Southern Spain

Padma Lakshmi embarks on an overland adventure across Southern Spain tasting the regional gastronomic delights whilst indulging in the local culture. Padma's journey begins in the Andalucian capital, Seville, with breakfast; hot chocolate and Spanish doughnuts. After touring the bustling town, Padma takes a tour of authentic tapas bars. They happen upon a flamenco bar where Padma practices a few steps between sips of Sangria. She is south bound to Jerez de la Frontera where Padma meets a local chef. Together they cook with fish and sherry. The next day she ventures towards to a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast, Sanlucar de Barrameda. Here Padma learns about the production of the exclusive Manzanilla sherry before buying some heavenly cakes from the local convent. A brief detour to La Mancha, rural Don Quixote countryside, where Padma attends the annual Saffron Harvest festival. Then it's back south to the Costa del Sol where on the beach she meets the Paella King, Ayo. He teaches Padma how to make the authentic festive Spanish dish. From the Mediterranean coast to the snow capped tips of the Sierra Nevada in one day. Padma stays at a local farmhouse in the Alpujaras valley. The owner Paco takes here on a donkey ride up into the mountains to hunt down the famous dry cured ham. After a hard day in the saddle she cooks an Andalucian stew with Paco's wife and joins their family for dinner. Passing through the Moorish city of Granada, she heads north towards Jaen for the annual bullfighting festival. At the fight, the bull has won, and she joins disgruntled officials in a bull restaurant and discusses the issue of bull's meat whilst tucking into some prize bull's balls. The next day she happens upon a famous olive oil mill and learns how olive oil is essential to Spanish cooking. Finally, its onto the sleepy town of Bunol to throw tomatoes at the wild Tomantina festival and back in the kitchen to make Gazpacho - an alternative use for tomatoes. Her