España

Spain is not one cuisine. It is a tapas counter in San Sebastián, a paella pan over orange wood in Valencia, a spoon of gazpacho in a Córdoba courtyard, a slice of jamón that costs more than the wine. The Mediterranean diet was measured in these villages — olive oil as the fat, legumes as the ballast, fish when the boats came in. What looks like abundance is actually thrift: yesterday’s stew, today’s croqueta, a tomato rubbed on yesterday’s bread.