Spanish cuisine a signal of piety. The arrival of Europeans in America, in 1492, initiated the advent of new culinary elements, such as tomatoes, potatoes, corn, bell peppers, spicy peppers, paprika, vanilla and cocoa or chocolate. Spain is where chocolate was first mixed with sugar to remove its natural bitterness. Other ingredients traveled to the Americas, such as rice, grapes, olives and many types of cereals. Many traditional Spanish dishes such as tortilla de patata (an omelette made with potatoes), would not be possible without the discovery of America. Gazpacho, salmorejo, and pan tumaca are made with tomatoes, which traveled from America
World Vegetable Center at the World Vegetable Center. Indigenous vegetables are domesticated or semi-wild vegetable crops that are grown in particular regions as an integral part of a local food system. Many of them are underutilized crops, particularly in regions where they are not native. A collection of vegetable germplasm is kept at the World Vegetable Center, which is considered to have the "largest and most diverse collection...in the world.". The collection itself contains more than 60,000 accessions of 442 different species collected from 156 countries. AVGRIS, the AVRDC Vegetable Genetic Resources Information System, provides access to all the Center's data associated with