24 Comments
Oct 24Liked by Neil Scott

Having spent holidays on the Basque coast in Lekitio, in the 80s and 90s driving there from Glasgow in a beat up Renault Four, the locals seemed too busy making bombs and blowing up roads to make the delicious looking pinxtos in the contest. An exception was the bar and restaurant in the main square in Guernica. That place was, and hopefully still is, incredible. Great article, great pics. Jim

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Thanks Jim! I never knew you'd been. We need to talk more about the area. Laura has family in Guernica, which is still a beautiful town.

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The sacrifices you must make for your newsletter Neil! Great work

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Hahahah, it’s a hard life!

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I am headed home to Donostia / San Sebastian on Wednesday. I really enjoyed your post. Some great stuff here. Thank you. Now, of course if you want the real experience, come to Donostia. Only kidding, but we do do it rather well!

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I really wanted to go there again this trip, but we ended up in a service station near Biarritz. Next time! Will let you know.

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Truly interesting journey through your post.

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Neil, seriously. give up photography which never gave for eating, and open a bar🤓. For non British people steak and kidney pie is as exotic as bacalao al pil pil, didn’t try it?, don’t miss a good one next time

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Ha, it is certainly coming up to steak and kidney pie season.

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This sounds like a dream! Please make it your life mission to bring this culture to Glasgow.

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It was 70% amazing. My in-laws looked at me like I was mad. But like I said to Heather below, it's strange how all restaurants now do small plates but don't quite get the simplicity of the pintxo.

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As a massive pintxos fan I enjoyed this

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Excellent! It's strange how all food is now small plates but not quite pintxo small.

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What fun! Will send to some of my Spanish friends. Food photography, food for photography, interesting. Not sure I like it, but it is definitely a big thing. Worth further thought. Your pictures of course, looked great.

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Oct 20·edited Oct 23Author

Thank you. Once you start looking for photographs of food, you realise they are everywhere.

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Yeah, its interesting. I cook quite a lot, may even write about it in some less than cookbook meditative way, and dine in NYC and elsewhere. And, as you know I take a lot of photographs, mostly animals and landscapes. But I don't Insta, and rarely have the desire to photograph my food, at home or when I'm out. Sometimes a pretty drink for a drinking buddy. Once or twice a kind of still life. Not sure what, if anything, that means.

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A photograph of food evokes very little compared to the experience of eating.

The real talent is that of the people who understand how to evoke the desire to eat, even if that means faking it.

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Yes. My father has often said that reading Hemingway made him want a drink.

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I had just been ordered to prepare tapas for a wine tasting event two weeks from now and I then open my laptop to see this post! Thank you, I now have plenty of ideas! Great post!

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Fantastic, let me know what you make!

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Do they offer a vegetarian option of that too? That was a LOT of animal of the plates. All looked delicious though. What a fun experience. We love doing food tours when we visit cities with friends. Haven't done this in a while...

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Hmmm. The Spanish are getting much better at providing vegan/vegetarian options but still not great.

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What a brilliant article! I loved reading it, learnt so much and was impressed by the variety of food on offer.

I’m always disappointed with photos of plates of food I’ve prepared… never as good as the taste !

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Thank you! It's tricky, but hopefully some of mine convey something of what it tasted like.

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