Learn About Spain

Because of La Tienda, I get to visit Spain often, meeting with vendors across the country who work so hard to preserve the foodways of their amazing country. On a recent visit to A Coruña in Galicia, I spent a day with the artisans at Ternura, who produce incredible empanadas by hand. We were greeted by the owner and his head of sales, Paz Varas, and were given a hands-on tour of their small...

Spain is the world's leading producer of olive oil, with approximately 975 thousand tons produced per year. Over 250 million olive trees grow in Spain - we are always astonished to see olive groves that stretch as far as the eye can see. Some trees are over one thousand years old! 

In recent years, families and cooperatives in Spain have...

Andalucía is an amazing place rich in its monuments, warm and engaging people, abundant citrus fruits and fresh produce, and incredible variety of seafood. It is a virtual cornucopia of shrimp, langostinos and any fish one can imagine.

Where to start writing about Andalucía? With the fabled castles and wine bodegas, the city streets lined with orange-laden trees, the rugged snow capped...

Following this route we revisited some of our favorite towns of Andalucía before heading north along the Portuguese border in Extremadura. We turned west to the Celtic lands of Galícia including the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela and along the Cantabrian coast to Asturias (where the Reconquista began in the 8th century). We headed south to León driving through a breathtaking...