What to Eat in Spain: The Ultimate Culinary Travel Guide (PDF)
A curated collection of 51 must-eat traditional foods across 17 regions of Spain, selected to help you discover the dishes, ingredients, and culinary traditions that define each part of the country.
Inside the Guide:
This 29-page guide takes you beyond the familiar idea of “Spanish food” to explore the remarkable regional diversity of Spain. Across 17 regions, discover 51 traditional foods - from dishes shaped by the Mediterranean coast and Atlantic waters to mountain cooking, agricultural traditions, and centuries of cultural influence.
Each region introduces the foods you should look for while traveling, along with the story and culinary significance behind them so you can understand what you should explore and why.
Andalusia
Explore the sun-drenched cuisine of southern Spain through refreshing Gazpacho, the sweet-and-savory Berenjenas con Miel, and Mojama, the intensely flavored cured tuna known as the “ham of the sea.”
Madrid
Discover the capital's distinctive food culture with Churros, Gambas al Ajillo, and the iconic Bocadillo de Calamares—a reminder that Madrid's cuisine has been shaped as much by its position as a crossroads as by its landlocked geography.
Basque Country
Experience one of Spain's most distinctive culinary cultures, where exceptional ingredients, seafood, and a strong tradition of culinary craftsmanship have made the region a destination in its own right.
Catalonia
Explore a cuisine with its own unmistakable identity, where Mediterranean ingredients, rustic traditions, and centuries of culinary influence come together in some of northeastern Spain's most recognizable foods.
Galicia
Discover a cuisine defined by the Atlantic, with an extraordinary emphasis on seafood, simple preparation, and the quality of the ingredient itself.
Valencia
Go beyond the familiar name of paella to understand the food culture of Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast and the agricultural landscape that made rice such an important part of the regional table.
Plus 11 more regions
Explore dedicated food profiles covering Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, La Rioja, Murcia, and Navarre.
Spain is often thought of through a handful of iconic foods: paella, tapas, jamón, churros. But those famous dishes only begin to tell the story.
Spain is a country of strikingly different landscapes and cultures, and its food changes with them. The seafood of the Atlantic coast feels very different from the cooking of the interior. The produce of the
Mediterranean has its own character, while the mountains have given rise to hearty stews, cured meats and dishes designed for colder weather. Centuries of history have added more layers, from Roman and Moorish influences to traditions shaped by neighboring France and Portugal.
This guide takes you beyond the familiar. We've selected three must-eat traditional foods from each of Spain's 17 regions, highlighting dishes and ingredients that offer a genuine sense of place. Some you'll recognize. Others may be entirely new to you.
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