Get to Know Blanca 

Blanca Valencia is a food writer and event curator specialising in Spanish food culture, gastronomy, and art . Born in Spain and raised in Central America, she has lived across the globe—including Chicago, Dalian, Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, and London—before settling in Dublin.

Blanca holds a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu (London) and an MA in Gastronomy from TU Dublin. A Spanish Wine Specialist with WSET 2 certification and an olive oil sommelier, she has helmed the kitchens at Madrid’s El Alambique and London’s Books for Cooks, lectured at the Cervantes Institute (Chicago & Dublin), and staged at the elBulli.

Blanca explores Spanish food culture in her substack The Gazpacho Chronicles with essays such as why film director Almodóvar's flans are overcooked or how to create a template to eat and drink in any Spanish city and which was nominated in 2025 for an Irish Food Writing Award.​

 

Named one of the Irish Examiner’s 50 New Irish Food Heroes (2023) for her work promoting Spanish cuisine, Blanca’s writing and work has appeared in Scoop, Irish Country Living, the Irish Independent, BBC, NPR Chicago, and more. Blanca is a member of the Irish Food Writers Guild.

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She co-hosted the award-winning podcast Spice Bags about international food in Ireland from 2019 to 2023 with writers Mei Chin and Dee Laffan. She is co-author of Blasta Books Soup, nominated for Best Irish Cookbook in 2023 and featured in the BBC and the Guardian among many publications.

She collaborates with top Spanish wine and food producers, Food and Wines from Spain, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Cervantes Institute and private clients designing events, talks, and culinary experiences. 

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In a previous life Blanca was a management consultant and has an Economics degree.

Photo Credit: Mel Mullan