Padma Lakshmi embarks on an overland
adventure across Southern Spain tasting the regional
gastronomic delights whilst indulging in the local
culture. Padma's journey begins in the Andalucian
capital, Seville, with breakfast;
hot chocolate and Spanish doughnuts. After touring
the bustling town, Padma takes a tour of authentic
tapas bars. They happen upon a
flamenco bar where Padma practices a few
steps between sips of Sangria.
She is south bound to Jerez de la Frontera
where Padma meets a local chef. Together they cook
with fish and sherry. The next day
she ventures towards to a small fishing village on
the Atlantic coast, Sanlucar de Barrameda.
Here Padma learns about the production of the exclusive
Manzanilla sherry before buying some
heavenly cakes from the local convent.
A brief detour to La Mancha, rural
Don Quixote countryside, where Padma attends the annual
Saffron Harvest festival. Then it's
back south to the Costa del Sol where
on the beach she meets the Paella King,
Ayo. He teaches Padma how to make the authentic festive
Spanish dish. From the Mediterranean coast to the
snow capped tips of the Sierra Nevada
in one day. Padma stays at a local farmhouse in the
Alpujaras valley. The owner Paco
takes here on a donkey ride up into the mountains
to hunt down the famous dry cured ham.
After a hard day in the saddle she cooks an Andalucian
stew with Paco's wife and joins their family
for dinner.
Passing through the Moorish city of Granada,
she heads north towards Jaen for
the annual bullfighting festival.
At the fight, the bull has won, and she joins disgruntled
officials in a bull restaurant and
discusses the issue of bull's meat whilst tucking
into some prize bull's balls. The
next day she happens upon a famous olive oil
mill and learns how olive oil is essential
to Spanish cooking.
Finally, its onto the sleepy town of Bunol
to throw tomatoes at the wild Tomantina festival
and back in the kitchen to make Gazpacho
- an alternative use for tomatoes. Her journey ends
at the world's oldest restaurant in Madrid.
