Everybody knows about the passion Spaniards have with food. But the food is only part of the fun. After the meals we have what we call “sobremesa”
Sobremesa
So what on earth is a SOBREMESA? leterally it means “on top of the table”. But what it really means talks about the tradition we have to talk over the lunch table after a big meal. This fun conversations, can go up to 4 hours, or maybe until dinner time,
Of course this is not an everyday thing, but on the weekends and specially during San Fermín, it is a must. Many times the sobremesa strats with light conversations. Soccer, work, wife…. But as the Gin and tonics go in, our tongues loosen up.Then the conversation strats to go more intense, and moves to darker areas. Politics, religion… At the end, what comes over the table, stays over the table and there is no bad mood about what it has been said.
If you are a foreigner and want to do busines in Spain, you need to master the sobremasa talk. After a long morning of meetings,your Spanish people will invite you for lunch.
The lunch will be relaxed and there will be good Spanish wine. You will be served a large meal, starters, main dish and dessert. Right after the dessert, they will ask you, do you want coffee? politelly you will say yes, and then you will up for 2 or 3 hours of sobremesa. Here you can loose the deal you have been working for the last year. This 2 hours, you have to be alert, very alert. It is going to look as a very relaxed ambiance, and the conversation will be fluid. But Don´t be fooled they are getting all your private info. If you thought FACEBOOK shares part of your life, guess what. You are about to share ALL your private info. So be wise and share what they want to hear!!!
Sobremesa with friends is the moment you share your life, as well as when it is a formal sobremesa. Here you will find a fun article about Sobremesa posted at the BBC news.
BBC News
