Arrea! - Edorta Lamo

A small village in the heart of the Basque Country, a restored manor house, and a wild, honest cuisine deeply rooted in the land.

Arrea!, the restaurant by Edorta Lamo, is a living tribute to the mountains of Álava and the people who inhabit them. In his kitchen, flavor becomes a dialogue with territory and memory—through game, forest ingredients, and a humble rural pantry. This book brings together recipes born from the mountains and shaped by the ingenuity of survival, creating a powerful and contemporary portrait of a culture that still thrives and can now be celebrated at the table.

“In Kanpezu, a culture of hunger was forged—one of effort, resilience, and ingenuity—that deserved recognition and value,” the chef explains in the introduction. His voice—critical, poetic, and at times provocative—runs throughout the book, exploring the foundations of his project: a deep connection to the land, the revival of traditional knowledge, hunting, and foraging.

It also delves into a cuisine of memory, creatively reinterpreted by Lamo, grounded in a profound understanding of ingredients and an anthropological view of gastronomy. With more than 80 recipes organized by the four seasons, the book captures the worldview of a chef who has turned his origins into a living pantry and a unique way of seeing the world.

From the small dishes that open his tasting menu—such as gardener’s cheese with honey, stewed snails, or crispy wild boar snouts—to standout mains inspired by the best of the Alava mountains and their waters—like trout kokotxas, black trumpet mushrooms with river bacon, camouflaged roe deer, or grilled sunflower—alongside oils, pickles, and ferments that define his cuisine, Arrea! stands as an essential work for understanding the new wave of contemporary rural cooking.