Food&drink

There’s a lot to be said for the practicality of a Lonely Planet guide. I am the traveller with book always in hand, index finger poking inside to mark the best walking route to spot murals, how old that church is, which café serves the greatest pastries. By the end of city visits, the pocket-sized version is moulded to my palm. But I’m willing to leave any number of outfits behind to fit Matt Goulding’s latest book into my luggage. I’d lug his 356-page hardback all around Spain, so richly informative is it on the culinary traditions of the country Goulding has adopted as his own since moving to Barcelona from New York and falling for a ‘young brunette Catalan’, who became his wife. Hell, I feel as if I am beside him in the capital’s busy Boqueria, sidestepping tourists to greet ‘Petras, the grumpy mushroom king’, and in Madrid, supping on salmorejo, ‘the satiny orange union of blended tomato and fruity olive oil’.

The book, Grape Olive Pig, has pedigree; it’s the follow-up to Rice Noodle Fish, Goulding’s decoding of Japanese cuisine. This time, the evocative narrative and how-tos (eat like a Spaniard? ‘Show up late’. Drink like a Spaniard? ‘Knock back sidras in one gulp’), have particular resonance because his own guides around Spain, the ‘rice masters’ and ‘fish whisperers’, are now his friends. ‘Look at a paella pan and you see all of Spain’s history,’ Goulding tells me. Sharing the why and how behind the country’s beloved dishes, his is a rich menu of tastes and traditions. Grape Olive Pig (Hardie Grant, £16.99) is out on March 9

I’m willing to leave any number of outfits behind to fit Matt Goulding’s latest book in my luggage

Above A bustling street in Bilbao. Left Pulpo a la gallega –a Galician-style octopus dish featured in Goulding’s book