The Madrid Christmas market is really about plastic. And especially, plastic molded into the tiny figurines that populate nativity scenes here.

There is possibly no better way to stir up a bunch of Spanish foodies than to get them started on the Michelin guide.

This sweet shop on Madrid's Calle del Codo is run, in that great Spanish tradition, by nuns. Cloistered nuns.

In Spain, they take their olive oil seriously. Very, very seriously. The University of Córdoba offers a postgraduate degree in the stuff.

Seville held its first edition of Andalucía Sabor, a culinary conference devoted to "Three Cultures" (Christian, Muslim, and Jewish) and "Two Seas" (the Mediterranean and Atlantic).

So you've got these friends, and when you get together, you spend a lot of time talking about food.

The Hospederia del Vino, located just a few miles up the road from Gehry’s behemoth, is the place to go if youre more serious about wine than architecture.

In the past, whenever Spaniards mocked American food as being all hamburgers and hotdogs, I took them to Cornucopia, a rambling old apartment-turned-restaurant.

In Spain, the idea of eating seasonally is taken quite literally—ice cream stores shut down from November to April, and you can’t find a cocido in July to save your life. They even drink seasonally....