Robin Keuneke is the author of the new book The Iberian Table: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity. Her other books include Total Breast Health.
Q: What inspired you to write The Iberian Table?
A: The Iberian Table conveys real excitement in discovering a way to eat that I would want to remain close to for the rest of my life.
I wrote the book I yearned to read. Bloomberg’s 2019 Healthiest Country Index and Money UK’s 2021 index confirm that Spain is ranked number one in terms of longevity. The Catalan Maria Branyas died last year at 117; Branyas was the oldest woman in the world and lived in The Iberian Table region.
Also, Spanish cooking and recipes brim with the freshest and most inventive flavors I have encountered, and I have traveled widely.
Though all of Spain and Portugal is La Buena Mesa, Northern Spain intrigues me most. I had no idea this realization would become the subject of a book until I began researching the update to my first book, Total Breast Health, which I put aside to write The Iberian Table.
When I read about the long-lived people in the North (including Andorra), in a 2016 report published in The British Medical Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, regarding work led by Dr. Ana Ribeiro at the University of Porto, I could not sit to finish this book.
Dr. Ribeiro’s study identifies the Mediterranean dietary patterns of eating, the way Galicians eat on the Atlantic in North West Spain, the Iberian Table region. Galicia is finally being given Blue Zone status.
Q: What makes the Spanish Mediterranean Diet so healthful?
A: Consider sofrito. It was invented in Catalonia during medieval times, and so tasty it spread throughout Spain. Sofrito is the basis for all kinds of recipes, from fish dishes to meat stews, and more. Sofrito is so important that I wrote a whole chapter about it for The Iberian Table.
Sofrito is made from sautéing onions, garlic, and tomato in olive oil, gently for a long time. Anti-cancer compounds galore! People think the Spanish eat a lot of meat and jamón, but if you are a Veg Head, you will love Spain!
Grains vary in Spain, depending upon the region. (MANY types of rice are grown in the Ebro Delta in Catalonia, several specialized rice varieties but six main types: Arròs del Delta de l'Ebre including Bahía, Bomba, Fonsa, Montsianell, Sènia, and Tebre, with Bahía, Sènia, and Bomba being the most common. I have cooked with each variety.) Valenician rice dishes are endless.
The Spanish have many noodle dishes, too, some made with ink from squid which honestly is so savory once one tastes it... nothing else compares.
Breads are taken to a remarkable level in Spain. Grains are grown naturally and milled in old-school ways.
Regarding vegetables... The Spanish appreciate vegetables profoundly. Grilled calcóts (a type of small leek, large scallion) are so celebrated in Catalonia that outdoor spring parties are held under blossoming almond trees, to grill them, and serve with a dipping sauce of crushed almonds or hazelnuts and roasted red pepper, with garlic and olive oil.
There are Pintxos bars in the Basque Country that serve tapas entirely made from mushrooms! Nowhere, except Japan will one find plant foods so understood.
And the cheese in Spain! Such variety and made so simply. Nothing like it. The probiotics found in many cheeses of Spain are living cultures with shielding properties. Consider Manchego: As a traditional, aged cheese, Manchego often contains a complex, live microbiota. Gut microbiome protects from every illness.
But also, eating slowly, sharing meals, and enjoying food in moderation are just as important as what’s on the plate. That holistic approach is a big part of why Spain’s Mediterranean Diet is consistently linked to cardiovascular health and longevity.
Q: Of the many recipes you include in the book, do you have any particular favorites?
A: It’s challenging. The classic pan con tomate is endlessly versatile and proves that great bread, ripe tomatoes, and good olive oil can be more luxurious than any elaborate dish.
Basque cooking is so inventive and simple. Consider one dish: sautéed mushrooms topped with egg yolk sauce. The trick is to leave the yolk runny.
I recommend a boldly flavored salmon salad, made with smoky Spanish Paprika, Pimentón. Pimentón is much higher in antioxidants than regular paprika. Michelin Star chefs love Pimentón. Spain always leads in culinary trends.
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: Writing and developing recipes for The Iberian Table changed the way I approach everyday cooking. It reinforced the idea that healthful eating/cooking is deeply tasty and rooted in prevention and longevity.
My hope is that readers come away feeling empowered to cook more intuitively, to shop seasonally, and to slow down and savor meals. Ultimately, I hope that The Iberian Table will inspire people to see food not just as nourishment, but as a way to connect with community, and well-being.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Thanks for asking. A glimpse of my fourth book, a collection of short stories about Spain focusing on culinary: “My psyche, my dreams and my everyday life remain a kind of village. There is a feeding of one to the other. Imagine historical stone buildings of several stories with balconies: Volcanic mountains and water… Perhaps a bay can be glimpsed behind the buildings. Clouds might be overhead… or a night scene with a blanket of stars! At the center of this interlocked protea, one finds a fountain. The design is simple, but romantic. In geometric splendor everything points towards this fountain. Spain is my fountain. I drink from her bubbling waters to refresh my hungry heart. When life feels too complex to write - or the sky too dark – I pick up a history book on Spain, or a book of legends. Or recipes. Or Spanish painters. Or poets! Something within me changes … I am reinvigorated."
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: According to the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, Spain surpasses other Mediterranean nations like Italy (2nd) due to its superior life expectancy, which is projected to be the highest in the world by 2040.
The person who put The Med Diet on the map so to speak, Ancel Keys, did not highlight or recommend olive oil in his early work and books like Eat Well and Stay Well. During the 1950s-'60s, the scientific focus was on replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils (like corn oil), not olive oil.
Keys’ focus was reduction of animal fat, not promoting specific plant oils. Keys' recommendations fueled the "low-fat" movement, which interpreted "healthy" as eating no fat at all, rather than replacing animal fats with olive oil.
In recent years, we have become to appreciate the benefits of animal fat including tallow, and as the BBC points out, pork fat is known to be "the 8th healthiest food in the world." I'm not advocating for pork fat, but I do eat a paper-thin slice of natural Serrano ham on occasion with toasty pan con tomate.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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