“Sorry, I can’t answer the phone right now, I’m in Spain drinking sangria.” This is what it sounds like when the answering machine of French-American TikToker Léanne Ansar (@leanneansar) is activated, who has more than 200,000 followers on this social network and almost 9 million likes. The young woman has just published a video in which she summarizes her last trip to Madrid, which apparently consisted of eating paella paired with sangria.
However, this publication – which, on the other hand, has already accumulated 25,000 likes – has not taken long to spark controversy among Spanish TikTok users. And this video represents all the stereotypes of the tourist who travels to Spain on vacation. “I just arrived in Madrid and I went straight to try the sangria and paella. I have gone in search of sun and happiness. This is my first time in the city, but I am told that it is known for the smiles of its inhabitants and its delicious food. So far, I haven’t disliked the sangria and the paella,” reads the description coined by Léanne.
Now, the comments on that video reveal that this foreigner has a very wrong view of Spaniards, who would never eat paella with sangria. “Who eats paella in a place where they make individual paellas and the sangria seems radioactive?”, “Who would sell the motorcycle to the guiris who in this country drinks sangria all the time?”, or “So, if I go to the United Kingdom, do I have to eat fish and chips with tea?” These are some of the opinions of our compatriots on the matter.
Furthermore, the particularity of this scene, with Léanne sitting on top of the armrest of the terrace chair, hair flying in the wind and holding the glass of sangria with one hand and the fork with the other, has caused Spanish TikTokers to find similarities with a scene from a film by Pedro Almodóvar. “I have an air of Penélope Cruz in Volver”, “What are you putting in your hair?” or “Why does she seem more Spanish than me?” These are some of the humorous comments that users have left.
But not all opinions were going to be bad. “I’m not making fun, because it could be me anywhere in the world,” admits a TikToker. “In Valencia we do drink a lot of sangria from a jug when we go out for a drink,” acknowledges another.
