If you haven’t tried them yet, next time you are out shopping put some Olives and Olive Oil from Spain into your trolley – you won’t be alone; Spain is the largest exporter in the world of their top quality olives and oil.

For those of you who have fallen in love with the taste and know what we are talking about, the only thing you want to know is where to buy them.

Olive oil from Spain is available in delicatessens, specialty food stores as well as in supermarkets. Extra Virgin, Pure and Light olive oil varieties are available through Australian outlets. For lovers of all things organic, organic olive oil coming from Spain is also available at delicatessens and supermarkets. You’ll know if you’re buying Spanish product because it’s easily identified by ‘Product of Spain’ or ‘Made In Spain’ labels.

Once you take a bottle home, explore the flavours of the oil with different ingredients. Perfect for any meal, you can use Olive Oil from Spain to cook, to marinade meat or poultry (add a dash of oil, a squeeze of lemon and pinch of salt) or drizzle over salads. You will be surprised at how much the oil enhances the flavour of every meal.

If your passion is Olives from Spain, you’ll be pleased to know they are readily available too.

Popular green olives, stuffed with pimento or anchovies are stocked in delicatessens, specialty food stores and supermarkets. Beyond these well-known varieties are a buffet of other flavours for you to try. Green and black olives are available whole and pitted and also come stuffed with lemon, almond and cheese. Mmm delicious.

You can enjoy olives as they are, pop them in a lunch box, dress over salads, top pizzas or add them to your favourite pasta. Once you open olives from Spain, they will prove hard to resist.

Olives from Spain are easily identified by the wording “Product of Spain” usually found on the label.

For more information or ideas on how to use Olives from Spain log www.olivesfromspain.com.au. For Olive Oil from Spain log onto www.oliveoilfromspain.com.au.

The Food Show Auckland is the most loved, visited and delicious food show for consumers in New Zealand. Around 40,000 guests were able to touch and taste food and wine from around New Zealand and the world including different foods, most importantly Olives and Olive Oil from Spain, wines, spices, cheeses, confectionery, liqueurs, coffees and teas. Guests were also able to see top celebrity chefs including Stefano di Pieri, Julie Biuso, Al Brown, Richard Till, Ruth Pretty, Ray McVinnie, Peter Gordon, Lauraine Jacobs and Annabelle White.

Our popular stand showcased the tradition and taste of Olives and Olive Oil from Spain and invited guests to experience Spain’s fine produce including the best olives and olive oil in the world. Guests were surprised to learn that Spain is the biggest producer of olives and olive oil and the main exporter worldwide.

Hungry visitors huddled around the Olives and Olive Oil from Spain stand to feast on delicious dishes prepared at the stand twice daily including Spanish green olive tapenade and pasta with roast tomato and olive sauce made with black Spanish olives and Spanish extra virgin olive oil. Guests were also able to take home a recipe card so they could reproduce these delicious dishes at home.

In the four days of the show guests consumed over 120kg of Olives from Spain including pimiento stuffed, green olives, anchovy stuffed, garlic stuffed and black olives, as well as 27 liters of extra virgin Olive Oil from Spain.

As part of the Spanish experience guests were invited to enter a competition to win dinner for two at Auckland’s top Spanish restaurant ‘Bellota’, one of six restaurants owned by international award wining chef Peter Gordon and a jewel in the New Zealand dining scene.

Bellota is the Spanish word for acorn and plays a crucial part in the creation of one of the world’s most treasured delicacies – Jamón Ibérico de Bellota which literally means Iberian ham of acorns. This sacred and expensive produce is crucial in Spanish cuisine and is showcased in Bellota’s menu along with other Spanish ingredients including Olives and Olive Oil from Spain.

After four wonderful days at the Food Show Auckland, New Zealanders’ know how scrumptious Olives and Olive Oil from Spain are and will be sure to keep an eye out for them at local supermarkets and delicatessens.

Explore Culinary Delights with a Tour of Melbourne’s Best Spanish Restaurants

Spanish Olives and Olive Oil gave visitors to the Good Food & Wine Show in Melbourne a little taste of Spain. Held over three days 4-6 June, the Show attracted almost 30,000 visitors who were lucky to experience cupcake classes, wine and coffee tastings and of course Spanish Olives & Olive Oil.

Guests were invited to sample green olives stuffed with lemon, anchovy and pimento as well as pitted green olives in anchovy brine. Three extra virgin Olive Oils were also available for tasting and surprised showgoers with their different flavours. Our guest chef also prepared two Spanish dishes – Gazpacho and Pasta with Roast Tomato and Olive Sauce.

For those who would like re-live their Good Food & Wine Show experiences (and celebrate World Cup and Tour de France fever!) explore Melbourne’s best Spanish restaurants like MoVida, Tapas Lola, Basque Tapas & Wine (not to mention chocolatier Chocolateria San Churro) and experience the cuisine of winners!

Frank Camorra’s MoVida restaurant is perhaps Australia’s best tapas restaurant. Joined by two sister restaurants, MoVida Aqui and MoVida Bar de Tapas, MoVida’s offers an excellent tasting menu including Aceitunas (Marinated Green Olives with Citrus, Garlic and Thyme); Cecina (air dried Waggyu with poached eggs and truffle foam); and, Pulpo (char grilled octopus with paprika potatoes).

If you’re down St Kilda way, visit Spanish favourite Tapas Lola. Stepping into the restaurant, you’ll experience a sense of a steamy night in Barcelona. The tapas menu offers a selection of small plates which justifies ordering multiple dishes to share or enjoy all by yourself. While Tapas Lola offers mains, the tapas menu with its traditional favourites of chorizo, Seafood Paella and Croquettes is more popular with guests. If you visit, be sure not to leave without trying the Spanish Sherries.

Named after the Basque Country region in Spain, Basque Tapas & Wine serves a wide range of tapas and paella dishes. Live flamenco guitar and the late night bar bring this restaurant and Spanish culture to life in the streets of Windsor. While the organic vegetarian paella is fast becoming a Windsor favourite, along with twice cooked pork with apple and spiced lamb meatballs served in tomato puree. This is a great venue for a nice dinner for two or get together with friends.

No Spanish gourmet tour is complete without exploration of the wonderful world of Spanish desserts. Luckily, Chocolateria San Churro, located in Fitzroy, is a café devoted to Spanish chocolate in all its decadent forms. Chocolateria San Churro serves a vast array of nothing but chocolate. Imported from Spain, the product is turned into mugs of steaming hot chocolate, ice cream and truffles. If that doesn’t have your mouth watering, try a doughnut-like churros, served with liquid chocolate for dipping.

Next week: Travel to Spain (in Auckland)

Meandering around, tasting delicious food and sipping superb wines sounds like a fabulous way to spend the day, and for many, that’s exactly what they did over the weekend.

Sydney’s Good Food and Wine Show for 2010 wrapped up for another year, with the three day show being heralded as a success once more. The show, which attracted over 45 000 guests and was held at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre at Darling Harbour, hosted an array of delights which assaulted the senses.

Hundreds of stalls displayed everything from cheeses, to barbeques, to wines of all descriptions, and even exercise machines to work off the guilt of those gluttonous delights. Once people were done indulging or just wanted a break, there were participative demonstrations to perfect cocktails and make that perfect froth to top off your café style cappuccino.

Top chefs, George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Moran were on hand creating restaurant quality dishes in the celebrity theatre. The top chefs showed the ambitious at home cook how to turn their day’s purchases into something special.

The Olives and Olive Oil from Spain stand proved a winner, with Spanish olives, oil and ambiance bringing a hint of Spain to Sydney. The stand showcased the heritage and expertise of Olives and Olive Oil from Spain and enabled guests to experience Spain’s fine produce including the best olives and olive oil in the word.

Beyond the traditional pimento stuffed green olives, guests were able to sample green olives stuffed with lemon, green olives stuffed with anchovy and pitted green olives in anchovy brine. Some even tasted all four!

Popular with showgoers was the olive oil from Spain sampling which was a new addition to the Spanish Trade Commission stand. The feedback from guests who tried the three different varieties of Extra Virgin olive oil from Spain indicated that they hadn’t known, like wine, different Extra Virgin olive oils have different flavours depending on the variety of olives used.

Beyond sampling produce, guests were also able to watch twice daily demonstrations by the Olives and Olive Oil from Spain chef who taught guests how to prepare Gazpacho and Pasta with Roast Tomato and Olive Sauce. Not only did guests take away a postcard featuring the recipes for both dishes but they also enjoyed tasting samples of each recipe.

Our secret is out now – more people know how delicious Olives and Olive Oil from Spain are. Guests will be hungry for more so keep an eye out for your fellow Olive and Oil lovers at your local supermarket and delicatessens.

MoVida’s Frank Camorra takes part in New Gastronomy Fiesta Program at Shanghai Expo

It’s no secret Australia claims Spanish born Frank Camorra as not only one of our own but also as one of the best chefs in the country, but those in Shanghai visiting the Shanghai Expo were able to see Camorra in action and understand why Australians holds Camorra in such high regard.

In Shanghai from 28 June – 4 July, Camorra paired with Josechu Corella of Bal d’Onsera, as part of the New Gastronomy Fiesta Program.

The pair created a menu inspired by the 1980’s countercultural movement known as Movida, also the name of Camorra’s restaurant. Offering a tribute to film director Pedro Almodovar with a seafood cocktail with bean gazpacho, named ‘‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’’, the pair also showcased a dish Camorra fans will know well; his anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet.

This won’t be the last of Camorra’s international appearances this year as Frank will be sharing his passion for Spain when he hosts a gastronomic tour of Spain in October this year. Just ten guests will experience the journey of a lifetime as Camorra brings his most recent cookbook, MoVida Rustica to life. He will show guests behind the scenes of Spanish produce markets, introduce them to producers of Spain’s finest ingredients and restaurants, and show guests how to prepare some of his signature dishes.

For those who aren’t able to take the tour, you can still sample some of Spain’s most famous produce, olives and oil, at Sydney’s Good Food & Wine Show. Hosted from 16-18 July 2010 at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, guests at the event can visit the Olives & Olive Oil from Spain stand to sample a delicious variety of Spanish olives and oil.

There’s plenty out there about wine and food, I thought it could be cool to give something new a try, it’s different, original, and fast becoming the thing to do… Oiltourism!!!! I’ve been checking it out and it is actually quite interesting…

In Spain, the largest producer of olive oil, there are plenty of olive oil routes, places to visit and go for olive oil tasting, with the added bonus that you can find them in a variety of regions all over Spain such as: Jaen, Córdoba, Seville, Toledo, Aragon, Catalonia, or Mallorca Island.

Oiltourism usually involves staying at traditional accommodation, visiting olive fields, going in an Almazara (the olive oil making mill) and going for tastings. It’s interesting too because it doesn’t only centre on the process involved with making extra virgin olive oil, Oiltourism also explores antique techniques and tools, day trips, cooking classes, and other activities.

Furthermore, the regions in Spain where olive oil routes are located usually have an abundant offer of ethnographic museums, stunning artistic and historical heritage spots…

You can find some interesting information about that in the following website: http://www.spain.info/reportajes/aceites_con_denominacion_de_origen_la_calidad_garantizada.html?l=en , so next time you visit Spain, make sure you take the opportunity to enjoy this fascinating combination of olive landscapes, culture, gastronomy and entertainment!

I was really surprised and pleased to find that Gwyneth has turned out to be a real Spanish lover! She even considers Spain as her “second home”. Paltrow is a vegetarian and traditionally macrobiotic diet follower, but she embraced and enjoyed Spanish food in every single  episode. She leaves apart delicious treats like the jamon and the chorizo, among other mouth-watering Spanish dishes, but she enjoys vegetables, olives, and traditional dishes cooked with plenty of olive oil, such as churros and the Spanish tortilla! 

 The TV Show has become such a success that they have also published a book called, Spain…A Culinary Road Trip. You can get it and keep for good the 70 recipes, loads of awesome photos and all their trip anecdotes.

 And, if you are like me who has missed the show on TV, you still can watch it on YouTube, and see what the show is all about to decide whether to keep your TV guide on mark for the next show. I’ll pass you also the office link where you can check the episodes: http://www.spainontheroadagain.com/episode_guide.shtml

 Hope you find this program as interesting as I did.  I’ve really enjoyed the mixture of culture, landscapes, and over all  knowing more about the Spanish regions and their eclectic gastronomy !!

One of the most popular restaurants in Sydney is The Bentley (www.thebentley.com.au), in Surry Hills. It’s known for its great wine list and innovating cuisine. They modernise traditional Spanish dishes, so you can find “the tres gazpachos” with the traditional ingredients such as tomato, onion, cucumber, Spanish olive oil… but also some improvising with new tastes such as basil or red pepper.

Then there’s also the Ash Street Cellar, Merivale Group’s ‘spanish project’. They are one of the largest hospitality companies in Sydney and with the Ash Street Cellar, they’ve recreated a Spanish atmosphere, with outdoor eating and great wine selection that always comes accompanies by small portions of jamón or Spanish olives.




Sydney CBD’s Postales Restaurant, offers much elaborated Spanish dishes, such as rabo de toro (oxtail), hare meatballs and Jamón de Bellota with pepper. For some style and chic decoration as well as its elegant cuisine we can also choose Cru 54 in Surry Hills (www.cru54.com.au).

If you are after some typical Spanish tapas we have a few options to choose from; there’s Kika Tapas Bar (www.kika.com.au) in Darlinghurst’s Victoria Street. This place gives you the opportunity to try a good glass of Spanish wine with Spanish olives or croquetas, for more than a fair price. In the north of Sydney’s bay, in Kirribilli, we can find another gorgeous place, Catalonia (www.catalonia.com.au), which bases its offer in the tapas culture and Mediterranean flavours. And for more sophisticated tapas we can find the Bodegas Tapas Bar, also located in Surry Hills, its beautifully modernized decoration of Spanish icons will surprise and delight.

There are many more places to try, but I’ll save those for another post. For now, start trying these, I’m sure you’ll love them. Whether you need to impress someone on a date or just enjoy a good meal next time you’re out make sure you give some of these Spanish places a go!

This bar de tapas is owned by the acclaimed chef Frank Camorra. After an inspiring trip to his homeland, Spain, Frank decided to open a restaurant back in Australia. MoVida’s name comes from the art and film movement that grew in Spain during the 80s, and his aim was to capture all that innovation and invigorating energy and bring it to his dishes.

I couldn’t wait to check the menu so I looked it online, and definitely it looks quite fun and creative.
Some of the samples included Marinated Green Olives with Citrus, Garlic and Thyme and Chorizo baked in a Fino and Olive Oil to Oysters served with Manzanilla and Watermelon dressing.

MoVida Aqui is even larger than the two original restaurants, MoVida and MoVida Next Door. And now we can also enjoy The MoVida Terrace, which I’m sure, will become one of the best and trendiest places this summer for a get-together with friends.
Don’t miss out!

A few weeks ago Preston decided to find out for himself whether the top five restaurants in the world were really worth the money. When I read about it, I was really amazed to find out that three of the top five restaurants in the world were Spanish!

El Bulli has been voted the best restaurant in the world four years in a row and despite Preston’s skepticism when it comes to elite chefs, he said that Ferran Adria, el Bulli’s chef could be “a sort of Mozart of the kitchen”. I think maybe he was really impressed with the food.

He also had wonderful things to say about the other two Spanish restaurants El Celler de Can Roca and Mugaritz. It’s wonderful to see them right alongside the famous Noma and the Fat Duck.

I was really curious about the food he tried. As a teaser and just to awaken your appetite, amongst the 39 snack-sized dishes he tried at el Bulli he had one that has “tall sheets of gossamer-thin pineapple wafer studded with black olive” and at Celler’s he had “five gel-like splotches of green olive, fennel, orange, bergamot and pine-nut purée” I’m sure they were as exciting and delicious as they sound.

We can all dream about having such creative dishes that use innovative ingredients and methods of preparation, but I am wondering, out of all the Spanish restaurants here in Australia, which one is your favorite?