The Heart of Spain: Families and Food

La Tienda founder, Don Harris gives you a unique look at the food, people and soul of Spain. Whether you are from Spain or just love the country and her food, you will find this book a delight. Beautifully designed, the 239 page book includes over 100 color photographs.

Don Harris has a gift for telling refreshing, meaningful and inspiring stories. Stories of regular people living quietly remarkable lives. Stories filled with emotional depth and understanding, brimming with the rich sights, sounds and smells of life. Spanish life.

In this fast-paced era of high tech and long "to-do" lists, there is much we can learn from the Spanish approach to life. This insightful collection of essays will help you:

• Immerse yourself in the grace and warmth of Spain and her people
• Be inspired by stories of resilience, dignity and generosity
• Learn about families who continue food-making traditions that go back generations

The Heart of Spain won the prize in 2011 for Best Travel Book in the National Indie Excellence Book Awards, a competition for independently published books.

Don Harris has been writing very popular reflections on Spain since 1997. He fell in love with the Spanish culture over forty years ago, when he stepped ashore in Spain as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. For a time he and his wife Ruth raised their young family among the sherry bodegas of El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz). As they enjoyed life with their sons in a Spanish neighborhood, they grew to appreciate the intimate dimension of Spanish life, where children are cherished and family ties are central. After retiring from the Chaplain Corps as a captain, Don founded LaTienda.com with his wife and sons. They all visit Spain regularly. The company is now one of the finest providers of Spanish food in the U.S., supporting artisanal and small family firms. In 2009, Don received the Admiral Pedro Menéndez Friend of Spain Award from the Society of Spain for his outstanding leadership and dedication on behalf of Spain and Spanish culture.

"What Don has done with our beloved Iberia is dig into its essence. Don Harris has the eye of an explorer, the taste of a gourmet, the touch of a painter, and the sense of a spiritual teacher." —Alberto Avendaño, El Tiempo Latino, published by The Washington Post.

"Don Harris's authority is supported by extraordinary experience. I doubt that there is another American or North European who has had over these forty years (since Harris's early years as a Navy chaplain in the American base in Rota, Cadiz) as wide an experience of the many parts and many foods of Spain. It's a blessing, frankly, to have 'Don Don,' his wife Ruth, and their extended family inscribe here their long experience, for us to savor in so many different ways, in so many different Spanish places, in so many different vignettes." —James W. Fernández, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Chicago.

How will my order be packed?

La Tienda packs products carefully to ensure they arrive in top condition. Items will arrive in La Tienda branded boxes.