Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold soup, and in some serving styles a drink, made from raw blended vegetables, most often tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and garlic, along with stale bread, olive oil, wine vinegar, water and salt, and it originated in the southern regions of the Iberian Peninsula. One theory traces it back to a soup of bread, olive oil, water, vinegar, peas and garlic that arrived in Spain with the Romans, with the word gazpacho possibly descending from the Latin caccabaceus, and for centuries the dish in southern Spain was built only from stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt and vinegar with no tomato at all. The now familiar red version only emerged in the nineteenth century, once tomatoes were added to the older bread-based recipe, and northern variations of the soup sometimes add cumin or smoked paprika. Gazpacho is eaten widely across Spain and Portugal today, especially in summer, valued for being refreshing and served cold, and contemporary versions sometimes add ingredients such as avocado, strawberry or watermelon.