A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain

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A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 40 ratings · 13 reviews

Vivid and richly textured, "A Late Dinner" is a delightful journey through Spain and Spanish cuisine. Paul Richardson is the perfect guide. In lush prose he brings to life the fascinating people who grow and cook and eat the hugely varied and still little-known food of Spain.Richardson's vibrant writing takes readers beyond gazpacho and paella and immerses them in the flav...more

Hardcover, 274 pages

Published August 21st 2007 by Scribner Book Company (first published January 1st 2007)

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Jan 10, 2009 Mark added it

This book is a little uneven. Some chapters, like one on Asturias, are great. He bored me when talking about Barcelona, which is one of my favorite cities. It's a book to dabble in, but not read cover to cover.

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Aug 15, 2011 Veronica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: hispanophile foodies

Shelves: non-fiction, travel

This book is based on a deep knowledge of everyday life in Spain, which shines through most notably in the chapters on rural life (the author lives on a smallholding in Extremadura). He does a good job of explaining the differences between regions; and Spain is above all a country of very diverse regions. I liked the organisation too, starting on the coast, then going inland to rural Spain, and finally visiting cities. Some chapters were very evocative -- the one about Asturias immediately made...more This book is based on a deep knowledge of everyday life in Spain, which shines through most notably in the chapters on rural life (the author lives on a smallholding in Extremadura). He does a good job of explaining the differences between regions; and Spain is above all a country of very diverse regions. I liked the organisation too, starting on the coast, then going inland to rural Spain, and finally visiting cities. Some chapters were very evocative -- the one about Asturias immediately made me want to visit -- though it's clear that the author knows some regions of Spain much better than others. I was a little disappointed in its thin coverage of the Basque country, basically dwelling on San Sebastian and haute cuisine.

In fact, there's a little too much emphasis on haute cuisine and meticulous accounts of meals in Michelin-starred restaurants, where the chef just happens to be on hand to present him with his very own menú degustación and a friendly chat. Not that these aren't important -- you can hardly write a book about food culture in Spain and not mention Ferran Adria and Martin Beresategui - but they don't reflect the food world of most Spaniards. His views are at times a little rosy -- or else stretching the truth. On several occasions he arrives in a strange town, selects a restaurant apparently at random, and has a wonderful lunch. In real life, this Would Not Happen. At least, it would occasionally, but you would be bound to stumble into one of the majority of indifferent Spanish restaurants and have a terrible, if cheap, meal. It's obvious he'd done research beforehand -- he's a food journalist for heaven's sake -- so why not say so?

Ferran Adria has it right: "People accuse me of lowering standards: 'It's your fault there are so many young kids trying to do modern food, and doing it badly.' Maybe, but isn't it much worse that there are millions of tortillas and paellas all over the country that are cooked so badly? Ordinary food in Spain is in a much worse state than haute cuisine, and that's a fact."

For me the key feature of Spanish food is that Spain was virtually a third-world country in terms of living standards until about the 1970s. So it's hardly surprising that food was cheap and filling, the stuff of poverty. There was no Spanish tradition of haute cuisine as there was in France -- which is why the Basque chefs looked to France for their inspiration:

More than anything, the cooking of rural Spain is a collective response to the realities of climate, weather, organised religion ... and, above all, the need to provide the body with the calories needed for hard physical work. (p 97)

I was surprised that Richardson didn't mention the culture of the menú del día in Spain. I'm sure I read somewhere that Franco instituted it to ensure that manual workers had a large, nutritious meal at lunchtime, and it must have played a large part in maintaining the dead hands of tradition and cheap stodge that still weigh heavily on Spanish restaurant food outside the rarefied temples of gastronomy. But it was interesting to read about the revolution that started in San Sebastian on the death of Franco, asserting Basque identity through modern riffs on traditional food, and then spread through the country. He makes it clear too that it's no accident that the most creative and adventurous chefs are from the rich provinces of the Basque country and Catalonia, both with easy access to mountains and sea, and with richer culinary heritages because of their voyaging past.

Further interesting facts: I knew that the Reyes Católicos were responsible for the Spanish obsession with pork, promoting it because it was a good way of winkling out closet Jews and Moors. But I hadn't heard that in the 1950s, as part of a deal with the Americans over military bases, the Spanish government imported millions of litres of American rapeseed oil. Spaniards weren't going to let go of their aceite de oliva without a fight, so in order to shift the imported oil a publicity campaign was started to convince them that olive oil was thoroughly unhealthy. Consumption plummeted until the scandal of the contaminated vegetable oil in the early 1980s that killed over a thousand people and persuaded the Spanish to switch back to the home-produced stuff.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it -- it's a great read for foodies planning to travel to Spain and wanting to understand more about the country and its culture. He even has a list of recommended restaurants, if your wallet will stretch to them.

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Feb 02, 2010 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: food-glorious-food, fraudio, winter20092010, published-2007, nonfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 12, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbt, travel, food-and-drink

Really should be 3 1/2 stars -- I can't go to 4 as the author focused on hob-nobbing with celebrity chefs more than I would've liked; strongest point would be the regional variations within the country, which were covered well.

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Oct 16, 2012 Ragazza rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-books

A culinary guide and history of spanish food.I really enjoyed Paul Richardson describing his farm and foods in Extramedura so for me best part of the book was the epilogue,glossary and appendices !!

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May 07, 2013 Lauren Simmons rated it 4 of 5 stars

A sensual, if verbose, journey through the cuisine of Spain. The historical sections can be tedious, but this is still excellent food writing.

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May 16, 2009 Alexis added it · review of another edition

A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain by Paul Richardson (2008)

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Jun 22, 2012 Lara Sánchez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: passion-of-mine

the home cooking of España

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Jan 08, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spain, cooking

A gastronomic tour of Spain

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Mar 26, 2012 Kaye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: food-related, travel, znon-fiction

Didn't really enjoy this as I expected to. The parts on the countryside of Spain and the traditional food were somewhat interesting. But once we got to the cities it was an extended restaurant review. Lots of culinary name-dropping. Ho-hum.

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Sep 15, 2008 Art Hare rated it 4 of 5 stars

Spain really fascinates me. I must go there! This is a lovely book.

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Sep 17, 2008 Naki rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an enchanting book that will take you to Spain.

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Jan 04, 2012 Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Makes me want to go to Spain and eat.

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May 20, 2013 Misty marked it as to-read

May 20, 2013 Elisat rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 18, 2013 Rufat rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Apr 20, 2013 Riina Ramst rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mar 20, 2013 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mar 17, 2013 Rachel is currently reading it

Feb 03, 2013 Crystel marked it as to-read

Jan 07, 2013 Rani rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cooking-and-cakev-decorating

Dec 09, 2012 Vanessa marked it as to-read

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Oct 28, 2012 Nicolas Le rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oct 27, 2012 Elisa marked it as to-read

Oct 13, 2012 Ben Hurrell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sep 18, 2012 Kurt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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About Paul Richardson

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Books by Paul Richardson

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