing more, they say…
However, local bars taking part in Tortilla Week but not entering the annual contest are free to deploy onions. “That’s fine on the route but not in the competition,” the council said. “We brought it up with the bar owners and the vast majority of them were behind the idea.”

Alberto García, a local chef who has twice won the prize for Betanzos’s best tortilla, knows his onions – and when to leave them out. His recipe also triumphed in national tortilla competitions in 2011 and 2017.

“When it comes to onion, the cookbooks say a Spanish omelette’s ingredients are egg, potato, olive oil, salt and onion, but to be honest, Betanzos has become famous for its omelettes because of a local woman, Señora Angelita, who cooked them without onion more than a century ago.”

For García, who runs the Mesón O’Pote restaurant in the town, thinks it is all something of a baseless controversy. “I think the council’s just trying to make Betanzos stand out by not including onion,” he said,

“What makes our omelette different and delicious is having properly fried potatoes and really juicy, runny eggs. If it doesn’t have onion, it doesn’t have onion. If it has onion, it has onion. Look, I’m not saying onion is good or bad. But there is a correct way of cooking, cutting and serving tortilla: the egg has to be really, really runny and the potato has to be perfectly golden – properly fried. It doesn’t really matter if it’s got a bit of onion in.”

Does it?  What do you think?  Do you prefer your Spanish omelette with onions or without onions?  Please cast your vote!

Spain's health care system has been ranked the best in Europe and the third-most efficient in the world, beaten only by those of Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.

The annual ranking compiled by Bloomberg covers 56 national health services in total, and Bulgaria sits at the bottom with the USA, where medical treatment availability depends upon patients' insurance covering it, is second from bottom, below Azerbaijan.

Even some countries in the European Union fare very badly in the Bloomberg ranking: perhaps surprisingly, Germany is among the least efficient at number 45 out of 56, having fallen six places from last year and beaten by Kazakhstan and Ecuador, whilst Hungary sits at 42.

Denmark, a nation far ahead of the rest of the world in many aspects including quality of life and employment, and generally among the most modern countries on earth, comes 41st out of 56, climbing one place up from last year and beaten by Venezuela and Iran. 

Has your experience of the Spanish health system matched the ranking?

Please cast your vote and leave a comment...

Spain's third-largest political force wants the government to agree to the new law proposal in the next few months, since otherwise it may not be able to come into force until after the next general elections.

According to the text of the motion, any 'use of physical force' which is 'aimed at causing a certain level of pain or at least discomfort, however mild' should be outlawed, and would include 'slapping, punching, smacking, kicking, shaking, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or ears, hitting with a rod or other object, forcing [children] into uncomfortable positions [such as standing in a corner with their hands on their heads for a prolonged period], producing burns, etc'.

Prior to the year 2005, parents or guardians had the right, by law, to use 'reasonable and moderate' physical methods of discipline, but the socialist government led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero – in power from March 2004 until November 2011 – axed this from the Civil Code.

Zapatero was following Council of Europe recommendations which have cited scientific evidence to show smacking and other forms of physical punishment is harmful in the short and long term to children.

The current text in the Civil Code says 'correction' should be conducted 'with full respect for [the child's] physical and psychological integrity' and 'in accordance with his or her personality' – meaning undue harshness should not be used with an overly sensitive child or one of a nervous disposition.

Courts have passed verdicts in this vein, finding parents guilty where corporal punishment was unnecessary, but not convicting them where it was minor and did not cause undue mental harm to the child, such as a tap on the back of the hand to stop him or her touching something.

Podemos wants to extend this, citing research and views from a number of social organisations specialising in child development, and interpreting the text in line with a 'human rights focus'.

[source: thinkSPAIN]

What do you think? Please cast your vote and leave a comment...

Spain's new data protection law will prevent children under 14 years old from using social media without their parents' express consent, a year older than at present.

For the moment, any teenager of 13 years old or more can set up their own accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other media without an adult's consent, but they will have to be at least 14 to do so from the end of this year.

The data protection law is due to be implemented before 2019 in line with a European Union regulation, which gives member States a margin of between 13 and 16 years of age as the minimum for social media use without parental authorisation.

Among the terms of the new law, which Spanish Parliament is working on at the moment, publishing photographs of minors – defined as anyone aged younger than 18 – could be considered a breach of their fundamental rights and therefore a criminal offence.

As yet, the broad scope of this clause has not been revealed.

Fines for failing to comply with the data protection law could be up to €10 million, or 2% of either turnover or profits if the offender is a company, although warnings, smaller fines and other measures will be taken first.

The new legislation will, additionally, allow workers the right to 'switch off' when they are not officially on duty – for example, an employee working a nine-to-five schedule would legally be able to refuse to take a job-related call from the boss or answer emails or calls from customers at six in the evening, or whilst on annual holiday.

It is likely they may be allowed to do so voluntarily, but cannot be disciplined for failing to answer an 'urgent' company email whilst on a beach during their paid leave.

Also, it should not affect workers with flexible hours or 'on call', as long as this is part of their role and agreed between employees and companies.

According to Spain's socialist government, the broad terms of the data protection law have been agreed by all parties in Parliament.

(Source : https://www.thinkspain.com/news-articles#p:/news-spain/31003/under-14s-will-need-parents-consent-to-use-social-media)

What do you think? Do you agree?