Cultural Convenience
By Nikko Hinderstein

La Sirena offers a variety of mouth-watering pizzas: (L-R) goat cheese and grilled vegetables; 4 tastes - ham, grilled vegetables, cherry tomatoes and tuna with olives and onions; and cheese with Arugula.

Spanish retailers continue to roll out products catering to different cultural tastes.

As Spain has joined the modern workforce with long hours and busier lives, stores are not only accommodating longer shopping hours, they're providing more and more prepared foods in the frozen, cold and un-refrigerated sections. The selection of private label prepared pizzas is as plentiful as the selection of hams in Spain, with numerous toppings and imported flavors. Even more notable are the ethnic influences in the private label prepared foods, showing the transition from a very insular country to an international melting pot. Carrefour Express has most of their frozen packaging in Spanish and Portuguese, but many of the frozen packages have German, French, Italian or English, no doubt aiming for a wider audience.

Traditional Spanish dishes are also available – paella, croquettes, tortillas (Spanish omelets) and empanadas (meat or fish-filled pastries). Buying these dishes in the store is a cooking shortcut because you do not have to prepare them from scratch, but these dishes generally must be baked or fried, not cooked by microwave. To combat the heavily processed and fried prepared food, packaged salads and salad-fixings are on the rise, helping to keep the Mediterranean diet accessible to busy families.

The need for prepared foods is apparent by the frozen-goods-only store, La Sirena, which attracts not only single-servers but also busy families who need help with cooking basics as well as the main meals. Their products range from cooking aids like frozen chopped garlic and herbs to fully presented heat and serve dishes in individual or family sizes.

Pizza Party

At Carrefour, shoppers can find prepared meals and sides such as green beans, Tikka Masala and artichokes with ham.

Crossing many cultural boundaries, private label pizza brings different flavors to the table in easy to cook frozen or refrigerated versions. SuperSol has a refrigerated section with a selection of 400 gram (€2.07) “Pizzas Frescas” in flavor combinations of bacon-tuna, ham and cheese, four cheeses, “Romana,” and “Barbacoa” which advertises “with meat and barbecue sauce.” The packages are clear plastic and have a photo of the cooked pizza and a window to see the uncooked pizza beneath.

The competition, national brands Casa Tarradellas and Palacios have similar flavors for €2.48 and €2.63 respectively. In the frozen section, SuperSol pizzas have colorful plastic bubbles decorated with images of enticing slices of hot pizza. Their frozen margarita pizza comes in a yellow package, 300 g for €1.52; the four-cheese pizza comes in an orange pack for €1.91, the blue pack contains tuna pizza (popular in most of Europe) and the Romana comes in red with a note that says “cooked in a stone oven” (€1.91). National brand La Cocinera is nearly double the price with all of their pizzas at €3.27.

Carrefour Express has classic-looking labels with green and red borders over their clear plastic packaging; the frozen pizza names reflect French and Italian flavors; chevre, 3 formaggio, and Royale which are 440 g for €2.65. La Cocinera offers their more traditional flavors for €2.90. Small boxes of the Carrefour brand contain “pizza baguettes” with ham and cheese or plain tomato (2x125 g, €1.17).

The instructions are written in French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish for heating in the oven for 12 minutes. The refrigerated section has clear plastic packaging for many types of cold pizzas; barbacoa, four cheese, carbonara, bacon y atún (bacon and tuna), and jamón y queso (ham and cheese) – 415 g for €1.89 (compared to Casa Tarradellas for €2.49).

Convenience store La Sirena has several tiers of frozen pizza products. The basic white box with simple yellow lettering only offers the plain margarita pizza (325 g, €1.95). Shiny black boxes are much more tempting with bright pictures of the pizza and ingredients like goat cheese and vegetables, blue cheese and arugula or smoked ham and mozzarella (400 g, €3.68). For picky eaters, they offer a larger rectangular pizza called “4 Estaciones” (4 stations) with different toppings in each corner – artichoke and vegetable, ham, cherry tomatoes, and tuna with onion and olives (600 g, €4.95).

There are several types of pizza that say “special for the microwave” that claim to produce a crunchy crust (325 g, €2.90). The catchy-named Pizzicatos are mini pizzas that come in three-cheese or ham and cheese flavors (9x 25 g, €2.75). For single servings, there are Pizza Toasts in a small box, 180 g for €1.80.

Changing Traditions

While the paella is perhaps the most famous of all Spanish dishes, the preparation is time-consuming and involves buying fresh seafood and having a special pan to cook it in. Lucky for us, most stores have an affordable PL line. Of note, other cultural rice dishes are now making appearances in the frozen section. SuperSol has a plastic carton of frozen paella fixings that boasts “with broth” for 4 servings, 530 g, €3.12 (you must make your own rice). However, alongside, you can find a bag of “Arroz Tres Delicias,” a chinese-style rice with peas and shrimp and ham (500 g, €1.19).

Carrefour has a refrigerated paella and “fideuá” which is like paella, but made with thin noodles, both displaying a stick figure to denote single serving and “3 minutes in the microwave” (both 350 g, €1.94). In the freezer section, they also have Tres Delicias rice, which comes in two economical sizes, 500 g for €1.29 and 1 kg for €2.00. They offer a few other varieties as well, like rice with seafood and surimi (fake crab) and rice “Milanese” which is a seasoned rice with ham and tomatoes (500 g, €1.08).

National brand La Cocinera has similar offerings for double the cost, 500 g, €2.40. Carrefour's frozen paella is ready to heat and serve, 500 g for €3.49, in a rectangular bag with a close-up picture of the yellow rice and shellfish.

In a non-refrigerated aisle, Carrefour Express has a whole section of single-serving (somehow preserved) dishes – Pollo Tikki Masala with a bright pink and orange cardboard sleeve stating “Indian recipe” in Spanish and Portuguese (300 g, €2.40), Arroz tres Delicias (125 g, €0.98) and numerous fish, vegetable and pasta combinations averaging around 300 g for €1.89 to €2.40.

La Sirena supplies every possible ingredient to most traditional dishes of Spain from the rice and vegetables to bags of seafood, ready to throw into the paella. The fully-prepared focus is less on paella and more on bags of frozen fideuá with shellfish in an individual serving dish (350 g, €3.45 and a more economical fideuá “marinera” (seafood) in a white bag, 600 g for €4.05. Nearby are “Salteados” (stir-fries) in colorful plastic bags with images of sizzling meats and vegetables. The flavors vary from “mediterráneo” with Mediterranean vegetables to a spring veggie mix (both 600 g, €2.18) to a Thai-style sauté (600 g, €2.55) and a chicken teriyaki pack (300 g, €2.08).

Tapas to Go

Another Spanish staple is the croqueta, the bechamel-based cheese, fish or ham-flavored batter that is then fried. PL lines in most stores have frozen croquetas as well as empanadas, which used to be bought fresh at pastry shops. Carrefour Express has empanadas of bonito (similar to tuna) that must be cooked three minutes in a deep fryer (16 per box, 500 g for €1.30) and a bag of mini empanadillas is 1 kg for €2.52. For those who crave croquetas like grandma used to make, there are assorted frozen croquetas in 500 g bags for €1.29.

Alongside the croquetas at Carrefour, there are boxes of frozen moussaka advertising “Greek recipe” and a picture of Athens, 500 g for €2.35. Croquetas at La Sirena branch out to include chicken, cod fish, ham, ham and cheese, mushroom, and spinach and pine nuts. The no frills white bag offers 500 g of croquetas for €0.76 while the cardboard box of spinach croquetas has a picture of steaming croquetas garnished with parsley, 420 g for €1.65.

Going Green

To balance off the carbohydrate overload, most stores offer their own PL salad supplies – many of the products use English words in the names. SuperSol has packs of “4 Estaciones” (four seasons) - 250 g, €0.95; baby leaf (written in English) – 70 g, €0.95; brotes de espinaca (baby spinach leaves) – 175 g, €1.65; canónigos (similar to watercress) – 70 g, €1.29; and acelgas (swiss chard, which is sold washed and cut up ready to sauté) 300 g, €0.99. To help with salad toppings, SuperSol has transparent plastic bags of shredded carrots, ready to toss over a salad or into a vegetable dish (300 g, €0.99). The only competition brand is Florette with a 300 g package of swiss chard for €1.75 and a “Gourmet” mix of baby salad greens, 175 g for €2.55.

Carrefour Express has a more varied selection with chopped iceberg lettuce (200 g, €0.89), a mixed gourmet blend (200 g, €1.95), arugula (100 g, 1.75), spinach (125 g, €1.28), 4 estaciones (250 g, €1.09), red mustard and arugula (70 g, €1.25), baby leaf (70 g, €1.00), variada (variety blend, 320 g, €1.95), canónigos (300 g, €0.99) and a huge bag called “Maxi” (450 g, €1.09). They also have shredded carrots in 150 g bags for €0.56. If one compares the prices, Carrefour is higher, but it also caters more towards single-servings and family-sized needs.

Making it Easy

La Sirena offers easy meal planning and meal cooking, but to not take all the credit, they also have a few dishes that suggest that you finish them “a tu gusto” (however you like) – featuring plain cannelloni and stuffed red peppers that let you decide what kind of sauce to serve on top. La Sirena is also the only store that makes PL tortillas (a Spanish omelet with potatoes) – it comes with zucchini, with onion or with chorizo (hard sausage) and warms up in 7 minutes in the microwave (500 g, €2.92).

Carrefour Express has a huge selection of single-serving dishes ranging from Spanish green beans and potato dishes that advertise extra virgin olive oil (240 g, €3.00 average), to Italian-style pastas available in the cold, frozen and un-refrigerated sections. Carrefour also has a special kid-friendly freezer section with small servings of vegetables and fish sticks/chicken fingers. For the cooks who want to make their own sauces and paella, Carrefour offers ready-made broths in un-refrigerated cartons, while La Sirena provides pre-chopped vegetables and frozen, chopped herbs in little cubes.

SuperSol does not have the same quantity of PL convenience products, but their pre-washed salad line is featured prominently in the produce section. They are also the only store that makes a rosca - a big round piece of bread without a center that is made into a circular sandwich, commonly served at Spanish parties. They offer two varieties, with Serrano ham (a cured ham) or mixta, with ham and cheese, 410 g for €2.90. La Sirena, of course, has based their entire business on convenience food – giving us not only paella and Chinese-style rice, but also plain rice and vegetarian rice. In the store you can find clearly marked signs directing you to the “traditional kitchen” area, the “kitchen of the world” section and the “easy kitchen” part.

A Role of Convenience

According to the Bank of Spain, the economy is going to contract another three percent in the next year. One could safely predict that the national level of PL spending will increase higher than the 34 percent it is at now (according to AC Nielsen and the Private Label Manufacturers Assoc.) Combining the economic situation with the continuing influence of immigrant cultures in Spain, it's no wonder that the Spanish PL market is drawn to create traditional dishes that are easy and faster to prepare, though not necessarily microwave-friendly.

The PL brands are also ahead of the competition by reaching the growing immigrant population with a variety of new dishes with foreign flavors. One of the largest immigrant communities in Spain is the Chinese who now number 138,558 according to the official statistics from the Secretary of the State. The introduction of Arroz Tres Delicias to the Spanish diet has been subtle but notable, expanding the Spanish diet to include ethnic food that would normally only be eaten out at restaurants. Convenience food in Spain is propelled by the PL products that make party-planning and every day meals easier and more affordable.