The cuisine of the Community of Madrid is an amalgamation of the cuisines of various regions of Spain developed, in part, by mass migration to the capital city starting during the reign of King Felipe II. As the city grew, it incorporated the culinary traditions of the municipalities it absorbed into the area now known as the Community of Madrid.
The smell of local cooking is frequently compared to that of food fried in vegetable oil: churros, calamares a la romana, tortilla de patatas, bocadillos de calamares, patatas bravas, chopitos, gallinejas, among other traditional dishes, which can be smelled cooking no matter the time of day.