Book Log 2009 #60: Everything But the Squeal by John Barlow

Barlow, an Englishman who now lives in the Spanish region of Galicia, takes a year to live out his ultimate porcine fantasy: eating dishes made with every part of the pig, snout to trotters to tail and everything in between. This is often a solitary pursuit, as Barlow's wife (a native Gailician) is, improbably for Spain, a vegetarian (though she does nibble the occasional piece of iberico ham).

This quest takes Barlow all over this northwestern part of Spain, from festivals that focus on specific pork dishes to remove settlements where his meals happen almost by accident. At each stop we get an idea of what life is like among the Galicians, a subculture trying to cling to its traditional ways and proud of its (likely inflated) Celtic heritage.

There's plenty of pig talk, but it's easily as much a travelogue about Galicia as it is a food book. There are discussions of eminent Galicians (such as Fidel Castro, whose father moved the family to Cuba) and the ways in which Galicia is distinct from the other regions of Spain. It's all entertaining, but from the book jacket you'd expect the book to really be about the food. It's worth the read, just expect that not everything in the book is about pigs.