Spain

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  San Sebastián

  Fat with Michelin-starred restaurants, the enchanting coastal city of San Sebastián is the culinary capital of Basque Country, the bucolic Bay of Biscay-hugging region that encompasses parts of northern Spain and southwest France. Though stunningly hilly and home to pristine beaches, Basque Country is most known for its ancient culture—famously, stubbornly distinct from that of the countries in which it’s found, with its own traditions, maritime roots, flag, and language, Euskera—and its cuisine, which in recent decades has grown increasingly avant-garde with its use of high-tech, experimental techniques, while still reflecting respect for traditional ingredients. The best part? There are many ways to access these foods, from world-class chef-driven restaurants to dirt-cheap napkin-strewn local bars.  

  In San Sebastián particularly, one can ricochet from a life-changing, wallet-busting six-course meals involving, say, liquid nitrogen, powdered olive oil, and spinach foam, to the decidedly less lofty but equally lip-smacking ritual of txikiteo, the Basque social art and gastronomic gift from the gods in which one hops around various pintxos bars, sampling a bit here and there. Pintxos are like Basque tapas, delectable little gourmet works of art that prove just how serious the Basques are about food. They’re the subject of this San Sebastián EYW snapshot—at least until we return (and we will) for more thorough coverage.

  Fat with Michelin-starred restaurants, the enchanting coastal city of San Sebastián is the culinary capital of Basque Country, the bucolic Bay of Biscay-hugging region that encompasses parts of northern Spain and southwest France. Though stunningly hilly and home to pristine beaches, Basque Country is most known for its ancient culture—famously, stubbornly distinct from that of the countries in which…   Read more

   

  Find local foods in San Sebastián.

  Pintxos

• User Content

Below is user-submitted content for this region. Have something to contribute? Upload your regional-food photo or food memory.

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  Rotisserie Chicken

  Málaga
  greyj
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  Bunyols de carabassa

  València
  deliciousvlc
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  Jamon Eiriz

  spaniola
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  Jamon Eiriz

  spaniola

• • Eating and Drinking in Barcelona - My Picks

    jarae
    Barcelona Spain
    Boadas Cocktails – What grabbed my attention about this bar is that it is the oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona, dating back to the 1930’s. It does not any get more authentic and Spanish than th…    Read more

  • La Matanza (the pig slaughter)

    uniquecorners
    Esporles village (Balearic Islands in Spain)
    The “Matanza” day at my village is a feast day and everybody is invited to participate to it. This is one of the most important rural traditions of the culture of Mallorca in Spain. This day tr…    Read more

• Blog Posts

• Top Spots for Pintxos in San Sebastian, Spain

  The best mushrooms you will ever eat, from Bar Ganbara in San Sebastian Basque pintxos (“peen-shos”) are little culinary treats, generally either bite-size morsels or small plates of food. They are found all across Spanish Basque…   Read more

• Seeking Convent Sweets in Sevilla

  In Sevilla, traditional local sweets, made by cloistered nuns, abound inside centuries-old convents. You just have to find them. Plaza de España, Sevilla. Courtesy of Francisco Collinet/Flickr. “Ave Maria,” comes the…   Read more

• Food Tour: Barcelona’s Best Catalan Bites

  Escalivada, Catalan roasted vegetables. Photo courtesy of Driftwood Journals. In this guest post, our friends at Food Lovers Company—a company run by two Barcelona locals that specializes in authentic culinary experiences for discerning…   Read more

• Catalan Sweets: Five Not to Miss

  Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain (photo: Laura Siciliano-Rosen). It’s no secret that Spain is home to a rich culinary landscape. From sprawling vineyards to thriving fisheries and lush mountains teeming with life, the diversity of natural…   Read more

• Recipes From Afar: Polbo á Feira, Galicia, Spain

  It was a rainy morning, as usual, in Galicia. At the weekly mercado de abastos, bustling with shoppers from nearby villages, a huge tent with communal wood tables and an enormous pile of wooden plates waited for customers to arrive, myself…   Read more