Gazpacho is the Andalusian summer dish. Its history is linked to rural foodways. A conference on food history published by the Ibero-American Nutrition Foundation describes its evolution and the incorporation of tomato, a New World product, into earlier preparations. The red tomato version became one of the best known.
Andalusia selected gazpacho to represent the region in the postal service’s stamp series with the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, issued in 2022. It is a dish of the whole community, with no single town of origin, and every household has its own proportions of ingredients.
Ripe tomatoes, green bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, day-old bread, olive oil, vinegar and salt are blended until they form a liquid cream, which is chilled in the refrigerator until very cold. It can be strained or not, and made thicker or thinner according to custom.
Gazpacho is drunk from a glass, like a beverage, or served in a deep plate, accompanied by small cubes of cucumber, bell pepper, onion and toasted bread. From the same family come Córdoba’s salmorejo, which is thicker, and ajoblanco, made with almond.