In case you missed it, try and pick up somewhere, sometime on Rick Stein’s Spanish Christmas shown last night on BBC 2.
Rick, in my view, is the most human of ‘celebrity’ cooks, with a genuine interest in Spain’s culinary habits, and a deep respect for and understanding of how food and wine –in its varied manifestations-go to the heart of the country’s soul.
As someone born in Spain to a Spanish mother and with many years of experience of living and working in the country, I felt privileged to play a small part in Stein’s project-invited as I was to share some of my own memories of childhood during the extended festive season culminating in the wonderfully mystical Epiphany or Reyes.
I was one of a number of ‘guests’ invited to sample a wonderful range of hot and cold recipes that Rick had picked up on his extensive travels through the country in a camper van and that have inspired one of the best Spanish cookery books I know of.
Rick has travelled backwards and forth to Spain over the years and deepened in his love for the land and its people. His programme showed a real insight into what makes Spain so special-its regional diversity, the richness of its natural produce, its respect for family life, and its positive historical legacy as expressed in the Latin American vegetables and oriental spices used in some of the dishes.
Rick brought a natural optimism and geniality to every human encounter, whether in a recently discovered Michelin restaurant or in an intimate family gathering of which one had a grandmother reciting a beautiful poem about the importance of defending the best in one’s roots.
Somehow Rick’s programme left me with a sense-or rather a reminder- that Spain has a certain Quixotic resilience and self-belief drawn from its land and its sea that has always allowed it to pull through in troubled times. Our shared passion lies partly in the fact that in Spain one can eat and drink well and healthily in good company. It was just the tonic to end a Euro-crisis year, and to look towards the essentials of life in 2012.
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