Never before has a vegetable made so many enemies. And allies. In Spain there are many ways to make enemies: talk about football, politics, history, if it’s better to spend your holiday at the beach or in the countryside, if pineapple makes or breaks pizza, paella ingredients… It comes with launching (deep) comments adequate in the present and before people are (not)adequate so a simple observation leads to discussion and this becomes a violent dialectical storm in the bar. However, with a football pass, there are some issues that are so thorny, so polarizing, like whether or not a tortilla should have onions in it.

Spain is the country of chives And Sincebollistas.

It was a diatribe par excellence, definitive affiliation.

We know it. and he knows it atlasovaa map enthusiast who draws plans on topics such as which countries are safe drink tap waterThe actual size of Amazonshow they are pronounced certain words or how they vary color from a police car.

When the table faces more than it comes together

In 2021 Atlasova decided to design perhaps the most “controversial” map: a plan from most of Europe covering whatever random issue suddenly divides the population of every country. The plan -explains the author to Xataka- draws it based on reddit discussion and comments from its own followers, thus relying more on individual country conversations and the experiences of its users rather than objective study. But the results are as surprising as they are funny.

And accurate, at least in Spain, where he concludes that the classic issue that destroys families after dinners and friendships in bars is the “great tortilla debate.” Not surprising to those of us who already live in this land. Yes, that’s what happened to our other neighbors on the old continent. The discussion is not much different, for example on the other hand linein Portugal, though there the sides aren’t defined by their greater or lesser love of onions in tortillas, but rather which beer is better to order when going to a party: Sagres or Super Bock.

Spain and Portugal aren’t the only ones who seem to be bickering over cheap prices. In Italy the debate revolves around whether at Christmas it should be served pandora one of Panettonein Germany there is disagreement over how potato salad should be prepared, in the Netherlands and Iceland they disagree over the names of French fries and toasters respectively, and in Norway over whether served sodas during Christmas the color should be brown or reddish.

The table still allows for some more discussion.

In the north of Great Britain they seem to be unclear about the best sauce to accompany a dish fish and chips and in Sweden where the argument heats up is which side to butter knäckebröd, Scandinavian toasted, flattened, and crusted rye bread. Something similar happened in Ukraine: there what broke the consensus among friends was if borschthe country’s signature soup, improves with a bit cream smetana.

Something similar happened in Poland, where the “fruit of discord” was raisins. Especially if it’s in between the two He sernik, a creamy, fluffy cheesecake typical of country cakes, but it hasn’t managed to drum up a consensus on which ingredients should and shouldn’t be included. If in Spain we have that dilemma tortillas and onions, there are raisins and the star of this popular cream cheese cake. The same thing in Turkey, where there is no doubt about how good a good plate is accept, a traditional recipe that calls for eggs, tomatoes, pepper and spices, but asks whether to add onions.

While the kitchen can be a hotbed of contention, not all of the national debate revolves around ingredients, drinks, or the best way to serve dishes. There are latitudes where the discussion seems to revolve around issues that have nothing to do with cooking. A curious example is from France. There—according to Atlasova—what fuels the discussion is exactly where Mont Saint MichelA commune and a small, charming town that appears on an island in the estuary the Couesnon Riverin Normandy.

It’s even funnier among the Romanians, who seem to disagree when it comes to calling out slippers for walking around the house:papuci one of slap? In the land of the Nordics, great doubt is between the words vihta one of widein Irish about pronunciation “scones”a roll that comes from Scotland, or a toaster must be kept and in Latvia pronunciation “November”.

If arguing was free…

…Especially if you’re sitting at a table or between the stoves.

Images: @atlasova.dunia

At Xataka: Our conception of the world has changed greatly throughout history. This map depicts all of its forms