Original subtitles

So Spain is the culinary hot-spot of Europe right now.

From tapas to tortillas, from seafood to jamón ibérico.

There's so much.

And having eaten my way through the country,

I can tell you it's a reputation well deserved.

But what I want to know is

how did Spain rise from relative culinary obscurity

to extraordinary and delicious new heights?

I'm just gonna do a little bit more research.

I'm Eva Longoria.

And I'm a proud Mexican American.

11 generations ago, one of my ancestors

left Spain for the New World and a new life.

400 years later, I'm back.

- I'm so excited! - ¡Salud!

And I'm exploring Spain and its 17 regions

to see how the land and its people

have created one of the world's most exciting cuisines.

I think you know what you're doing.

But this time it's different.

Instead of diving into one region,

I'm looking at how the cuisine of the entire country

has transformed in a single generation.

Oh, yeah.

With a helping hand from food journalist Julia Lozano

and chef Dani García.

And some of the incredible chefs I met on my travels.

What is this?

Spanish food has been enriched by waves of invasions--

So it's Roman, Arabic, Jewish, and Spanish.

Of course. Yes.

...and centuries of empire.

I hate to break it to you,

but I think this is a Mexican dessert.

Since the 1970s,

when Spain emerged from the shadow of a fascist dictator--

They want only one Spain.

- This was Franco's influence. - Yes.

Its cuisine has been revolutionized.

How on earth did Spain make this culinary quantum leap

to become the envy of the world?

That makes me so happy.

I'm heading to one of my

favorite restaurants in Marbella

to do two of my favorite things--

eat food and talk about food.

Hola. - Hola.

How are you?

Fine. How was your trip?

Oh my God, amazing. I've eaten my way through Spain.

Julia Lozano is a food journalist and culinary expert.

Oh, my gosh, I love this place.

- How are you? - I'm so happy to be back.

- Yeah. - Oh my God. -Nice to see you.

This is one of the most beautiful restaurants.

I know this one is special, though.

Yeah, for me too.

My old friend Dani García,

a three Michelin starred chef,

who heads an international restaurant empire,

embodies modern Spain's gastronomic success.

The food in Spain has evolved so much in the last 30, 40 years.

Oh, yeah. A lot.

50 years ago, people didn't come to Spain for the food,

but now it is on everybody's gastronomic bucket list.

What's changed?

Very ugly. Yes.

- Your paella? - Yeah.

Let's go to the kitchen. - Are we going to make one?

Oh, wow! - Oh, yeah.

Yes, I agree. This reminds me of my childhood, the--

I love this smell.

I'm going to be smelling like it all day long, though.

What's first in a paella? I've never made paella.

Well, we're going to make my paella.

Paella is Spain's most iconic dish.

In the traditional version,

various types of meat, shellfish, vegetables, and rice

are all cooked together in a rich, fatty stock.

That's gonna be a big paella.

With a boldness

that's typical of today's Spanish chefs,

Dani has reinvented this classic dish

from the bottom up.

His pared down recipe consists only of mushrooms,

steak, stock--

Yeah.

Arroz bomba, a type of short grain rice,

and his all important spice mix.

Okay.

Crucially for his paella, Dani grills the protein.

You're breaking another rule? - Yeah.

So you like to cook those parts separately?

I prefer.

Wow! Good. - Yeah!

So you don't ever add more stock?

- No. - No? -No.

So thick.

How is this one different than the one your mom made?

Dani's paella is light years from the old school version.

Beautiful.

Once the rice is cooked,

he adds a hint of beef tallow--

...artfully arranges the steak,

and tops it off with a garnish of charred rosemary.

Oh, that is aromatic.

Olé!

It's beautiful, eh? Thank you. Thank you so much.

- Julia. - Wow! Paella.

I think that this is the most important part.

That is the best part ever!

- Yeah. - What does that translate to?

Oh, it's not translated.

The burnt crispy part right here.

Oh my gosh.

- Socarrat. - Socarrat.

That makes me so happy.

And then the mushrooms and the meat.

I taste the clove. The saffron.

It's umami, yeah.

This is so good.

A classic dish brilliantly re-imagined

for the 21st century,

with each different element cooked to perfection.

I, for one, am excited

that there's been an evolution of Spanish food

because this is incredible.

This is a great example of

how you guys are holding on to your cultural heritage,

but yet evolving into new spaces.

- Good job Dani. Bravo. - Yeah. Thank you.

On this trip, I have been blown away

by the limitless creativity of Spanish chefs.

I shouldn't be surprised with the cultural heritage

that this country has with artists and creatives like

Dalí, Gaudí, Lorca, Goya.

But now that creativity is present in the food scene.

Throughout Spain, chefs are ripping up the rule book

and allowing their imaginations to run wild.

What is this-- chicken--

Chicken-- - The chicken comb!

- Yeah. - Why?

Because of the texture, you know.

this is like a silky texture.

Using adventurous ingredients and techniques,

they have transformed Spain's cuisine

almost beyond recognition.

And what I want to know is

where did this outburst of creativity come from?

To understand Spain's modern day culinary miracle,

we have to go back almost a century.

In 1939, after three brutal years of civil war,

General Franco established a fascist dictatorship.

But Franco's isolationist push

for agricultural self-sufficiency backfired,

creating widespread shortages and famine,

a period known as the Hunger Years.

Seeking to impose national unity,

Franco repressed regional identities, languages,

and even cuisine.

His vision of Spanish food can be seen in a famous cookbook,

published in 1950,

one that his regime encouraged all good housewives to use.

You're saying this book tried to make a uniform definition

of Spanish cuisine and there's no such thing.

Really? What's the reason you think they wanted to make

one definition of Spanish cuisine?

One Spain.

- This was Franco's influence. - Yes, completely.

Of trying to dictate one Spain.

Oh, it's so interesting.

Under Franco's rule, a diet of greasy stews,

oily, overcooked vegetables,

heavy roasted meats and deep fried fish

came to define Spanish food.

But was paella in this? Obviously.

Not this one. Not this one.

You would not make the cookbook, Dani. Sorry.

Franco's death in 1975 meant an end to fascism

and the start of economic revival.

The increasingly wealthy population began

to take an interest in fine dining,

and regional cooking, long suppressed by Franco,

was reborn with a whole new energy.

In the Basque Country,

Chefs like Juan Mari Arzak

started the New Basque cuisine movement,

blending local traditions with the flair

of French nouvelle cuisine.

In 1989, Restaurant Arzak was awarded three Michelin stars,

winning Juan Mari's New Basque cuisine global recognition.

Like the Basque Country,

Catalonia suffered badly under Franco's dictatorship

when Catalan language books were banned.

In 1990, a young chef, Fina Puigdevall,

opened Les Cols restaurant in La Garrotxa.

Determined to revive Catalan cooking,

she turned to an ingredient associated

with the Hunger Years of Franco's regime

and gave it a radical makeover.

Buckwheat thrives in the rich volcanic soil of La Garrotxa

and is a surprisingly versatile ingredient that I had to try.

Fina uses the grains to make buckwheat beer.

Look at the color. That's beautiful.

...and mixes them with broth and local sheep's cheese

to make a rich risotto.

It smells so cheesy.

The dish is even served on crisp bread,

made from buckwheat flour.

Oh my gosh. Okay.

Mm. Wow!

Wow, this is amazing.

It's like the best risotto I've ever had.

Wow. I want--

With cuisine like this,

the Basque Country and Catalonia

powered the revival of regional cooking.

But an hour's drive from Les Cols,

Fina's mentor and fellow Catalan was about to change everything ,

not only for Spain,

but for the whole world.

In the 1990s, at El Bulli restaurant in Catalonia,

a maverick chef set off a culinary explosion

that would be felt around the globe.

Using scientific techniques,

Ferran Adrià,revolutionized gastronomy

with astonishing new recipes like melon caviar,

frozen Gorgonzola, and flavored foams.

He tricked the eye

and forced diners to question basic assumptions

about the nature of food.

We are always looking at France, okay?

They are the best.

And suddenly came this guy, Ferran Adrià,

with all these techniques,

but breaking all the rules, you know.

And this was a huge game changer for us.

El Bulli closed its doors in 2011.

But being cooked for by Ferran Adrià

and his former head chef Rafa Zafra,

was one of the most magical moments of my entire trip.

His reinvention of suquet, a traditional fisherman's stew,

involved one of those brainwaves

Ferran is famous for.

Such a simple idea. But it was a stroke of genius,

boosting the flavor of shrimp to sublime new heights.

Oh my God. Wow.

What do you remember about that moment?

In the world.

Yeah, he's crazy.

After El Bulli closed, Ferran's disciples,

known as "Bullinianos,"

continued to push the frontiers of cooking.

Oh my God!

The techniques of what became known as molecular gastronomy

were adopted throughout Spain.

Now, 20 years on from El Bulli,

the next generation of chefs

are taking these techniques and ideas in new directions.

Michelin star chef Lucía Freitas is using this know-how

to revolutionize traditional recipes.

Oh, is that the beef?

Today, ingredients like offal,

that were once eaten out of necessity

in Franco's time have been reborn

and are very much in fashion.

At La Tasquería, Madrid,

Michelin starred chef Javi Estévez has built

his entire menu around it.

Now what are we making?

- Rabbit kidney? - Yes.

Okay. Oh, they're so little! - Yes.

Here we have one, two, three, four, five, six. -Got it.

Yes.

To make offal more appealing and contemporary,

Javi uses El Bulli style visual trickery.

See, I don't know if that's a mushroom or kidney.

- Accessible, yeah. - Yes.

Don't tell me what I'm eating.

- Yes. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I might sometimes be one of those people.

What herb is this?

- Pretty poetic. - Yes.

So this is a traditional dish with a modern twist?

Yes. That's it.

The mashed potato, carrot leaf,

and rabbit kidney is the perfect combination.

'Cause they have the same exact texture.

The texture of the mushroom.

It's all mixed in my mouth, I don't know.

That's lovely. Also, this meat sauce.

Yes.

Simple ingredients conjured into something truly special.

20 years on, the creative spirit

unleashed by El Bulli is alive and well.

No wonder Spanish cuisine is the envy of the world.

The ancient migration of peoples

through the Iberian Peninsula had a huge impact

on Spain's gastronomy.

From the Romans to the Moors,

from the Phoenicians to the French.

And today, Spanish chefs still absorb ideas and influences

from all over the world.

And I can tell you that the impact is magical.

These foreign influences have gifted today's creative chefs

a rich palette of ingredients and recipes.

As Spain's southernmost region,

less than ten miles from Africa,

Andalusia's famous tapas reveal the influence

of multiple civilizations.

Food blogger Aldara Arias Saavedra

unpacked the layers of history

in Andalusia's famous chilled soup-- salmorejo.

It goes back to this Roman recipe.

They had like sort of porridge

that they would use to feed their troops with.

But then it evolved, and with the Jewish community

and with the Arabs.

And then when tomatoes arrived from America,

this was finally salmorejo.

That is a condensed symbol

of our Andalusian identity on a dish.

So it's Roman, Arabic, Jewish, and Spanish.

Of course. Yes.

Mm!

My tour of Seville's tapas bars was both a gastronomic

and cultural eye opener.

For a long time, during Franco's dictatorship,

all the different cultures and religions

that had left us all this influence

were sort of erased or whitewashed.

So it's now, thanks to our generation,

that we are really celebrating the richness of our culture.

I love how much history is hidden

in something as simple as tapas.

Cheers. - Cheers.

In 1492, after 800 years of Arab rule,

the Spanish monarchy expelled the Moors from Andalusia

during the Christian reconquest of Spain.

Soon after, the Jews were banished, too.

But while Spain pursued "limpieza de sangre"-- purity of blood,

its cuisine was being transformed by ingredients

from its new empire.

Mexico.

- Yeah. - You're welcome.

The culinary potential of these new world arrivals

is still being explored today.

At Casa Marcial in Asturias,

Chus Manzano has devised a recipe that's a love letter

to an ingredient from my neck of the woods.

Are you ready for dessert?

I'm ready for dessert.

- Oh, yes, it has corn. - Yeah.

Fried corn. I hate to break it to you,

but I think this is a Mexican dessert.

There's cornbread-- - Mole. Chocolate.

Mole, corn. I mean-- Chocolate.

I think this is the most Mexican thing you have on the menu.

The recipe, it sounds like Mexican,

but the ingredients come from our garden.

- Mm. - It's salty.

I love that. And I love this fried corn.

It's just such a beautiful representation

of these cultures clashing together.

The most important thing that we did

is open our minds, in terms of ingredients as well.

And we bring from the outside

a lot of different things as ginger or coriander or spices

or many, many, many things,

make our culture even more rich

with the things that came from abroad.

Today, one city above all stands out for its openness

to world cuisine-- Spain's capital, Madrid.

Madrid's cuisine is influenced by the New World,

Asia, and the Middle East.

After all, the first settlers here were Muslims.

The fusion of Middle Eastern and Spanish recipes

and ingredients is an ever-evolving story.

- Hello. - Hi. -Hi!

Eva. - I'm Heba. Nice to meet you.

Heba. Oh my gosh.

It's a small kitchen, but come in and--

I'd love to!

Heba came to Madrid from Dubai seven years ago.

This is so great. It feels like a kitchen in your home.

She specializes in Middle Eastern

Spanish crossover dishes,

with both her Palestinian father

and Syrian mother influencing her tastes.

Pomegranate molasses, which is the main secret.

Kofta kebabs have long been popular in Spain.

Heba enhances hers with ingredients

from the Middle East.

I've never had pistachios in a kebab.

Is that common?

Typically it would either have

just the pistachios or the pine nuts.

Oh, my God, that smells so good.

I cannot wait.

- Do you like octopus? - I do, I love it.

- And we've got caperberries. - Why the caperberries?

Caperberries grow everywhere. All across the Mediterranean.

That's beautiful. Hola.

Heba's restaurant began life as a supper club,

and she's retained that vibe,

luring her clientele with the promise of great home cooking.

Should we dig in?

Hold on. I got a pistachio.

Pistachio, pine nut, parsley.

Look at that. That's so beautiful.

Why aren't you clapping, you guys?

That is so good! - Thank you.

It's beautifully cooked because it's kind of, like,

cooked on the outside,

but a little bit raw in the middle.

Are you from Madrid?

- I'm from Chile. - You're Chile?

- Yeah, from Chile. - Oh, okay.

Well, where are you from?

Grabs you. Welcomes you.

This is crossover cuisine at its very best.

A perfect example of why eating out in Madrid

is such a rewarding experience.

This is home on a plate for me.

And it's, you know,

it's all my mother's dishes

and dishes from my childhood

and yeah, in my new home. - Yeah.

You welcome everybody with open arms,

just like Madrid welcomed you. - Precisely.

A 20th century philosopher once said--

"In Spain, there's a great deal to see, but not much to eat."

Well, I can tell you firsthand that is not the case today.

The creativity of Spain's chefs

has been thrilling to experience,

so I can't resist returning to some of the most exceptional

for a final taste of their brilliance.

The revolution begun by Ferran Adrià

ushered in a wave of innovative new cooking techniques,

but one chef seemingly chose the opposite path--

radical simplicity.

I smell the grill already.

This is stunning.

At Etxebarri in the Basque Country,

Victor Arguinzoniz has elevated the most ancient technique,

cooking over fire, into an art form.

Using unique, custom made equipment,

he grills foods that should be impossible to grill.

You grilled-- - The egg yolk.

- The egg yolk? - Yeah.

- So enjoy. - Thank you.

I think he still likes to challenge himself

and find new ways of cooking

and new ways of exploring, like super common ingredients.

Oh!

His restaurant, Etxebarri,

was recently voted number two in the world ,

all thanks to Victor's skill at transforming simple ingredients

into a mind-blowing culinary experience--

with just a wood grill.

Did you get that? It's not complicated.

But that doesn't mean it's easy.

Even dessert is made from milk

that has been cooked on the grill.

Look at that red! Ice cream with beetroot.

I think I'm going to be ruined forever.

Yeah. Mm.

Mm!

What milk is it, though?

I think it's just cow's milk, but it's reduced,

so it's got, you know, that boost of flavor.

- That is so creamy. - Mm.

But also you can definitely taste the smokiness.

Nobody was doing this. And now...

Well, that's how you become

one of the best restaurants in the world.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

I'm gonna applaud my ice cream.

Uniquely, among all the great chefs I met on my travels,

Miriam Hernández has taken on an entire second job.

How did a chef become a farmer?

So it was necessity.

- Oh my gosh. You love garlic. - Sí.

Ajo fino, a type of garlic, was once common in Spain.

Now, her farm is one of the few places it's still grown.

It goes to the end of the mouth, but it's like--

Yeah, now. But then it's light.

- Yes. - Then it kinda just dissipates.

That's lovely.

Oh, I would love to cook with this.

Yes, yes.

At her restaurant in Chinchón,

30 miles south of Madrid,

Miriam creates recipes designed

to showcase this rare ingredient.

That looks amazing!

Miriam coats vine leaves in tempura--

Anything in deep fried tempura is going to taste good.

...and serves the beef and garlic

on the crispy vine leaves,

topped with a tasty garnish.

Yay!

It's gonna be delicious.

Mm!

Wow.

The meat is so tender, it's so soft.

And, you know, the garlic is powerful, but not overpowering.

- No. - I love that.

So I feel like you're trying

to preserve a very particular taste of Spain.

It's part of Spain.

If we lose our identity, we lose everything.

Spain is lucky that Miriam is committed

to saving this rare ingredient

and devising recipes that show it off to perfection.

At Aponiente, the Bay of Cádiz,

Ángel León is a chef

whose horizons extend way beyond fine dining.

Like Ferran Adrià,

Ángel is part chef, part scientist

and has pioneered an entirely new kind of food.

Oh, wow.

Wow! It looks like bacon. Wow.

Wow!

A purist honing a simple technique to perfection--

a farmer chef saving a priceless piece of Spain's heritage--

and a visionary exploring the furthest frontiers

of culinary science.

These chefs embody the range, creativity, and passion

that's powering Spain's gastronomic revolution.

So we all know getting to the top is hard,

but staying at the top is even harder.

So what do the next generation of Spanish chefs

have up their sleeves?

Someone who totally gets this is my friend,

restaurateur Dani García.

And he's arranged for Julia and I to meet some of his proteges.

A country's cuisine is only as strong as the future chefs.

For sure.

Yeah.

Oh, great! They're very young.

Wow!

Potato salad with tuna is a traditional appetizer in Spain.

Carmen has enhanced it with roasted smoke eel,

an inspiration from Japan.

Hmm. Mm!

This is smoky.

Wow. That's lovely. Oh my God.

Christian has taken a traditional Andalusian prawn

and potato salad and elevated it with king crab

and frozen avocado dust.

Oh my God.

Manuel's recipe, deep fried hake with tartar sauce,

like Carmen's potato salad,

fuses traditional Spanish and Japanese ingredients.

Mm! That is so good. It's so light.

Mission accomplished.

-The gastronomic creativity unleashed

since Franco's death has been astonishing,

and shows no signs of stopping.

Using ideas and ingredients from all over the world,

visionary chefs continue to push the frontiers of cuisine.

A new generation is ready to take up the baton.

I can't wait to see how Spanish food evolves from here.