Basque social eating in a gastronomical club, Part 2,By Saskia Kamphuis

There is no background music in the clubs because the sounds of knifes and forks chattering at the plates and the voices and laughter’s would overrule the music for sure.

By the time we got to the "patxaran" all the tables in the club were taken and the mood was at its best. The mood in a gastronomical society is always very cheerfully because everybody just loves to go there and when everybody starts singing spontaneously at the end of a evening the club feels like a warm and cozy celebration with a big family.

Gastronomical clubs are very common in the Basque country. Most of them where founded in about 50 years ago or more. In the beginning only men were allowed because they were the founders of them. A group of friends build them themselves for having good meals and playing some card games all together. Because they are all handmade by the societies every club has its own charming old style. When a change in the club or a extend of it is needed all the owners have to agree on it. Nowadays women and total families are invited to the clubs as well but in most of them it are still the men who do the cooking.

Because social eating is a daily event for a Basque dinners most be made in the clubs as well. The members invite there families and friends to the club and cook for them themselves. A gastronomical society can have members up to 200 people so a big kitchen with a lot of big pans and ovens is necessary and for the chefs to be able to serve all the food that is made big eating tables are a must as well.

Every night the members who are cooking bring the food for there own visitors to the club themselves. Most of the tables are booked almost every night for many hungry people so in the kitchen of a gastronomical club there is always a lot of movement. There are different cooks making different dishes at the same time.

With some help of one or two of the visitors they’ll prepare the dinner while the other visitors are relaxing with a bottle of wine and some chorizo or slices of ham. After the dinner they have to write down how many bottles of wine they used because the drinks are paid monthly by all the club member together.

The cooks serve every course to the visitors themselves but the do take the time to eat and relax with there visitors between the servings. After the dinner they can relax for the rest of the evening because a cleaning lady is hired every night for doing the dishes and cleaning the place. And they now how to relax very well.

After the dinner card games are being played under the enjoyment of a good Rioja or “patxaran” while other members are singing joyfully songs in the background until the last drop.