My daughters and I are now on CNN!

Our show José Andrés and Family in Spain launched on CNN last night

My friends, 

Back in January we released José Andrés and Family in Spain on Discovery+, a very personal show to me because every episode is me taking my daughters to a different city in my home country of Spain. We visit where I grew up, where I worked, my favorite towns, where their mother grew up…and along the way, we meet old friends and family, and eat and drink everything in sight. Sounds good, right?

I don’t know how many of you were able to watch it when it first premiered on Discovery+. Well, now I am excited to share that the show is going to be shown on CNN on Sundays at 9pm…the first one, when we went to Barcelona, aired last night! This is the time slot of my old friend Tony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, a coincidence that is a little bittersweet for me. But in some way, this show is a tribute to him; I thought of him often while traveling, trying to bring a little of his old magic to our story, to bring the people behind the food to the spotlight, and to share the untold stories of the local people that bring these towns to life.  

We traveled all over Spain to make the show. We first visited Catalonia, the region where Barcelona is, where we visited my mentor, the creative genius Ferran Adrià. We got the first glimpse of the new museum that Ferran is building in the old elBulli space. We were the first cameras there! 

Something special that didn't make it into the show was that my daughters cooked lunch for Ferran! Which, as you can imagine, is pretty intimidating, but he made sure they had fun. He has a very easy way about him.

We timed our visit to Valencia so that we arrived for Las Fallas, the famed fire festival, and we traveled to the Albufera, the wetland area where they grow paella rice, as well as so many delicious fruits and vegetables. And my daughters entered into a paella competition! Do you think they won? You’ll have to watch and see!

In Andalucía, where my wife is from, we tasted cold soups and explored the Moorish history of the region. Next we traveled to Madrid where we met up with local food critic Yanet Acosta and visited the bustling El Rastro market. We also got to see some of my old friends for a home-cooked meal in the countryside. 

Then we visited Asturias, where I was born. Here my daughters had the chance to go diving for percebes, or gooseneck barnacles, something they saw me do on my PBS show 14 years ago!

The final episode of the show was filmed on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands where we took an old camper van (with a kitchen) and visited local seafood, produce, and salt vendors to gather ingredients for a homemade lunch—cooked in the kitchen of the van! Lanzarote is a place I have never been…I was so impressed with the landscape, the wines, the people, and oh yeah, the windsurfing! 

Here is the final shot on the last day, all the crew in Lanzarote at the end of production!

I hope that this little background makes you want to see more—and maybe even get a taste of some the foods we tried in the show, which we have at all of our Jaleos or for delivery on Goldbelly, or get a box of my favorite tapas from Mercado Little Spain.

So friends! I invite you to spend the next few Sundays with me and my daughters! And tell me what you think!