About The Gazpacho Chronicles

Spanish food is having a moment. Don’t be the sucker that queues for hours in La Viña for burnt Basque cheesecake.

Welcome to The Gazpacho Chronicles your irreverent guide to Spain’s food obsessions, served with a pizca of history and art, and an unapologetic pour of vermú. This is where frozen croquetas meet cultural commentary, and no tortilla de patatas is safe from deep philosophical questioning and ranking.

Each week, I dig into the foods, drinks, traditions, and absurdities that shape Spain’s table and tell the stories behind them with humor, bite, and zero respect for travel clichés.

You’ll get:

  • Deep dives into narcos tinned fish, beer etiquette, and coffee ordering politics

  • The weird, wonderful world of Spanish culinary expressions and customs no one tells you about

  • Tales of flamenco dancers and their recipes, handmade pestle and mortar gazpacho, and aristocratic influencers called Cayetana and their shopping habits

  • Recipes for bubble-less flan and tortas and anything beyond the obvious

  • A template for finding places to eat in any Spanish city without a guide or influencers

  • Regional travel with realistic food recommendations and itineraries. Coming soon!

About Blanca

I’ve chopped, stirred and occasionally cried at renowned kitchens like Madrid’s El Alambique Cooking School, London’s Books for Cooks, and even elBulli. I’ve collaborated with Spain’s top food and wine producers (and lived to tell the tale!) and designed events at the the National Gallery of Ireland, the Chicago Cultural Center, Cervantes Institute, food festivals, restaurants and Food and Wines from Spain. Fifteen years ago I was peddling Spanish high-end food (about $3 million) on the streets of Chicago when I developed a Fish Tin and culture course for Cervantes, which that catapulted me into the intersection of food and culture areana and straight into the Chicago Culinary Historians. Years of working, living, and eating my way through Spain and the world have given me a deep understanding of its culinary traditions with an insider/outsider outlook that is unique and a little bit naughty.

If you want to know more about me.

Why subscribe?

Without The Gazpacho Chronicles, you’ll never know which Spanish fish tins are chic and which are actually a front for money laundering.

If you don’t subscribe, your Spanish food opinions will be tragically underinformed and worse dangerously boring.

Don’t be the last to know why film director’s Almodovar’s flans are always and irremediably overcooked, how to make tortas de aceite, or how to identify and pair key gastronomic paintings with drinking venues (some could be a water fountain).

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If you love Spanish food, quirky history, and the way cinema and art intersect with what we eat, you’re in the right place.

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If you love Spanish food, quirky history, and the way cinema and art intersect with what we eat, you’re in the right place.