Spain with dietary restrictions

Pork and olive oil are the two most common ingredients in Spanish cooking. Have you ever had Spanish olive oil? It's seriously healthy stuff, not like the vegetable oils you find in the United States. Spain is on track to become the country with the highest life expectancy in the world in a few years.

I think you can manage without pork, we also eat a lot of seafood, but without olive oil, I think that's impossible in Spain.

I guess if you've been to Italy or Greece, it's very similar in Spain.

Carlos, olive oil is totally fine for me. It’s mainly fried food that I can’t tolerate. Unfortunately it’s out of my control. I never suggested Spanish food was unhealthy :)

You shouldn't have a problem - there is some fried food in Spain but even that is not the heavy greasy stuff that you find in the US. And there is a wide selection of food to choose from. Spain was one of my favorite countries for food (next to Italy) and I don't remember ever eating anything that was too oily.

There are a wide variety of foods in Spain and not all are fried. My family is mainly vegetarian and we were able eat tapas and dinner in most restaurants.

What others have said, you should have no problem.

I would add one caution, check descriptions, or ask, there is a tendency to use Jamon (cured ham) as a garnish or ingredient in a number of dishes. For example, if you are in Andalusia and getting the Salmorejo, it often comes topped with jamon bits, but you can ask they be left off. Even just some preparations of vegetables will have jamon as flavoring, like you would see with greens and pork in the US South. Bottom line, tell your waiter that you do not eat pork, they can point out where there may be a problem.

We were just in Spain and the only fried food we ate was eggplant with cane honey, otherwise we didn’t eat any fried food. We stuck to tapas. We had mostly grilled food - octopus, squid, vegetables especially green peppers, fish. The potatoes were boiled. We ate lamb and beef cheeks most of the time. You will be fine.

I've spent a lot of time in Spain in the last few years--all over the country. I generally avoided fried foods except for calamari, and I'm confident you can do the same. It is true, as noted above, that ham crops up in a lot of places; that will be a potential issue. I have no problem with pork, so I can't say how big a deal it will be.

The lunch specials (a very good deal) are often advertised on placards outside restaurants. There is usually minimal descriptive information there, as compared to greater detail on printed menus, so you'll need to inquire carefully about ingredients.

One other thing: You may encounter lard used in cooking or baking where others might employ butter, olive oil or vegetable oil. This may be regional--I'm not sure. I recall buying some cookies at a convent (I no longer remember where) that had the ingredients for each cookie posted. Several contained lard.

The lard issue is mostly for cookies (traditional mantecaos, for example). I wouldn't worry about lard in savory dishes - ham used as a garnish is a bigger worry!

If pork and deep fried are your only things to avoid, you'll be fine! I'm pescatarian and fairly picky, and I've enjoyed dining in Spain on four trips--the offerings are more diverse than you'd think--I remain a bit anxious about Portuguese cuisine.

Much like in other large countries, depending where you travel to you'll find different types of cuisine: inland, coastal, mountainous... each one having its ingredients and traditions, which makes for a diverse culinary experience.

Furthermore, Spain is not a "country" in the strict sense but a patchwork of very different cultures -each with different sociological and historical backgrounds-, which offers even a much more diverse cuisine. In fact, there isn't a "Spanish cuisine" as such, but a Basque cuisine, a Catalan (or Mediterranean if you like, as it embraces territories beyond Catalonia) cuisine, etc. Those areas that have no seacoast (ie Castille or Extremadura) and thus have harsher climates, tend to have traditional dishes that include lots of lard, oil, and meats... while those with moderate climates -normally along the coast- include a wider variety of ingredients, especially vegetables, fruits and also seafood and fish. Needless to say that bordering cultures have "similar" dishes that transcend their political or administrative borders.

And to top it up, food is an essential pillar of the different cultures in the Iberian peninsula, not only it's meant to feed hunger but also it's often the motive of social gatherings, therefore "eating out" has a different meaning than in other countries. This is common in countries with mild climates, where the population spend a great deal of time outdoors. This "way of life" has positioned food at the centre of society and has evolved in an extensive offer, from simple everyday dishes to sophisticated haute-cuisine. Spain has 228 Michelin-starred restaurants (as of 2022), being Catalonia the area with the most starred restaurants (49) and a few of the top restaurants in the world, according to The World's Best 50 Restaurants produced by UK media company William Reed.

In short, you'll encounter a wide variety of offers regarding food... you just have to peruse a bit.

If you happen to visit my turf, Catalonia, here there is an introduction to our cuisine: https://cmsmultimedia.catalunya.com/mds/multimedia/485418/