Abstract
This text is going to present some result of my research about the history of the taverns in the city of Madrid, focusing on the perception of the customs of eating and drinking in the accounts of nineteenth-century French writers who've been to Madrid approach bias: Alexandre Dumas, Théophile Gautier, Prosper Mérimée and Jean-Charles Davillier. These writers of French culture - and more specifically Parisian - created the fame of the Black Spain with regard to food and drink. These writers coming from wealthier classes spread across Europe a lousy image in relation to the table and Spanish hospitality, based on the term "Spanish hostel" - where someone eats, drinks and sleeps very badly - and on the idea that everything in the Peninsula smells like garlic and winevinegar.
Keywords:
Food; Drink; Alexandre Dumas; Théophile Gautier; Prósper Merimée; Jean Davillier.