Spanish Gastro Larder imports the best products Spain has to offer, from extra virgin olive oil, tapenades, and olives of all kinds, to almonds, rich chocolates and Iberian ham. All products are hand-selected for their unbeatable quality, health benefits and above all, incredible taste.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m Elena from Barcelona and spent my summers in Mas de Barbarans (Tarragona) and Playa de San Juan (Alicante), surrounded by olives and almonds trees. Me and my siblings would play in the streets and the fields, eating plenty of olives and carquinolis! My father was a GP and my mum a devoted family chef, so I ate a diet of very healthy, tasty Spanish food. I visited London for the first time in 1995, and after a few trips finally settled here in 2010.
How did Spanish Gastro Larder get started?
As I’ve mentioned in 2010 I came to London. When I first moved here, I would try and buy olives and other Spanish foods at supermarkets, but I found that the taste wasn’t quite the same as back home. Very often they’d be from big companies so you never know who the farmers are and who is really benefiting from your shopping. The extra virgin olive oil options were especially limited. At the time, wine tastings were fairly standard, and yet there was never that option for olive oil! I eventually found somewhere that did olive oil tastings, got hooked, and started learning more about the immense variety of extra virgin olive oils, and how different they could all taste. I then took courses in Spain and visited olive mills, until I decided to bring the best artisan extra virgin olive oil producers into the UK so they could share their magic with everyone.
“Extra Virgin Olive Oil is nature in a bottle”
What do you love most about olive oil?
It’s nature in a bottle. You can use it for breakfast, lunch, dinners; each olive variety offers such different tastes, and it’s so good for your body!
What other products do you offer?
All sort of nuts and olive tapenades, chocolate with extra virgin olive oil, cured ham and chorizo, rosemary honey, and even olive leaves to brew tea!
What makes the Mediterranean diet so wonderful?
It’s varied and everything is drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, from yoghurts to vegetables. When you prepare a sandwich with charcuterie, you can add tomato and extra virgin olive oil. Have you tried cheese and added some evoo on top? Fresh bread dipped in some peppery, extra virgin olive oil? Pulses and meats cooked with garlic and extra virgin olive oil? It goes with everything.
What are your future plans for Spanish Gastro Larder?
I’ll be selling at more market stalls around London and online, and perhaps there will be a shop in our future.
