[Nutrition and gastronomy in the Basque Country].

For centuries the traditional ingredients of food patterns in Basque Country were millet, chestnuts, cabbage, beans, lentils, fish, pork and beef especially, as well as a variety of fruits such as apples, pears and grapes. Later, the potato replaced chestnuts, corn replaced millet and beans replaced broad beans. In addition, tomatoes and peppers added to the vegetable repertoire. Cocoa also found great acceptance from the eighteenth century and the consumption of cider, especially among seamen, played a very important role in the prevention of scurvy. During the nineteenth century, the rise of industrialization led to important social changes and in food habits. The great romantic travelers and their stories contributed to the diffusion of uses and customs, among others, those related to culinary preparations and eating habits. Later, the growing interest in thermal baths also attracted visitors from France, Germany, Italy or Great Britain to the Basque Country, sometimes accompanied by their chefs and servants, who brought with them their own culinary practices to the Basque kitchens and restaurants. From 1977 and inspired by the Nouvelle cuisine, the new Basque cuisine emerged led by great chefs such as Juan Marí Arzak and Pedro Subijana, who soon brought together a large group that has led the current Basque cuisine to internationally recognized excellence. The new tendencies coexist with the cult to traditions and to specific forms of conviviality around the food: txokos and gastronomic societies; pintxos, pintxopote and cider houses.