When most travelers start dreaming about Spanish food, they think of paella and tapas first.

Go a little farther north and you find a different side of Spain. Galicia, in the far northwest corner of the country, faces the Atlantic, and the ocean shapes the coastline here as much as it shapes the cooking.

One of the region’s most loved dishes is pulpo á feira. The name means octopus the way it is served at the fair, and that tells you most of what you need to know about where it comes from.

How pulpo á feira is made

It is a very simple dish. The octopus is boiled in a large pot, cut into pieces with scissors and dressed with coarse salt, olive oil and paprika. Then it goes onto a wooden plate. That is the whole recipe.

The cooks are called pulpeiras. Some of the best known come from O Carballiño, which is not on the coast at all. It is an inland town in Ourense province.

Born at the fair

Galicia’s traditional fairs were where people bought and sold livestock, farm produce, iron tools and pottery. They were also where everyone came together, and the pulpeiras cooked in full view of the crowd waiting for a plate.

The fairs still happen. In Rubián, in Lugo province, the structure where the pulpeiras work on fair days has a mural painted on it in their honor. Every August, O Carballiño holds its Festa do Pulpo, which has been declared a festival of International Tourist Interest. The 2025 festival was its 63rd.

I love a dish like this because of what it tells you about a place. Pulpo á feira started as the food people ate when the whole town turned out for the fair.

Galicia through its food

Picture a morning at a market, learning how Galicia’s seafood gets from the water to the table, and then a long lunch of regional dishes with a glass of Galician wine. Cambados is the home of Albariño, and Ribadavia is the place to try Ribeiro.

On the coast you can watch the percebeiros gather goose barnacles on the shore. In Vigo, the A Pedra market is known for its oyster bars.

That is a very different day from ticking another sight off a list. For a lot of my clients who travel for food, it is the kind of day that makes the whole trip.

Ivone’s travel advisor tip

If you love seafood, tell me before we start planning.

What you like to eat can help decide which regions belong in your itinerary. Spanish food changes a great deal from one region to the next, and an octopus lunch in Galicia has very little in common with a three-course cocido afternoon in Madrid. Choosing where to go partly by what you love to eat can give you an entirely different trip.

Could Galicia be part of your Spain?

You do not have to take the same Spain vacation as everyone else.

Let’s look past the obvious and plan a trip around the places, flavors and experiences that speak to you.