Our Visit to a Basque Food Society

Basque food societies ("sociedades") are private clubs where people (usually men) meet to cook and share food. Traditionally, the societies were a place for men to get together because their wives did not want them in the kitchen at home (Basque culture is matriarchal). In addition, most societies include groups that perform in the annual Tamborrada drum festival, also celebrated with large celebratory meals. Today, almost all of the societies admit both men and women, but the more traditional do not permit women in the kitchens -- cooking is for men only.

We had known about these food societies, but have never known anyone who was a member, at least not well enough, to get an invite. That changed last week. Our friends Carlos and Ploy joined a food society called Euskal Billera just before the start of the coronavirus-related lockdown in March. With the lifting of the lockdown, and the re-opening of the food societies, they invited us to join them for their first meal at their new club.

Euskal Billera is one of the oldest societies in San Sebastian, founded in 1901, and it continues the tradition of only allowing men in the kitchen. So, even though our meal was Thai food, mostly organized and prepared by Ploy in their home, Carlos did all of the cooking. We had egg rolls, fried chicken wings with fish sauce and a pork dish with garlic, all accompanied by sticky rice and salad.  Because we cannot get good Asian food here, we were thrilled with this delicious meal:

The society is in a two-story building on the edge of the old city of San Sebastian (and near the main beach and port). There are separate kitchens and eating areas upstairs and down. The society maintains refrigerators with all types of drinks including soft drinks, wine, beer, cider and hard liquor. At the end of dinner, we entered what we used on a computer and each member gets a monthly bill. Members do the cooking, but the society does the cleaning.

Overall, we had a lovely evening but, to be honest, we are a bit unsure about the value of belonging to a food society, which requires a significant membership fee. Other than the traditional point of getting men out of the kitchen, it seems to us that it is a difficult way to entertain friends since you have to bring all of the food from home to be cooked there. On the other hand, it has the advantage of space, which many people do not have in their homes here, and you don't have to clean up any mess.

In any event, it was a really cool, traditional thing for us to experience in San Sebastian. And we are probably some of the only people to have eaten Asian food for their first meal in a Basque sociedad.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana