The People of Gibraltar

2018 - Gibraltar’s Hawkers, Vendors and Menders - Part 5

Calentita Vendor

Calentita is the one and only proper street food sold in Gibraltar. It can best be described as a large, thick, round pancake made of chickpea flour, water, olive oil and seasoning. I have no idea who was responsible for bringing it into Gibraltar - Genoese immigrants or Barbary traders sound the most likely - nor am I certain as to when it was introduced but the evidence from older sources suggest that it was probably with us from the very early 19th century.

Calentita man in front of the Exchange Library - Main Street (1820s - Henry Sandham)

Commercial Square - The fellow on extreme left is a calentita vendor (1844 - The Old Inhabitant)

It was baked in round, steel containers and the entire pancake was then carried around by the vendor in the same round steel containers it had been baked in. During my time as a youngster in Gibraltar I can only remember one calentita seller -His nickname was Paloma. He was an eminently recognisable character because of his extreme shortsightedness and his thick bottle bottom glasses.

Caricature of Paloma sketch by my brother for an article he wrote about him for the Gibraltar Chronicle ( 1950s - Eric Chipulina)

I can’t remember his real name but he was certainly from La Línea. His address was No 5 Calle Luis Ramirez. During the annual La Línea fair he was reputed to dress up to the nines and become completely unrecognisable from his Gibraltar vendor persona. Paloma worked for a confectionery and tea room at the top of Engineer Lane known as La Predilecta which was owned by the local Orfila family who were at least one of the makers of the pancake for several decades before and after WWII.

La Predilecta (Possibly 1950s)

There were in fact more than one calentita vendor in Gibraltar during this period but Paloma ended up being the last calentita seller on the Rock. He was by far the most recognisable one - so much so that he ended up being something of an institution.