marti buckley in El pais

I'm Marti Buckley, and this is my blog.

I am an award-winning author, journalist, podcast host and cook based in San Sebastián, Spain, where I've lived since 2010. My job, as I see it, is explaining Spanish food and culture to the English-speaking world, and I take it very seriously (except when vermouth is involved).

I am the author of two books about Basque cuisine: The Book of Pintxos and the IACP Award-winning Basque Country (Artisan), also available in Spanish as La Cocina Vasca (cómpralo aquí) and Todo sobre los pintxos, and German as Der Buch Pintxos. My third book, on the regional cuisines of Spain, is in the works. I host the podcast Spain Explained, where I break down Spain one caña, churro and menú del día at a time, and share recipes, kinda crazy stories and travel guides from across Spain on my YouTube channel, as well as hosting the four-part documentary Rioja Paired. I've appeared on Searching for Spain and Somebody Feed Phil, spoken at TEDx, the Oxford Food Symposium and Emory University, and been profiled in El País, about my mission in life : to defend the incredible Spanish cuisine and share the joy of Spanish culture.

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I write for outlets like Condé Nast Traveller, National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet, Food & Wine, The Telegraph, Decanter, Travel & Leisure and AFAR, just to name a few, and am a correspondent for The Telegraph, AFAR and Essentialist. I wrote the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide for Bilbao/San Sebastián, and I occasionally translate Spanish food and wine writing into English, like this book. You can find my work in print.

I started this blog from my Alabama kitchen in 2007. Since then, I've written at a national publication, given birth to two daughters, cooked a couple of years under one of Southern cuisine's founding fathers, and moved across an ocean to the best food city in the world. Along the way I ran an artisan popsicle business called Pololo and pedaled ice cream sandwiches around town on a bakery bicycle called The Cookie, to the delight and confusion of unsuspecting Basque people.

I also created a little thing called the International Society for the Preservation and Enjoyment of Vermut, which is going strong worldwide (you can even read about us in the New York Times!). It makes me an official expert on vermouth by sheer quantity consumed.

contact: martibuckley (at) gmail (dot) com

advertising/pr:  please email me for terms and more information.

camera:  All photos are currently taken with either my Lumix or Canon 20D.

photos: photos are copyrighted. please do not use any of these photos without my permission.

emails: Love your emails, keep them coming! If it's a question about "best places to eat in San Sebastian," I have boundless knowledge but little time to share it beyond the blog. Use the tags to search for "pintxos" or "michelin" starred restaurants. Or just email me :) I may work on a list of the best of the best.

Until then, you can check out:

Who knows where next?

Non gogoa, han zangoa.*

*ancient Basque proverb: Donde van los pensamientos, van los pies/ Wherever your thoughts go, your feet will follow.

Want to see me on TV? Here:

NO es país para sosos 

One of two judges on a national cooking show.

Vagabrothers Travel show

For you English speakers...

Basque country news

Giving my piece on the state of young entrepreneurs in Spain.  (subtitled in Basque)