Why Spain’s Star Chefs Are Setting Up Michelin-Starred Restaurants in Tiny Towns

Welcome to Unpacked, Five Questions, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of one great travel story.

In this episode, host and Afar executive editor Katherine LaGrave sits down with contributing writer Lisa Abend, a Copenhagen‑based journalist known for her deep reporting on food, culture, and the ways travel shapes communities. For her latest Afar feature, Lisa embarked on an ambitious road trip across northern Spain to visit five tiny towns where some of the country’s most exciting chefs are opening destination restaurants — and, in the process, helping revive regions long affected by depopulation.

Lisa shares how she first discovered this movement, why these chefs are choosing villages of just a few hundred residents over major cities, and how their restaurants are sparking unexpected ripple effects — from new guesthouses to revived local food traditions. She also talks about the surprising absence of seafood in northern Spain’s inland kitchens, the emotional family histories behind many of these restaurants, and why chatting with gas‑station attendants might be the best road‑trip advice you’ll hear all year.

On this episode you’ll learn:

• Why some of Spain’s most ambitious chefs are opening restaurants in remote villages

• How food tourism can help counter rural depopulation

• What makes northern Spain’s regional cultures so distinct — from language to landscape to cuisine

• Why hyperlocal cooking in these towns often excludes seafood, even when the coast is close

• How family history shapes the stories these chefs tell on the plate

Don’t miss these moments:

[03:00] The Madrid chef conference that sparked Lisa’s reporting

[05:00] How a single restaurant can create a ripple effect across a small town

[07:00] The surprising reason none of these restaurants serve seafood

[14:00] Lisa’s best advice for road‑tripping across northern Spain

[16:00] The gas‑station cherry exchange that became an unforgettable travel moment

[21:00] The “pregnant bun” dish Lisa would eat again in a heartbeat

[22:00] How family stories — and even abandoned villages — shaped the chefs’ menus

Resources

• Read Lisa’s full Afar feature on Spain’s small‑town culinary revolution
• Follow Lisa Abend for more food and travel reporting
• Explore Afar’s Spain travel guides
• Visit the restaurants Lisa mentions in the episode and her story: Versátil, Monte, Arrea!, Ansils, Fuentelgato 

Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, Behind the Mic, where we share upcoming episodes and behind‑the‑scenes details. You can also explore our other podcasts: View From Afar, about the people and companies shaping the future of travel, and Travel Tales, which celebrates first‑person narratives about the way travel changes us.

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