Interviews & Opinion

It has been fascinating to catch up with people who have lived in Spain, but moved away. Particularly when it comes to what they miss about the excellent range of food and ingredients on offer throughout the country.
It is clear to me that Spanish food has a big role to play in the lives of expats in Spain. And it is that they miss most when leaving the country.

In my penultimate conversation with an expat who has left Spain behind them, I got back in touch with Brian who I first met several years ago in beautiful Barcelona.
He is now back in London where he tries his utmost to get a taste of what he has been forced to leave behind.

I wonder what he misses about Spanish food.

Jenny didn’t leave Spain to go back home to Birmingham. She didn’t travel north. No, Jenny moved further south.

She left Valencia, where she loved the paella and various rice dishes, to move to Portugal. Not solely for warmer climes, but also to sample the food of another country – albeit one not a million miles from Spain.

She is a gastronomic tourist. Have food, will travel is her motto.

I've been talking to some people who lived in Spain long enough to get a taste for its food and the whole culture of culinary life in the country. They have now left Spain and it is revealing to discover what they most miss when it comes to eating in Spain.

Some expats who moved to Spain have, for a variety of reasons, moved back to their native countries.
I recently surveyed a handful of them to find out what they miss about Spain – especially when it comes to Spanish food.

It’s two years since I waved goodbye to my friend Tim. The professional photographer lived in Spain for eight years but has moved back to the grey skies of the UK, something that has meant a change in the type of photos he takes.

As the year comes to an end I have been taking part in a debate about how Spanish food has changed in the past decade.
The questions posed included:-
is there any such thing as a new recipe?
Is the late arriving nouvelle cuisine of Spain finally a thing of the past?
Have Spanish culinary tastes changed greatly?
Will Spanish chefs ever stop using too much salt in their cooking?

In brief, the answers are:- no, possibly, no and… unlikely!

I came across some old guide books the other day. They dated from from the mid seventies and featured the best restaurants in London.
There was then just one award winning Spanish restaurant recommended by the likes of 'Let's Lunch in London' and 'The Good Food Guide.'

While I have mixed feelings about the work of surrealist Salvador Dali; I have enjoyed visiting the former homes of the controversial artist.

I've been to his former castle at Púbol, his distinctive home in the delightful coastal location of Cadaques and I have toured the amazing museum in Figueres that not only displays some of his most outrageous work; but is also his burial ground.

During his recent extensive tour of Spain, the restaurateur and chef Rick Stein witnessed how much the Spanish value their local bakeries.

Rick has spent his life enjoying the bread of Spain and spoke enthusiastically about it in his four part television series for the BBC, that is now available on DVD.

Rick Stein loves his Spanish bread.That became clear as he ate it all over the country.

Spanish food now attracts interest from around the world.

More and more it is the case that people are being adventurous and trying new ingredients and recipes.

Tasting the real joy of Spanish food.

So many long lost friends around the world have been in touch with me raving about the new four part television series in which one the most popular chefs in the UK, Rick Stein, was in Spain sampling Spanish food.