Travel Guide
Food & drink
Andalusian food is generous, sun-soaked and deeply local, and the countryside around Cortijo Bujio is one of the best places to taste it. This is a land of olive groves and cured pork, of long lunches and free tapas, where the raw ingredients are so good that the cooking barely needs to try. Here is what to eat, what to buy, and the traditions worth knowing.
Start with the thing that makes Granada special. This is one of the last cities in Spain where a tapa still comes free with every drink. Order a caña (small draught beer) or a tinto de verano (red wine with soda, the local summer staple), and within a minute a small plate of something will land beside it — olives and cheese, a wedge of tortilla, a little stew, a slice of ham. Order another drink and a different plate appears.
The word tapa means "lid," and the tradition is said to go back to the old habit of laying a slice of bread or ham over a glass to keep the flies out. Most of Spain has quietly dropped the free tapa; Granada, proudly nicknamed la ciudad de las tapas, has kept it. The local way to eat is to bar-hop — a drink and a tapa in one place, then move on — rather than sit down to a single meal. It is cheaper, livelier and far more fun.
Look out from almost anywhere near the villa and you will see olive trees to the horizon. There is a reason. Andalusia produces around 40% of the world's olive oil — more than any other region on earth — and the neighbouring province of Jaén, whose groves begin just to the north, is the single greatest olive-oil-producing area in the world.
This is not a garnish here; it is the foundation of the cooking. Seek out a bottle of local extra-virgin olive oil, ideally from a nearby almazara (oil mill), and taste it properly — good young oil is grassy, peppery, and catches at the back of the throat. Drizzle it over toasted bread for the classic Andalusian breakfast, tostada con aceite. Many mills near Montefrío and in the Subbética hills toward Priego de Córdoba welcome visitors for tastings.
Your nearest town, Montefrío, is known across the region for its embutidos — traditional cured pork. The star is lomo, cured pork loin, alongside local sausages and morcilla (blood sausage), plus regional cheeses. Buy them fresh in the village, and you have the makings of a perfect villa lunch: cured meats, cheese, good bread, olives, a tomato salad dressed in that peppery oil, and a bottle of local wine on the terrace.
Beyond the free-flowing local wine and tinto de verano, Andalusia is the home of sherry (from Jerez, to the west) and produces good regional wines closer to home. Non-drinkers are well served too: freshly squeezed orange juice is everywhere, and the Costa Tropical down on the Granada coast grows subtropical fruit — mango, avocado, cherimoya — found nowhere else on the European mainland.
Half the pleasure of a house like Cortijo Bujio is eating in. Make a first stop in Montefrío for cured meats, cheese and oil; hit a weekly market for fruit and vegetables; and pick up wine locally. Then cook slowly, eat late, and let lunch drift into the afternoon — which is, after all, the Andalusian way. Private catering and a cook can be arranged at the villa on request, if you would rather someone else did the work.
Is it true that tapas are free in Granada? Yes. Granada is one of the last places in Spain where a free tapa comes with every drink you order. Bar-hopping from drink to drink is the local way to eat.
What food is the Granada region known for? Olive oil above all — Andalusia produces around 40% of the world's supply — along with cured pork (Montefrío is known for its lomo), jamón, chilled soups like salmorejo and gazpacho, and the free tapas of Granada city.
What should I buy to cook at the villa? Local extra-virgin olive oil, Montefrío cured meats and cheese, fresh bread, market vegetables and regional wine make an ideal, easy villa spread.
Can I arrange a cook or catering at Cortijo Bujio? Yes — private catering, housekeeping and a cook for traditional Spanish meals can be arranged on request.
Cortijo Bujio sits among the olive groves 15 minutes from Montefrío and 45 from Granada — ideally placed for both long villa lunches and tapas nights in the city. See our guides to Granada, Montefrío and day trips.