We’re going to take a trip to the past, to just over a year ago, to recall an article published on the website of American magazine Saveur, which is specialized in cuisine and travel. The article covers 12 Basque dishes from both sides of the Pyrenees.
We must admit that, once again, this website has brought us another gem. This time, it’s from May 2017, under the title “This is Basque Country, Not France”, an extraordinary guide to tradition cuisine in the Northern Basque Country“, in which we they discussed the cuisine of the Basque Country north of the Pyrenees.
On this occasion, under the same analytical guidelines of Basque cuisine (and society), they bring us twelve dishes from both sides of the Pyrenees. As it says in the article, “Nestled between the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean, and straddling the border of northern Spain and southern France, the Basque Country is distinct in both language and cuisine.”
It is true that they focus more on the cuisine of the coast, with a clear predominance of seafood. But that’s less a “problem” than it is an “opportunity,” for them and for us Basques, as it means they have a reason to come back and write about inland cuisine, even including some codfish dishes, which is one of the greatest contributions of the Basques to world gastronomy.
Regardless, this article is a fabulous double-hitter. On the one hand, we get to see a marvelous article about Basque cuisine in a publication as prestigious as this one, and on the other, getting to see it presented as what it is: cuisine that is from a country that straddles the mountains and is distinct from the larger nations surrounding it.
A Bonus
As a bonus, we’ll leave you with another article from this same website, from October 2018, where Benjamin Kemper (who’s written more articles about Basque cuisine) tells his experiences (and of the over 4,000 members of the Saveur Cookbook Club), and the book “Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover’s Paradise” by Marti Buckley (about whom we’ve also written on several occasions). The article describes the “seven things most Americans get wrong about Basque cuisine,” that they then learn after reading, and experiencing, the recipes found in Marti Buckley’s book.
And that’s just two of the many, many articles this website has dedicated to Basque cuisine. Our readers can find more here.
Saveur – 8/2021 – USA
A Dozen Dishes from the Pyrenees
It won’t take long after arriving in the Basque Country to understand why it has become a destination for epicureans. Sure, the region boasts a slew of showy Michelin-starred gastronomic temples, but the true strength of Euskadi, as the locals call it, lies in its exquisite pantry. If your only experience with this rich cuisine is through San Sebastian’s pintxo bars and those brilliant kitchens tweezing out perfect plates of nueva cocina, you’re missing out. Classic Basque dishes are comforting and unfussy, and many deserve a spot in your weeknight rotation.
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Saveur – 10/2018 – USA
Seven Things Most Americans Get Wrong About Basque Cuisine
Ve honest: When was the last time you made something Basque for dinner? Unlike Europe’s most celebrated regional cuisines—like Tuscan, Bavarian, or Provençal—Basque food remains woefully unfamiliar to most Americans. Sure, you probably know your pintxos from your tapas and your sagardoa from your txakoli, but with all the breathless coverage of the region’s Michelin-starred meccas and buzzy pintxo scene, you’d be forgiven if you thought Basque cooking was simply too fussy for everyday cooking.
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Fotografía de cabecera: Pollo Estofado Vasco Con Pimientos (Fotografía Beth Galton)
Last Updated on Feb 3, 2023 by About Basque Country