Food, Wine and Travel Blog

La Rioja is home to some of Spains best restaurants and has a long culinary tradition and is mainly celebrated for its outstanding local produce; wide varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables from local market gardens, in addition to succulent meat and game from the regions’ farms. Indeed, there are enough fine raw materials in […]

Chile is a magnificently diverse country with the mountainous Andes and rugged Patagonia regions, Santiago its cosmopolitan capital, wine country, and the countless coastal beach towns and busy ports. Despite being the most regionally diverse country in South America with an extensive variety of vegetables, countless forms of beef, lamb, goat, and even llama, not […]

The delights of Pairing Sea Bass with Chablis and more! For a long time, the accepted wisdom was that white wine goes with fish and red wine with meat. That was as complex as food matching needed to be. It was a useful rule of thumb when fish came poached or simply grilled, and red […]

A remarkable amount of knowledge has been shared, debated, and contradicted on the subject of food and wine pairing, useful albeit loosely defined principles and tips that can help us enjoy both the food and the wine rather than letting one suppress the other. Open an expensive bottle of St-Emilion, eat a flaming hot Mexican […]

Portuguese Cheese Guide Although Portugal’s most famous contribution to food and drink is undoubtedly Port wine, its superb range of artisan cheeses, with its lengthy pedigree and traditions are equally a worthy addition to any gourmet’s household. And while most visitors to this beautiful and historic country may well only bring home a bottle or […]

The 10 Best Female Chefs in Northern Italy- Hot List by Ivano Martignetti When I first started to reflect on this topic, I decided to ask my best friends if they had any idea. Most of them, spontaneously, answered it was their mother or their grandmother. Now, this is funny and interesting at the same […]

Love Italian Cooking? Want to dedicate yourself to making Italian recipes from scratch, and need a list of the essential kitchen “musts” for gadgets and ingredients? Here is our essential list, and readers: please send in your tips and advice so we can make the list even more complete! Essential Ingredients & Gadgets for Italian […]

30 of 300: A short glossary of Italian pasta by Martina Hemm Though pasta has only been present in European kitchens for the past 200 years, Italy has long nourished an ancient noodle culture. Arab merchants were the first to carry itria, the predecessor of modern Italian pasta, from the faraway Asian continent to the […]

Parlez-Vous Fromage?? by Martina Hemm Navigating your way through a mélange of French cheeses can be a bit daunting and leave you speechless, not in the least, because there are over 1000 varieties to choose from. But before you walk away from your local cheesemonger overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of creamy, milky, and smelly […]

Madrid’s Best Tapas Bars Everybody in Madrid has their Tapas bar- their secret neighborhood hideaway. Whether for a morning coffee, a midday snack, or a late night bottle among friends, Madrileños live their lives in their favorite haunts. Here are just ten of our favorite tapas bars in Madrid, to give you a taste. But […]

Tips for the perfect food and wine fiesta Spanish tapas are fun, easy to prepare, and always a crowd-pleaser. Here are some ideas on how to throw your tapas and wine party for your (appreciative) friends: FIRST OF ALL, WHAT ARE TAPAS? The word “tapa” means “lid” in Spanish, and it refers to the tradition […]