Slow Food Travel - Spain

Looking for an excuse to stay in Spain a while? Do you really need one? If the traditional lifestyle, warm local hospitality and gorgeous countryside weren’t reason enough, I’ll offer you another: local food you can take home with you. Following the principles of the slow travel movement invites you to become part of Spain.

No, I’m not suggesting that you fly to Spain, collect suitcases full of paella and pescaito frito to smell up the plane home. Forget trying to explain the rice and olive oil seeping out of your carry-on to the customs official. I’m suggesting slow food. I am suggesting taking a shopping cart to the carniceria for meat, the panaderia for for bread, bringing the ingredients back to your rented villa for a cooking class. You can find a private instructor in the closest city or make friends with a local–not hard to do!–who can show you what you need to know.

Slow food is cooking with fresh ingredients, making everything yourself and enjoying the fruits of your labors. Besides the obvious advantages of experimenting with flavor learning a new art, slow food means knowing exactly what goes into your food. Every ingredient passes your scrutiny. But the real advantage of slow food, of making your microwave jealous and cutting out fast food fat is being part of your life process. You are there for the cooking, the serving and the eating. You are freed from being reliant on others to determine your menu and feel connected to every bite that you can take pride in having created.

Take time to enjoy and learn the different regional cuisine of Spain. Each region offers a different theme as well as variations on country-wide favorites. From the Jabugo ham and fish specialties of Andalusia to the indescribable olla podrida of Extremadura, Spain is the perfect place to begin your slow food journey.