Basque Food in Pictures

In northern Spain, lunch can begin with something still staring at you from the fish-market counter.

Whole fish lie on ice beside langoustines, oysters, razor clams, mussels and percebes. Lobsters and crabs wait in tanks. A few pages later, the same Atlantic abundance has moved onto the plate.

Basque Food in Pictures is a photographic journey through the food of northern Spain, following a route from Bilbao westward to Santiago de Compostela.

The journey begins in the fish market, where seafood is shown almost exactly as it arrives from the coast. From there, the photographs move into restaurants and bars: grilled prawns, scallops, oysters, mussels, octopus and fish; crowded counters of pintxos; anchovies and peppers; jamón, chorizo and cheese; soups, meat dishes and the occasional plate that seems almost too carefully constructed to eat.

Almost.

Across more than 130 full-page photographs, the book moves from raw ingredients to finished dishes, from market counters to restaurant tables, and from simple seafood served with lemon to the elaborate abundance of the pintxos bar.

There are no recipes and very little explanation. The photographs are the explanation.

This is not a guide to where to eat. It is a visual record of what I found along the way: the extraordinary seafood, the crowded counters, the colors, the excess, the simplicity, and the particular pleasure northern Spain takes in putting very good food in front of you.

Come hungry.