From the Publisher
Goulding honours the fascinating food of Spain with an anthropological approach. This combination of food and travel writing and photography couldn’t have come from anywhere except the “Roads and Kingdoms” series, which continues to push out the definition of food publishing. Brilliant.” — Financial Times Best Books of 2017
“Matt Goulding sees, smells, and hears the whispers of the invisible spirits of Spain like no one has ever done before. The Spanish soul runs all through his veins. This is not a book, but a secret passage to a better world.” — José Andrés
“Think of this as a travel guide that’s supremely unhelpful in telling you where to eat… in the best possible way. After reading this book, you will want the following: a giant pan of paella, a big bowl of fabada, and as many cured meats as your stomach can take.” — Bon Appétit
“Goulding’s presentation of the myriad Spanish gastronomic delights from across the culturally diverse country is deliciously enticing and thoughtfully introspective.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Part narrative, part how-to guide to eating in Spain (without this book you are doing it wrong), Goulding weaves stories and observations into an organic mosaic. Deeply satisfying for the armchair traveler, this can’t-miss book should be required reading prior to visiting Spain.” — Library Journal
“Goulding adeptly exposes the fabric of modern Spanish cuisine and whets the appetites for both food and travel, daring readers to explore unadvertised adventures of Spain. This book should be savored.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
“Goulding’s book leaves the reader with a pretty good idea of why Spain deserves to be taken very seriously as a gastronomic paradise.” — Wall Street Journal
“Matt Goudling has written a magnificent love letter to his adopted home. It has all the beautiful details—the things you need to experience, must experience—to love Spain the way it deserves to be loved.” — Anthony Bourdain
“An enthusiastic journey through some of Spain’s culinary hot spots.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Grape, Olive, Pig employs an impressive literary toolkit in appreciating and savoring Spanish cuisine, with descriptions of meals, translations of uniquely Spanish culinary vocabulary, spirals through relevant history, depictions of current food productions, and narratives of Goulding’s food-focused travels across Spain.” — Smithsonian
“This book is the perfect gift or souvenir for everyone interested in Spain. It reads like an adventure novel.” — Edouard Cointreau, President of the Jury: Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
Wall Street Journal
Goulding’s book leaves the reader with a pretty good idea of why Spain deserves to be taken very seriously as a gastronomic paradise.
Financial Times Best Books of 2017
Goulding honours the fascinating food of Spain with an anthropological approach. This combination of food and travel writing and photography couldn’t have come from anywhere except the “Roads and Kingdoms” series, which continues to push out the definition of food publishing. Brilliant.
Bon Appétit
Think of this as a travel guide that’s supremely unhelpful in telling you where to eat… in the best possible way. After reading this book, you will want the following: a giant pan of paella, a big bowl of fabada, and as many cured meats as your stomach can take.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Goulding adeptly exposes the fabric of modern Spanish cuisine and whets the appetites for both food and travel, daring readers to explore unadvertised adventures of Spain. This book should be savored.
Booklist (starred review)
Goulding’s presentation of the myriad Spanish gastronomic delights from across the culturally diverse country is deliciously enticing and thoughtfully introspective.
José Andrés
Matt Goulding sees, smells, and hears the whispers of the invisible spirits of Spain like no one has ever done before. The Spanish soul runs all through his veins. This is not a book, but a secret passage to a better world.
Anthony Bourdain
Matt Goudling has written a magnificent love letter to his adopted home. It has all the beautiful details—the things you need to experience, must experience—to love Spain the way it deserves to be loved.
Smithsonian
Grape, Olive, Pig employs an impressive literary toolkit in appreciating and savoring Spanish cuisine, with descriptions of meals, translations of uniquely Spanish culinary vocabulary, spirals through relevant history, depictions of current food productions, and narratives of Goulding’s food-focused travels across Spain.
Edouard Cointreau
This book is the perfect gift or souvenir for everyone interested in Spain. It reads like an adventure novel.
Wall Street Journal
Goulding’s book leaves the reader with a pretty good idea of why Spain deserves to be taken very seriously as a gastronomic paradise.
Kirkus Review
Sept. 7, 2016
An enthusiastic journey through some of Spain’s culinary hot spots, with emphasis on the work of professional chefs.Goulding (Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan’s Food Culture, 2015, etc.), chief editor of the travel web journal Roads & Kingdoms and co-author of the Eat This, Not That! series, has for six years kept a home base in Barcelona, where he lives with his Catalan wife. The city gets pride of place among the areas considered in-depth in this exuberant survey, but it’s clear that the author has had some good meals and even better tapas crawls elsewhere, as well. The volume reads more like a collection of disparate essays than a unified study of the regional cuisines of Spain. In the mountains above Salamanca, Goulding watches as workers slaughter the 140 pigs intended for a festival, and he rhapsodizes about the joys of acorn-fed ham. A trip to the Basque country offers an opportunity for the author to sing the praises of his old cooking-school instructor, Luis Irizar Zamora, “the master of masters” and teacher of “some of the most famous chefs in the country.” Copious illustrations of people, food, and people preparing and enjoying food enliven the book, and interludes between chapters provide instruction on how to “drink like a Spaniard” (“skip the sangria,” which is “largely a tourist trick”) or give miniportraits of some “people of Spain,” such as bodega owner Armando, who professes, “I work here 16 hours a day. I need to look for a woman. Or maybe a rich man. Anybody to give me a break.” A set of tantalizing verbal snapshots rather than a culinary map of the region, the book clearly communicates the author’s affection for the food, both simple and refined, of his chosen country and makes obvious how much difference a change of just a few dozen miles makes in what ingredients and dishes are favored and seen as representative of the culture.
