Top ideas to celebrate Thanksgiving in Barcelona
IS THANKSGIVING EVEN A THING IN SPAIN?
No, people in Barcelona (Spain) don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. After all, it’s a festival that roots from Protestant church traditions (whereas Spain is historically a Catholic country), and was instituted in the USA after the Plymouth pilgrims thanked their Native American neighbors for their first harvest in the colony. However, why shouldn’t you celebrate it, if it’s a festival you love?
Sure, in some travel forums the “purists” will lash out at anyone wanting to celebrate Thanksgiving while on vacation. But who are we to judge you? Maybe you’ve been traveling long enough to need to feel a bit the comfort of home even if only for one night. Or maybe these were the only dates that you were able to travel, but you don’t want to miss such as special day. Or maybe you just moved to Barcelona and want to continue your own traditions… So whatever your reason is, we are here to help you! Here is how you can celebrate Halloween in Barcelona:
Going out: Barcelona Thanksgiving events
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Flaherty's Irish Pub
Irish pubs are the easy way to go if you want to celebrate Thanksgiving in Barcelona. And Flaherty's is one of the most popular! Clean and friendly, and very close to Las Ramblas, you'll find there a young international crowd. And for Thanksgiving they have a special Thanksgiving menu served between noon and 9PM - so it can either be lunch or an early dinner. The menu is quite affordable and includes pumpin soup, roasted turkey with mash, pumpkin, yam, corn, green beans, gravy and cranberry sauce, plus a pecan pie for dessert. And they have a vegetarian option as well!
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Cocovail Beer Hall
Cocovail is another favorite beer bar and sports bar, and they have one of the most complete Thankgiving program in Barcelona. The fun starts with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade displayed on their giant screens, followed by some NFL games. And the plan includes a meal to dine-in or take-out with turkey and its stuffing, corn bread, green beans, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. They organize 3 shifts, one starting at 12.30PM, the next one at 6PM and the last one at 10PM, so you can choose the schedule that suits you best.
ADDRESS: Arago, 284
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Savour Academy
The feast starts with a grazing board, then salad, then turkey with gravy and stuffing, mash, roast veggies and sweet potatoes, green beans, cornbread, cranberry sauce and two desserts: pumpkin pie and apple pie. Everything paired with local wines.
ADDRESS: Farell, 12 (Hostafrancs, near Plaça Espanya)
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Cooking your own Thanksgiving dinner
Whether you are staying at a rental apartment or you are an expat that has recently moved to Barcelona, we want to help you find the right ingredients and products so you can host your own Thanksgiving dinner at home. Here are our recommendations:
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Where to buy a turkey
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Shopping for veggies
- Potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans are easy to find at any grocery shop
- Yam is common enough, as many vegetable shops are own by Latinos.
- The pumpkins that you’ll find at any grocery store are mostly butternut squash. You can find pumpkin soup bottle or in tetrapack at any supermarket, if you want to minimize your cooking. Instead, cans of pumpkin puree to make cakes are hard to find. But you may want to make your own, it’s easy!
- You may not find cornbread in most stores. If you want to make it yourself the recipe calls for cornmeal, which could be either “harina de maiz” (finer corn flour) or “polenta” (thicker ground corn flour). Both are carried in most supermarkets.
- Cranberries? They are called arándanos rojos, and I’ve only ever seen them dry at a specialty store called Renobell in front of the Ciutadella park. It’s a cook’s paradise selling all kind of flours, nuts, dry fruits and exotic food products in bulk. Since they sell them dry, you’ll have to rehydrate them before using them to make sauce. OR… you can head to one of the 3 Ikeas in the Barcelona suburbs and grab some Sylt Lingon, their canberry jam!
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Are there any American shops in Barcelona?
Would you rather find your American ingredients all in one place? Cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin cake spices… Check out these American stores:
- Taste of America. This American supermarket has 2 stores in Barcelona, one on Balmes and one on Aragon streets.
- Las Americas Market. A supermarket specializing in foods from the entire American continent, not just from the use. It’s located in the suburb of Sant Just Desvern, but their offer is well worth a trip.
- Sil’s Cakes. A beautiful cake shop specializing in American-style cakes, in Gracia.
Enjoy your Barcelona Thanksgiving!
Marta
Marta is the founder of ForeverBarcelona. She is a passionate tour guide that loves Barcelona and loves writing too. She is the main author of our Blog, and is committed to sharing her knowledge about Barcelona and her best tips with our readers.
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