Tarta de Santiago

Galicia. This is the wet green corner of Spain and it eats accordingly. The Atlantic rias give percebes, scallops and mussels, the land gives greens, potatoes and pork for caldo gallego, and the empanada here is a flat covered pie cut into squares rather than a folded turnover.

Spain. Spain grows close to half the world's olive oil, which is why it is the everyday cooking fat from Galicia to Andalusia rather than a finishing drizzle. The groves run for hours across Jaen and its neighbouring provinces, and the oil turns up everywhere, on breakfast toast rubbed with tomato and at the base of very nearly every stew.

Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.