BonVivant

Spicy Iberico blood sausage with roasted potatoes and salad. Today I got to my lodging at 8pm and not really hungry after 2 huge rice croquettes and garlicky pizza earlier. Sicilian beers, Bavarian Lebkuchen.

"Good afternoon"? We don't have afternoon in the winter! Evening begins at lunch time! To be sliced for the shredded raw vegs and rice noodles. Vietnamese-style fish sauce alongside.

Half kilo Mont d'Or This is one of the two meals I like in the whole world. (The other one is very much the same but with a savoury broth) Steamed vegs (mushrooms, 2 sorts of beetroot, purple carrots), sourdough rye bread, gherkins, and spicy Iberico morcilla/blood sausage.

"Otto" and "Max" I didn't see it coming when I took the fall. Now I know... nothing breaks like a Neufchâtel heart. Für Elise -------- In Sevilla: Grilled tuna steak "Presa" For the same price in the Sierra you get 100% Iberico (see chart)

Smoked halibut from north Germany. In Sevilla: Tuna has been marinated in an acidic brine Mixed Iberico charcuterie My (paper) plate above being prepared Jaaaa!

Çilbir: poached eggs, garlicky yogurt, melted butter with paprika and chilli flakes Jack beans and octopus In Sevilla: montaditos are served at most tapas bars. They are especially popular in Sevilla. With leftover stewed pork and blood sausage Cod Hake roe Yes. I pulsed raw beetroot and chickpeas together for an even texture. Thanks!

Not a curry. Kabocha, parsnips and jack beans. Some kabocha was cooked first to make a thick sauce, then the cream was added later. Dark stuff is actually fresh basil mixed with olive oil. I ate the first half with Spätzle. Second half I ate with my own kelp pici (hand-rolled pasta). And what became of the second half of the pici.

Prawn roe covered avocado, freekeh with spinach and seared salmon. I was not careful when trying to remove the avocado pit.

Had lunch in the big city Düsseldorf on Saturday. First time returning to this brewery's restaurant in a long time. The whole town and restaurants or cafes were absolutely full of partying football supporters. It was insanely crowded and loud everywhere. Plate of different sausages and Speck, Sauerkraut and creamy mash. It baffles me when someone says they have leftover mashed potatoes. Put enough cream and butter in mine and watch it disappear from my plate! The meats: boiled Speck (quite salty), ball of liver, Kochwurst (a type of sausage), Blutwurst (blood sausage), Leberwurst (liver sausage) and Mettwurst (a type of sausage). Not one photo of this dish on review sites anywhere. Creamy broad beans with Speck is home-style food. One of the reasons I prefer eating at brewery-restaurants in Germany. It's where you can eat typical, home-style food (not to mention the prices are usually agreeable). The bill This was outside the restaurant. The same inside but people were sitting and eating, and drinking of course. My own lunch was oven baked beetroot falafel and tortillas.

It's an Andalusian classic, with Moorish/Arab and Sephadic roots. I have never made it but it's probably not hard. There are many recipes out there (look up "Espinacas con Garbanzos " or English equivalent).

How to get me to eat tasteless vegs: put lots of cheese in it! I used both Emmental and Gruyère in this. Unfortunately, the cauliflower is yellow so you can't really see much here. In Sevilla: lightly seasoned flour-dusted deep fried cuttlefish and dogfish.

Austrian-style beetroot dumplings (with melted butter and deep fried shallots) Tapas lunch in Sevilla: Assorted Iberico charcuterie Spinach and chickpeas Tiny broad beans with scrambled eggs and bits of jamon

Austria and north Germany. Hash is one of Austria's national dishes. Peeling North Sea shrimp takes some time. They are often full of roe and the shells make a fantastic stock. ----------- First lunch in Sevilla, here at one of the market bars. The same meal I had in the Algarve, Portugal cost half the price. If you arrive from Portugal you will feel it in the wallet straight away.

The quality of ingredients can make a simple meal taste good. This is one.

If you have never seen a Japanese train station from above... Arrived in the evening and got only a couple of hours of sleep on my first night so I had a lot of time to make photos. Osaka main train station at sunrise: From breakfast room on the top floor. Elevated roads between buildings. Fancy or expensive food never satisfies me. The simplest meals do. First udon soup on my first evening in Japan remains a great all-time favourite. I hope to see a smoking ban in a near future, only then will Japan take its number one spot on my list.

Pasta with fresh crab meat Meat from the claws. 1kg of claws yields 300 grams of meat. Turn on the radio and have some patience. Picnics in the room (in Sevilla)

Little tapas at Mi Casita. Rendered Iberico fat with greaves. In Spain you get bits of Jamon in this tapa dish. That's how they use the very last bits of the Jamon leg, in soups and other dishes. Sourdough rye toast and 2 last Spanish tomatoes grated for pan con tomate. Last day in Aracena. Cheese tasting at a cheese shop, also owned by the cheesemaker herself. All cheeses come from here in the Sierra. Lunch restaurant is near the bus station (off to Sevilla shortly). We ate here only the other day. They do eat green tomatoes. This small plate was brought to us as soon as we ordered the beer. Top notch Jamon again, of course. A piece of crispy fried Iberico fat on top of the meat. The same fat I used to make Schmalz in photo above. Looks like beef but tastes like 100% Iberico acorn-fed pork. Thanks, Paul. Spain is currently the second most visited country in.the.world. Not only that, Spain also overtakes France in gastro tourism!

I brought Spain home with me. Grated Raf tomatoes for the toast. Unfiltered olive oil also brought back from Spain. We each carried 3 kilos of tomatoes in our carry-on. Only a few got bruised. Have been eating tomatoes and unfiltered olive oil every day since I got home. Rosa de la Reina is grown in the Sierra, where I stayed during my hiking holiday. The tomatoes on this plate weigh 3kg. They are very dense and heavy. Lunch in Aracena. Nice cider from Asturia, good sourdough bread, and a small plate of Rosa tomatoes was brought to us shortly after we sat down. Freshly cooked chips. On to second bottle of cider by now. Ripe and juicy Rosa. Just like most villages in the Sierra, Aracena is known for Jamon. Black label, 100% Iberico de Bellota. Last Pluma here. It's not a common Iberico cut 1.5hrs away in big city Sevilla.

Sabor intenso! Raf tomatoes brought back from Sevilla. Tomatoes, unfiltered olive oil and oregano brought back from Spain. My rucksack was 5kg on the way there, on the way back 11.5. Here are some of the things that made it heavy.

From before the holidays: Used one of these After Alajar I moved on to Aracena. After a massive and rich lunch you just want something simple for dindin White thing is queso fresco

From before the holidays. Potato dumplings with Sauerkraut and crispy fried Speck. Big and rich lunch in Aracena. Top notch jamon and good tomatoes. A piece of Iberico loin and 3 ribs. Trotters Good restaurants usually have a bunch of olive oils for you to try. Spaniards eat a lot of things with the oil. Well, they have got a match. Cinco Jotas is the most famous jamon producer in Jabugo. "5J" means top notch jamon. "J" stands for Jabugo. Jose Vincente, the cook and owner, showed me around the kitchen and posed for me. We had a long chat after lunch, his son being our translator. He does all the cooking and is the only one in the kitchen doing everything. He asked if I liked the tomatoes. Of course I did. Said he used good tomatoes, even skinned them. He uses only good stuff. Meat, jamones, oils etc. His restaurant is well-known in Aracena, long before the tourists found out about it. Proud cook and his sons.

Each pig requires space the size of a football field. The terrain is vast and hilly, this is one of the reasons Iberian pork is so rich and flavourful. The pigs have the space and the hills to forage for acorns (and other edible things) in their 2 good years of life. The farm must have minimum 80% of acorn producing trees (specific types of oak). Rigorous quality control, strict regulations and craftsmanship. The taste is the proof. There are 4 Iberian ham producing areas in Spain with DOP, and Jabugo is the best. When you buy the ham, the good stuff is most probably from Jabugo, and the price really does reflect the quality. The terrain is so vast, if you are lucky they are near the fence. They saw that I had acorns... the whole family came to the fence. Next time you go to a restaurant and order "Iberian ham", ask what colour tag the leg has. For example, black tag is 100% Iberico. The tag should be attached to the ankle. This explains the classification of Iberian products. 100% Iberico de bellota (acorn fed). The tag should not be removed as it's meant for identification. More ham and tomatoes. My last lunch in Alajar village before moving on to Aracena, a sierra town famous for the ham and an incredible cave. Lizard cut And more tomatoes doused with powerful, peppery olive oil.

Yes, 6 euros is standard price for tomate aliñado in the Sierra, it can be up to 8.50 but the tomatoes and olive oil they use are both of good quality. Here in Sevilla it's rare to see tomate aliñado on the menu, and when you do the tomatoes are so-so. After 10 days in the Sierra eating the best Jamón and the best Ibérico pork Sevilla is a big disappointment. No wonder Sevillanas come to the Sierra in droves at weekends to enjoy Ibérico goodness. If anyone is coming this way please do yourself a big favour and drive right through Sevilla, don't stop until you see any village in the Sierra de la Aracena. You will enjoy the best pork, tomatoes and olive oils! Saying this because I deeply regret not staying in the Sierra the whole time. I should have come to Sevilla the night before flying out.

Lunch at one of the village's watering holes. Bar Roman has their own pigs and the food is fine for a typical local bar. It's dingy and empty inside but there are no smokers. Ham from own pigs Veg stew. A typical tapas dish in this area. Ibérico pork meatballs I'm in Sevilla now and missing the low price in the Sierra. Price-quality-service-portion size ratio is far better in rural Spain.

Lunch at the most visited restaurant in the village. Well-deserved popularity! The 3 things I always try to eat more of in Spain are olives/oils, tomatoes and ham. There are more domestic tourists than foreign ones so if you run a good restaurant you'd better use the best (or at least very good) quality of those 3 ingredients as Spaniards are particular about them. Another reason people come to Padrino for is his Jamón Ibérico. In this ham-producing area it's common some bars and restaurants have their own pigs. Chard stuffed with Ibérico pork mince Shoulder steak There's a reason people from Sevilla and other parts of Spain come to Sierra de Aracena area especially for the hams and fresh Ibérico pork. How juicy and succulent it is. Flan of pine nuts. One of the most common trees in the area. They have fresh wild mushrooms now. I missed them on the way in.