Patricia Wells type food dictionary for Spain???
 

I'm a fairly frequent traveler to France and have used Patricia Wells French Food Dictionary for years. It's wonderful. I've been trying to find something as good for my trip to Spain (Andalusia) May 2014 with no success. Anyone know of a good downloadable app or PDF? I've found plenty of very basic food dictionaries but nothing extensive or nuanced. With all the tapas available in Andalusia, I want to be more prepared than just point and hope for the best. My Spanish is virtually non-existent so verbal explanations will fall flat on my English ears.

Thanks!

We use the Patricia Wells guide too. We went to Spain last year & we're going again in 3 weeks. We couldn't find anything nearly as good for Spain, as the PW guide was for France.

I'm also anxious to find out if anyone has something to recommend.

Stu Dudley

I remember trying a couple that were near worthless as most of our time in Spain was in Basque country!
We were trying to order dinner in Vitoria-Gastiez one night, and the waitress shook her head wildly as I pointed to one item, and acted out "sheeps feet" on the table cloth by drumming her fingernails while saying "baaa, baaa" She dissuaded me.

A lot of these are just regular words and thus would be in a regular English/Spanish dictionary such as sheep or lambs feet, which is known in various ethnic cuisine There are a few words that mean something different in Spain than other countries (eg, omelette or tortilla) and might not be in a English/Spanish dictionary, however, or not correctly, as well as special cooking terms.

I think the gastronomy section on www.spain.info is pretty good, I think, you can pick a region you want and at least know typical cuisine and words for special dishes are given, even if it is a narrative. eg http://www.spain.info/en_US/que-quie...andalucia.html

Here are a few key words for Spanish cuisine FWIW http://gospain.about.com/od/fooddr

This is one book I've heard of that is similar to the Patricia Wells concept, not sure if others have reviewed it or not
http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Drinkin...%2526+portugal

Do not expect every place in Basque country to use Spanish. Road signs as well as menus can offer surprises to those who are only semi-fluent even in "menu" Spanish.

Do you want information on wine? If so I can cut and paste info here. It's a little lengthy but I think it should prove useful to you or other Fodorites.

Maribels Guides on-line cover a number of Spanish cities. While they are not specifically for diners, she offers perceptive comments on restaurants. http://maribelsguides.com/

Try: http://www.iberiantraveler.com/food_guide.html

I second Maribels Guides...they were very helpful!

I really like Maribel's Guides also (although I think she dropped the hotel reviews in Barcelona), but I don't remember any glossary of menu or dining terms in it. It was just restaurant reviews as I recall.

Thanks for all the replies.
Stu - we're spoiled with our Patricia Wells food dictionary. We may not find anything nearly as good for Spain.
Christina - thanks for the links. I've checked them including the book on Amazon. I couldn't view enough pages in the preview to decide if it's worth the investment and luggage space. Here's hoping someone will chime in on it's value.
Busted - still laughing.... baaa, baaa.
Worldinabag - thanks for the wine info offer. Unfortunately my pallet isn't very sophisticated. I usually stay with house wines. Maybe someone more refined will take you up on your offer.
Southam - I had already found Maribel. What a useful website and the restaurant reviews are good. But, no food glossary.
Robert - that's probably the best link I've seen to date.

Still hoping for more suggestions!