We are right in the heart of Malaga, walking among the bustling stalls of Atarazanas Market to enjoy a market tour before we head for our cooking class. There are many things catching the visitor's attention. The noisy fish vendors, the colorful piles of fruits and vegetables, all those shinny seasoned olives...Yes, but without a doubt those mountains of orange lard- they are told- wrapping pork meat or even chorizos, those huge pans filled with fat, will really impress the avid foreigner thinking maybe Mediterranean diet is not so healthy after all... Let me explain. The "lomo en manteca",

Among the countless wonders that nature offers us, one of my favourites is the almond blossom. The almond tree is not a pretty tree, but for a short time it becomes a winter beauty and gets dressed in delicate white petals that eventually will turn into almonds. And it tuns out that this nutritious nut has a main role in Spanish gastronomy, specially in Andalucia. So, once the miracle occurs, we get inevitably to the meatballs in almond sauce. This is another traditional recipe of Malaga based on a “majadillo”, pestle and mortar (or eletric blender) in hand to mash

Last Sunday we had a cooking day among friends. The countryside was beautiful and also the weather, so the terrace was crowded all the time. This is the wonderful Spanish omelette with wild asparagus we prepared together after an excursion foraging for asparragus. An easy and delicious way to make seasonal this year-round basic. Ingredients for 4 people: 4 big potatoes, 4 eggs, 1 onion, a bunch of wild asparagus, salt and olive oil. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices or small dices. Chop the onion. Clean the asparragus thoroughly, and break them with your fingers in pieces of about 2

It’s been raining for days, absolute happiness for many of us here in the south of Spain, where the rainy season is often missing, and the perfect excuse for a cooking day in the countryside. The orchard is soaked, and the chards look shinny and crunchy, ready to be part of a quite simple and delicious Easter recipe. Being the name of this dish "porrilla de acelgas", my mother always called it just “Spinach”, even when she has always used chards to prepare it, and it's always been for me "spinach in yellow sauce". She used to add food colouring

A Cooking Day hosted a large group of American students from Spelman College, Atlanta. Along with the girls we enjoyed an spectacular dessert, a sweet couscous with Moroccan mint tea jelly and ginger cream, that went straight to our favourites list. The author of this delicacy is Víctor Bermúdez, and Keti learned how to prepare it, among other delicious recipes, in a desserts workshop at “La Mesa” cooking school. The workshop was worth it! The taste, exotic and familiar at the same time, reminds us of the classic rice pudding, which my grandmother used to serve in large plates nicely

The ajoblanco, a refreshing almond cold soup, is a summer classic in Malaga. In the old times it was a daily summer dish, cheap and nutritious, as the almond was a humble nut always present even in the poorest rural homes, they only had to walk to the nearest almond tree to get them. It was, and still is, garnished with grapes, although today it is not easy to find the original ones from Malaga. This is a very easy recipe, but we shouldn’t forget that our grand and great-grandmothers had no electric mixer, and made by hand with the mortar

Malaga tastes so good you could eat it up. We can be curious, or just exercise our responsibility on local economy support, and will find in Malaga many companies belonging to the local food industry that have been working for years to get a quality brand to certify the singularity, authenticity and quality of their products, though many of them are well known outside Malaga but not at home. Dare to have a look at the labels and look for “Made in Malaga” delights, which give wealth and value to our territory and have been made or produced just around

“Slow Culinary Travel” is trendy. Or that’s what Wellness Tourism Worldwide says. This prestigious American company dedicated to developing and promoting wellness travel, publishes every year a "Top 10 Wellness Travel Trends". For 2014, three of those top trends are directly related to the experience A Cooking Day offers in Malaga: local life, food tourism and “slow travel”. Basically they point to the fact of travellers having a deeper appreciation for authentic experiences locally relevant, they want to live the local life. Food tourism emerges as an important trend offering experiences (such as food tours or cooking lessons) that connect