Matt Goulding

This book piqued my interest as soon as I read the synopsis. If there is nothing I love more than cooking it’s reading about food. Half the fun of cookbooks to me is reading the stories around the recipes. THIS BOOK DOES NOT HAVE RECIPES know that going in. It’s basically a love story from the author to Spain and her food.

It begins with the author’s story of how he came to discover Spain – Barcelona to start – and why he decided to stay. The writing style is very engaging and I show more fell right into the story from the beginning. Mr. Goulding lets his love of the subject come shining through as he introduces the reader to restaurants, markets, bars and more in cities and towns throughout Spain.

There are photos galore which I am sure enhance the reader’s journey through the book; I received an advanced readers copy so all of the photos in my version were black and white and while they got the message across you know darn well when it comes to food a glossy color shot tells so much more of a story than a matte, paper black and white. I am sure that the finished, hardbound book is gorgeous.

I finished this book with a longing to find a Spanish cookbook, a desire to visit the country and an appetite for a cuisine I really haven’t explored. show less

Grape, Olive, Pig- Deep Travels Through Spain's Food Culture begins with Matt Goulding as a high school senior traveling with his class on a trip to Spain in 1998. Goulding fell in love with Spain and on a return trip in 2010, he fell in love with a Catalan woman named Laura, a woman he was destined to marry.

Goulding takes the reader on a journey through Spain through the eyes of someone who has found his calling and his home. In addition to taking us on a culinary tour of Spain, Goulding show more gives the reader a historical perspective, from the Romans who built Barcelona to the flourishing of Barcelona in the early 14th century to the dark days of fascism under Francisco Franco to the desire of the Catalan province to succeed from Spain that exists today.

We start in Barcelona, home to to the now-defunct El Bulli, considered for years to be the best restaurant in the entire world. Many of world's greatest chefs passed through the kitchens of El Bulli and four of the top six restaurants on the 2015 list of the World 50 Best Restaurants are run by chefs who worked in El Bulli.

Goulding takes us through the streets of Barcelona, stopping in The Boqueria, one of Europe's best, biggest and oldest food marketplaces, where each day people shop for fresh seafood, fresh-baked loaves of bread, cheese and charcuterie.

We go to Salamanca, where we meet Fermin Martin who shares the secret to jamon iberico (Spanish ham)- it's the diet of acorns fed to the pigs that give the jamon its deliciousness. Martin discusses the the problems in dealing with the USDA and all its myriad rules and regulations that are keeping us in the US from enjoying this delight.

We learn how to make the perfect paella in Valencia, and how the sushi craze in Japan has caused an explosion in bluefin tuna fishing in Cadiz. We travel with world famous chef Jose Andres to the cheese caves in Asturias.

The most interesting people we meet are a trio of sisters, the Gonzalez sisters. They are percebeiras, "hunters and gatherers of the gooseneck barnacle of the Spanish Atlantic". Gathering barnacles is a difficult and dangerous job, and the fact that they are women has created conflict with the men who do the same job. Their story is fascinating.

Grape, Olive, Pig is an essential book for foodies, armchair travelers and anyone who is planning a trip to Spain. Goulding's love for his chosen home is evident in this fascinating book, filled with great stories, lots of fun facts and lists and mouth-watering photos of food and drink one must try when visiting Spain. After finishing Grape, Olive, Pig, you will be checking online flights to Spain. I highly recommend it. show less

For me, one of the best things to do when traveling is to try the local cuisine. While details of famous landmarks will escape my memory, I always remember a good meal. This book is like a love letter to the food and culture of Spain.

Matt Goulding, a food writer and current resident of Spain, sets off to show that while the many regions of Spain have similarities when it comes to food, they are also unique in their own way. One of my favorite parts of the book was getting to know the people show more Matt came across such as the sisters that hunt for barnacles every day and the cave-dwelling relative of his Spanish wife. Another strength of the book, is the articulate descriptions of the food. He is definitely one of the best food writers I have come across and hope he continues on with this series of books.

I won an ARC of this book in a giveaway and that is my fair and honest review. show less

Once again, Roads & Kingdoms put together a gorgeous food travelogue in book form. [a:Matt Goulding|992435|Matt Goulding|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] takes the reader on a geographically sweeping yet intimate tour of España through her regional foods and practices. I've never been to Spain or really gotten into the nuances of its food, so I'll have to take his well-written word on how well the book fits the country.

Of the two show more HarperCollins Anthony Bourdain books (his imprint, not his own works) I read this month, I felt a stronger pull to this one over [b:Eating Korea: Reports on a Culinary Renaissance|30653709|Eating Korea Reports on a Culinary Renaissance|Graham Holliday|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468804705s/30653709.jpg|51198709]- maybe because I feel like with 7 years of experiences Matt's more embedded in the country he writes about compared to Graham's journey to discover what exactly the soul of a country is.

Oddly, of the three titular focal points, I'm not sure grapes really got their due compared to the worship of the pig and omnipresence of olive oil. Sure, wine is mentioned as being a must at some meals...but it very much felt like proteins took the lead in most of this. show less