This week, we're excited to welcome Marti Buckley to SALT + SPINE, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks. Marti is the author of Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through A Food Lover’s Paradise.
Have you had paella? What about vermouth or anchovies? If so, you’ve had some quintessential Basque Cuisine. Marti, a food writer and cook from Alabama, moved to San Sebastian for a year, fell in love with the people, food, and culture of this small region in northern Spain and southern France. Eight years later, Marti is still living in San Sebastian.
Inspired by a culture that celebrates food every day, Marti set out to catalogue the Basques’ rich culture, traditions, and history by dining at tables and in kitchens (and even dining societies) from the seaside to the mountains. Basque Country is as much an encyclopedia and travel guide as it is a cookbook, with recipes and stories that help bring a little bit of Basque life into your own kitchen.
“I knew that I wanted this book to capture the entire context of Basque eating.”
We sat down with Marti at San Francisco's The Civic Kitchen to talk about a culture that celebrates fresh ingredients, bean parties, and whether you can use Doritos in a pintxos.
Featured Recipes
Spanish Omelet (Patata Tortilla) by Marti Buckley
Excerpted with permission from: Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover's Paradise by Marti Buckley. Yield: Serves 8 The Spanish omelet, or tortilla española, is Spain’s unofficial national dish. It is often the first cooking lesson handed down from mother to child. If a Spaniard knows how to cook only one thing, it i…
Shrimp Kebab with Pepper Vinaigrette (Ganba Brotxeta) by Marti Buckley
Excerpted with permission from: Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover's Paradise by Marti Buckley. Yield: Serves 4 The bar that made the ganba brotxeta famous, Goiz Argi, is on San Sebastián’s crowded Fermín Calbetón Street, where two of every three storefronts is a restaurant or bar. The flow of people begins aroun…
Share this post