La Tienda in the Press

By Shivani Vora

Traveling through food is a topic I’ve written on before and something I’m especially passionate about. I can’t always jump on a plane or get in my car to explore a new destination or revisit one I’ve already been to, but I can always experience it by sampling some of its local culinary delights.

I can “travel” to far-flung locales worldwide, hop all over the U.S., and even stay closer to my New York home by experiencing small, independent brands in the Tri-State area.

My latest travel through food exploration has me going across the river to New Jersey, hitting the American South, Italy, Holland, California, and beyond. My tasty journey, which is satisfying in more ways than one, follows.

La Tienda

Owned and run by Jonathan Harris, La Tienda brings Spanish food to life with its broad selection of products from around Spain. That means kits for everything you need to make paella, chorizos, Ibérico ham, traditional sweets like Turrón, made with Marcona almonds and wildflower honey, olive oils, sherry vinegars, cheeses, and a whole lot more! As the name suggests, the bestsellers box features the most popular of the bunch—a cheese flight, mini chorizos, serrano ham, olives, and even gazpacho.

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For the gourmand in your life, look no further than these exclusive extra virgin olive oils from Spain, the world’s leading producer and exporter of “liquid gold”.

by Isabelle Kliger 

What is the first country that springs to mind when you think of the world’s best extra virgin olive oil? If your answer was Italy, think again.

Spain is the world leader when it comes to olive oil production. The country is also the world’s largest exporter and consumer of this delectable gourmet product that is sometimes referred to as liquid gold.

Olive Oil Tastes Good And Is Good For You

The word "oil" may not sound like something that would be particularly good for you, but it all depends on what type you are using. When it comes to olive oil, there are three grades: refined, virgin and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The latter, which is the least processed of them all, packs a heart-healthy punch due to its high concentration of antioxidants and "good" High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. EVOO also plays a crucial part in the Mediterranean diet, which is believed to be a key reason for the extended healthy life expectancy enjoyed by people in countries like Spain and Italy.

Better still, great-quality EVOO is a delicious complement to a multitude of dishes. Choose the right one and it will not only elevate your cooking and enhance the flavor of your food, but also impress your dinner guests!

The Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil From Spain

From mild, fruity Arbequinas to powerful, herbacious Picuals and complex, spicy Hojiblancas, here are eight fantastic olive oils from Spain for your favorite gourmand.

Blue Jewel Extra Virgin Olive Oil by 1490

Made from 100% Hojiblanca olives grown on an ancient family estate in Córdoba in southern Spain, this premium oil by 1490 is made from olives that are cold pressed at the peak of their freshness. A fruity green oil, it is sweet and complex with flavors of apple, hay and tomato. As for the blue ceramic bottle, it is inspired by the color of the skies in the Córdoba countryside, where the rolling hills are covered with Hojiblanca olive trees. The name, 1490, refers to the year the family bought the estate, as documented in a recently recovered 500-year-old charter.

Mas Tarrés Extra Virgin Olive Oil PDO Siurana

Members of the Solé family have been making olive oil since 1824, and their experience shows in the multi-award-winning Mas Tarrés. This fruity, tasty extra virgin olive oil from the hills of Catalonia is made from 100% sweet, nutty Arbequina olives. It has flavors of green apples, herbs and roasted almonds, very low acidity and not a hint of bitterness, making it the perfect complement for salads and sautéed vegetables. Mas Tarrés is packaged in appealing whiskey bottles with dark glass to safeguard the oil’s delicate flavor balance and health-promoting characteristics.

Belvís de Las Navas Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

This certified organic EVOO is made from heirloom olive varietals from centuries old olive trees harvested from the terraced hillsides near the Spanish seaside town of Marbella. This is a one-of-a-kind olive oil that blends native varieties, including some that had never been documented before the Yturbe family rediscovered them on their estate. Varietals like Hojiblanca, la Zorzaleña, la Manzanilla Aloreña or Verdial Vélez – Málaga, all of which are picked by hand and pressed to create an exceptional oil with great aromatic complexity. Try it with freshly baked bread or on a salad to maximize the flavor sensation.

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Saltines taken to a cracking new level, sharp cheddar wafers and spicy smoked chorizo are on the menu.

By C.W. Cameron

SPICY PECAN-SMOKED CHORIZO

La Tienda sells more than two dozen types of chorizo-style sausage, including a sliced, spicy, pecan-smoked chorizo salami made by Texas Iberico. It’s seasoned with Spanish smoked paprika, cold-smoked over pecan wood and cured for 45 days — a recipe developed by Kevin Ouzts of the Spotted Trotter in Atlanta.

By Mari Uyehara

Almost everyone claims to love food, but some people take it to the next level. Maybe they’re the type to plan a trip to Tokyo around a highly curated list of yakitori, sushi, and natural-wine spots. Or perhaps they wax poetic about cucina povera while making an incredible three-ingredient sauce with tomatoes from their own garden.

Whatever the case, these are the people who deeply believe that the dining table is where life happens—and they already have their kitchen basics covered. To that end, we’ve rounded up some delicious, good-looking, and offbeat gifts sure to surprise and delight a food obsessive, from a gorgeous little yuzu tree to a serious outdoor pizza oven.

Your giftee may be set with All-Clad skillets, a Dutch oven, and a Vitamix blender. But if you’re looking for more food and drink ideas, check out our favorite food gift baskets, our top picks for cocktail-themed gifts, and our best ideas for coffee lovers.

Spanish snacking

Take the apps off your favorite dinner-party thrower’s hands with the Deluxe Tapas Starter Sampler from La Tienda, one of the US’s premier Spanish-food importers. It features 10 exceptional, shelf-stable noshes, with two tender logs of chorizo (including an Ibérico variety), silky fire-roasted piquillo peppers, Ines Rosales torta crisps, plump manzanilla olives stuffed with mild anchovies, and more. Our one complaint is that the company notes that it may substitute products of equal value, and we were a little bummed when candy-coated almonds came instead of the listed Rabitos Royale chocolate fig bonbons (presumably due to the meltingly hot weather at the time). Other great La Tienda samplers include the smaller and less expensive Tapas Classics Gift Box and the pricier, cold-packed Bestsellers Gift Box, which offers three cheeses along with other goodies.

By Samantha Schoech and Mari Uyehara

For the holidays, we’ve added a slew of fantastic new gifts, including a delectable tapas sampler, a powerful pressure washer, and handsome, high-tech running shorts.

Whether you’re celebrating your dad, your granddad, or another important father figure in your life, it can be hard to find just the right gift. And it doesn’t help matters that every time you press for clues, he insists that he doesn’t need anything.

Below, we’ve gathered our favorite gifts to delight any dad on your list—including a killer pizza oven and a vinyl record subscription—with nary a striped tie in sight. This list includes options for outdoorsy types, cartoon lovers, and serious cooks, so you’re sure to find something for a birthday, a holiday, or any other day you want to show your appreciation.

If you’re looking for more specific gift ideas, check out our favorite gifts for cocktail lovers, our best gifts for runners, and our top picks for retirement gifts.

Dads who like to cook, eat, or entertain will love digging into the La Tienda Deluxe Tapas Starter Sampler. In this box, La Tienda, one of the US’s premier Spanish-food importers, presents 10 exceptional, shelf-stable noshes: fatty Ibérico chorizo, silky fire-roasted piquillo peppers, Ines Rosales torta crisps, plump manzanilla olives stuffed with anchovies, and more. Our one caveat is that the company notes that it may substitute products of equal value for those listed in the description. Other La Tienda sampler options include the less-expensive Tapas Classics Gift Box and the cold-packed Bestsellers Gift Box, which also features cheeses.

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by Sarah M. Vazquez

I don’t get out to Spain often, but when I do, I always make sure to come home with something special for my kitchen. One of my favorite instances of this happened back in 2019. Growing up in a Spanish family, many of my memories revolve around two things: the music of Julio Iglesias and delicious food. My family hails from the northern region of Galicia where the dishes range from hearty dishes like caldo Gallego and asado de ternera to seafood-laden tapa plates like pulpo a feira and chipirones a la plancha (my favorite), all featuring one major thing in common: garlic.   

While each family varies, in my home, you’ll rarely find us cooking without garlic. While visiting friends and relatives in Galicia, I began to notice that this is not only a common theme among most Spaniards, but we even store garlic the same. How? In a specially decorated garlic jar, specifically an El Puente del Arzobispo Garlic Jar. 

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By Javier Orona, Navy Chaplain Corps

In life's currents, some people flow with such purpose that their legacy acts as a North Star for future generations to follow.

Among those individuals is Retired Navy Chaplain Donald Harris, a man whose journey from Naval Chaplaincy to cultural entrepreneurship demonstrated resilience and the strength of a human’s spirit. Harris passed away March 16, 2024, in Williamsburg, VA.

Harris was committed to service and faith in the power of love. This was emphasized by over 60 years of marriage to his wife Ruth. He shaped countless lives and created bonds of understanding between nations.

Harris, a native of Belmont, Massachusetts, was sitting in his high school library when he came across a college brochure. Due to a problematic childhood, he decided to move to Virginia so he could find the peace he had always been searching for.

After graduating from the College of William & Mary in 1957, he entered graduate school at the University of Iowa, but quickly realized it wasn’t what he wanted. He was used to attending a much smaller school and decided he would go somewhere with warmer weather.

Harris enrolled in Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California, and stayed with his friend Charlie’s family. During this time, he befriended Charlie’s younger brother Christian. Harris didn’t allow himself to grow close to many people, but he ended up forming a brotherlike bond with him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time together as Christian developed bone cancer and died within one year.

During Harris’s time with Christian, he realized that although they didn’t have much in common, they formed a strong relationship. This was something he carried on with him and utilized to build strong bonds among servicemembers in the future.

In 1960, Harris entered the Coast Guard and attended Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Virginia. Later, he was drawn to become a United States Navy Chaplain. So, in 1961, he enrolled at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California.

Each day, after school, he would drive to the Coast Guard Training Center to work with trainees who needed a chaplain to talk to.

Harris realized early on, after discussions with recruits attending his services, that they all seemed to relate to words used through music. He began using lyrics from songs in his sermons and saw a difference in the number of recruits attending.

In 1971, with the support of then Chief of Chaplains Rear Admiral Francis Garrett, Harris created the Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO). The program was created to address the rise of drug addiction and mental trauma among service members.

Using what he had learned from his short time with Christian, Harris focused on connecting people through mutual respect and humanity.

Peter Chase, a family friend who became involved with the program, says CREDO started off as a weekend full of music. He says they would speak about personal pain, social pain, and end on Sunday morning with celebratory music.

“They didn’t use uniforms or identify by rank,” said Chase. “They would go by first names in an effort to eliminate fear of repercussions.”

Chase says Harris was very dedicated to working with people who were trying to find themselves and helping them deal with life situations. He also says the weekends began giving people hope and helped them in some of their worst times.

“The people who wanted to get out ended up staying in,” said Chase. “They started to feel happier about where they were in life and with their career.”

The Navy CREDO program helps Navy personnel, and their families feel better spiritually. It helps them find hope, good relationships, grow spiritually, and strengthen morals. It does this by building trust and accepting people as they are. The program also gives them tools to become better people.

They have different programs such as retreats for couples to improve their marriage and retreats for families to become closer. There are also workshops before marriage and for building personal resilience.

The program has changed over time to fit the needs of Navy personnel, providing a supportive community where they can find comfort, help, and feel like they belong. With its whole-body approach, the CREDO program helps Navy members deal with hard times and increase their spiritual readiness.

Ben Chase, Peter’s brother, attended seminary with Harris and says that not everyone who attended the workshops was troubled.

CREDO program participants each have their own story and background and some join to find comfort and help during tough times. There are others, like Judy Neuter, one of the first female naval aviators, who found encouragement and a welcoming atmosphere in the program.

Her involvement showed that the program wasn't just for people facing difficulties but also attracted people looking to grow personally and connect with others in the military. Through sharing stories and supporting each other, attendees found a community for self-reflection, development, and friendship in the program.

“It was really a great social outlet at the time,” said Ben Chase. “It was a comfortable home for people within the Navy to grow and to feel valued.”

As he was working on growing the program, Harris and his family were told that he was being assigned to Rota, Spain. This proved to be the perfect place for his family following an impactful, but strenuous, tenure with the CREDO program.

Harris and his family were impressed by the culture in Spain and liked how friendly the people were. They admired how much Spanish families cared about each other and how important family was in their lives. Seeing this dedication had a big impact on them, and they came to value the traditions and values of their new Spanish community.

Jonathan Harris, Don Harris’s son, says there are challenges with moving every couple of years, but there is also an adventurous side.

“I got to see a lot of the world and meet different people,” said Jonathan Harris. “Being the son of a Navy Chaplain allowed me to meet folks from all walks of life, from petty officers to admirals, and see how my father was able to help them find a healthier, more fulfilling path.”

Jonathan says that as he got older, his father grew to be more like a close friend who always supported him. He also says his father loved nothing more than sitting with friends, old or new, and chatting for hours, really getting to know each person.

After leaving the Navy, Harris started an online store with his family. They all shared a passion for Spain, and his goal was to work alongside them. At the time, the Internet was becoming popular, and Spanish foods weren't readily available in the United States. So, Harris and his sons Jonathan and Tim decided to create one of the earliest online stores selling Spanish products.

Apart from his work accomplishments, Harris's memory lives on through his family, who carry on his dreams.

Harris's dedication to building bonds between nations did not go unnoticed.

In 2012, he was awarded the Official Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the King of Spain, recognizing his impact on promoting Spanish culture in the United States. The award recognized him for his lifelong dedication to building connections and celebrating humanity.

Throughout his life, Harris dedicated himself to serving others, through his career in the Navy and through service to his community.

In the Navy, he found purpose in protecting his country and fostering relationships. Through his efforts, he achieved what he had always wanted: a life spent positively impacting those around him.

“When you love something, you don’t keep it to yourself,” said Chase. “You share it, and that’s what Don was about, he felt that he was healed by God and wanted others to experience it too.”

Jonathan says being a Navy chaplain was more than a career for his father and that it was his life’s mission. He says it provided him with the structure and platform to reach so many people and engage with them, to build a community of love and healing.

“Our father came from an abusive home and was a lonely kid, but he chose not to pass on that legacy,” said Jonathan. “Through his career as a Chaplain, especially through CREDO, he was able to share this message of forgiveness, healing, and connection with thousands of sailors and their families.”

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In Jabugo, travelers can visit Ibérico pigs in the pasture and learn how to carve some of the world’s finest cured ham

By David Farley

ARACENA, Spain — “How do you like the ham?” asked Manolo Romero de la Ossa, the owner of Casas, a popular restaurant here in Andalusia.

All week long around the village of Jabugo, my wife and I had been eating jamón Ibérico de bellota, the sweet, nutty, salty and creamy product of black-hoofed, free-range pigs that consume a special diet.

“It’s great,” I said. Then I mentioned just how much ham we’d been eating.

“What does that matter?” Romero de la Ossa said, dismissing me with a wave of his hand. “You’re in the ham capital of Spain, even the world, and when it’s this good, you can’t stop. You eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

He was right. To mistake cured Spanish jamón (pronounced “hahm-ohn”) with the packaged, sliced ham you find at your local supermarket would be like comparing a fast-food burger to a wagyu steak, or Pabst Blue Ribbon with a Czech bottle of Pilsner Urquell. Even Italian prosciutto is not in the same league.

Jamón Ibérico de bellota is a whole other beast. For about three months out of the year, Iberian pigs graze on acorns (or bellotas in Spanish), giving the jamón a rich taste that some Spaniards have likened to a drug.

Jabugo is synonymous with the highest-quality jamón in Spain — and, some would argue, the world. I came here because my Spanish friends would whisper in irreverent tones when anyone uttered the phrase “jamón de Jabugo.” I felt like I was let in on some culinary secret: the best cured ham on the planet comes from a village of about 2,200 people nestled in the mountains of southern Spain.

Pasture tours and jamón museums

Is there such a thing as pork tourism? There is in Jabugo.

The town is so ham-centric that the main square is called Plaza del Jamón, and there is an array of bronze sculptures of jamón-cutters. There are also museums dedicated to Spanish jamón in Jabugo and Aracena.

Jabugo boasts a handful of jamón producers. The most famous is Cinco Jotas. The company offers several services for visitors to literally get their hands dirty and have their palates dazzled. I signed up for the full experience, including a visit to the oak tree-studded pastures to hang with the hogs, a tour of the 19th-century ham-curing cellars, a lesson in how to carve jamón like a pro, and, of course, a tasting.

It all gave me a much better insight into how much time and effort it takes to nurture an unparalleled product, and why it’s so expensive. A leg of black-label jamón Ibérico can cost as much as $1,700. Acorns are rich in fatty acids and nutrients. You could say they are a porcine superfood.

Spain has a handful of main jamón-producing regions, including Salamanca, Extremadura, the Los Pedroches Valley and Jabugo. But not all jamón Ibérico is created equal.

In 2014, the Spanish government created a color-coded system to inform consumers of the percentage of the pig’s Iberian ancestry. A white label, for example, means the breed of pig is at least 50 percent Iberian; it eats mostly fodder (a random mixture of grain, hay, and vegetables); and is not free range.

On the other end is black label, meaning the pig is 100 percent Iberian (or pata negra), it feeds from November to February on acorns, and is free range. There are also dozens of strict regulations about weight, size and the amount of free-range space the pigs should have, among other factors. Only 6 percent of the jamón Ibérico produced in Spain gets a black label designation.

Iberian pigs have fewer offspring than other breeds, produce less meat and take longer to mature. For those reasons, many ham producers in Spain crossbreed them. Cinco Jotas only uses 100 percent Iberian pigs, making it one of the few jamón-producing companies in Spain that gets the black label designation.

What makes jamón de Jabugo so special

People have been curing jamón in southwestern Spain for a very long time. Even the Romans recognized the area as particularly beneficial for the task of curing pork.

In A.D. 77 Roman writer Pliny the Elder wrote of Iberian pigs, “There is no animal that affords a greater variety to the palate of the epicure; all the others have their own peculiar flavour, but the flesh of the hog has nearly fifty different flavours.” On Christopher Columbus’s second voyage, in 1493, his ships were said to be loaded with Ibérico pigs as they crossed the Atlantic.

Until the late 19th century, ham production in Jabugo was small-scale, limited to a few small family-run slaughterhouses. It was only when a jamón-obsessed businessman, Rafael Sánchez Romero, recognized a growing demand for the high-quality ham from Jabugo that the product started to spread to cities like Seville and beyond. He started Cinco Jotas in 1879.

In 1994, jamón de Jabugo got DOP status — Denominación de Origen Protegida (literally “Protected Designation of Origin”) — a European Union certification that ensures a certain product comes from a specific geographic zone. The zone in question here extends beyond Jabugo to 30 other villages in the surrounding area where the ham produced is officially “jamón de Jabugo.”

“One of the most important factors in shaping the taste of jamón de Jabugo is the microclimate here,” said José Antonio Pavón, the Director General of DOP Jabugo, an the organization that maintains Jabugo’s DOP status. “We get 1,000 liters of rain here — that’s far more than any other ham-producing region in Spain.”

To add to that, something called the Foehn effect — a meteorological term for what happens when there’s a warm, dry condition on one side of a mountain and a cold, wet condition on the other, resulting in extreme temperature change — is caused by the wind from the Atlantic Ocean hitting the high-altitude mountains in Jabugo.

“The daytime temperature in summer can be at 105 degrees, and then at night it can go all the way down to 65 degrees,” said Maria Castro Bermúdez Coronel, the director of communications for Cinco Jotas. “This affects that taste, compared to other jamón-producing regions, in that the warm weather creates a strong flavor in the meat.”

The pigs are slaughtered — or “sacrificed” as Spaniards prefer to say — when they’re around 22 months old. Then the back legs (called “jamón”) and front legs (called “paleta,” or shoulder) sit in salt for a few weeks (one day per kilogram).

Next, they spend time in the drying process, hanging in a temperature-controlled room before being moved to a windowless cellar for a few years. The entire process can take up to five years before a leg of jamón is ready to be sliced and savored.

How to get your hands on jamón Ibérico

Look around your local supermarket — or pretty much any supermarket in the United States — and you likely will not find jamón Ibérico de bellota.

It’s not particularly hard to find jamón serrano, the most commonly produced jamón in Spain, which is good but does not possess the “wow” factor compared to black-label jamón Ibérico de bellota. If you want it, you have to go to a specialty food shop, buy it online or, like me, come to the source.

Antonio Cabrera, a sales manager at Covap, a jamón producer in Los Pedroches Valley near Córdoba, and the grandson of the company’s co-founder, said, “Italian culinary culture is so cemented in the United States, especially on the East Coast, that many people have a cultural attachment to prosciutto.”

Jamón Ibérico was approved for import by the U.S. government only in 2005, and its emergence in the United States — particularly the black-label variety — has been crawling at a Mediterranean pace. “We have some catching up to do,” he said.

If you’re in Spain and you want to bring back some black-label jamón Ibérico de bellota (or other pork products, Spanish or otherwise), you might want to think twice: It’s illegal.

However, there are plenty of ways to buy it online: You can go straight to the source at Cinco Jotas or visit the websites for Spanish gourmet websites for the U.S. market, including La Tienda, Campo Grande or Despaña.

For a 3-ounce packet of sliced black-label jamón Ibérico de bellota, expect to pay around $40. If you want to splurge and get your own leg, prices vary depending on the weight and if it’s the front leg or the heavier back leg.

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‘The Taste of Things’ with Juliette Binoche, a nonalcoholic sparkler in a magnum, holiday stollens and more food news.

Florence Fabricant

Pop a Spanish Tortilla in the Microwave

They’ve shrunk the Spanish tortilla. The thick frittata of potatoes and onions, a tapas bar staple typically made for multiple servings now comes in minis from Peregrino by La Tienda, in Spain. Each is about four inches wide, making for an easy side dish alongside roasted meat or poultry, as the centerpiece on an individual vegetarian plate, or for a quick breakfast. Cut them in small wedges to toothpick and serve with drinks. The tortillas are four to a box, frozen and individually wrapped, to be heated in minutes in a microwave, a pan or a regular oven.

Peregrino Mini Tortilla Española, $32 for eight, latienda.com.

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These are our favorite toys, bottles, and gadgets for any wine lover.

By Laura Denby

Wine lovers are notoriously hard to shop for, as most have strong opinions about everything from regions to vintages to varietals. Finding an impressive yet useful wine gift can be challenging, but it's certainly not impossible. In fact, plenty of wine gifts out there are versatile enough to please any wine lover. To help you find the perfect present, we rounded up the best wine gifts our editors can't wait to give to their loved ones. We also spoke to leading experts in the wine industry to get their insights into the best bottles, glasses, and accessories. Whether you're looking for a hostess gift to bring to your next dinner party or an excellent bottle to celebrate a special day, there's something here for everyone.

If you're unsure what kind of wine someone likes, it's best to give an all-purpose present that will please various palates. Fun glassware or a decorative decanter is a great place to start, but there are also some high-quality bottles from trusted producers that are guaranteed to impress. Whichever route you take, don't let the hefty price tag of some special occasion bottles distract you. "Price point isn't important when shopping for a wine lover," says Haley Moore, sommelier and CEO of Acquire, a San Francisco-based luxury hospitality company. "There are so many great options at a variety of price points. No matter what type of wine drinker you're shopping for, these are the best wine gifts to please any wine lover.

La Tienda Spain Porrón

2015 F&W Best New Chef Jonathan Brooks of Indianapolis restaurants Milktooth and Beholder suggests bringing a porrón as a gift for the hosts of your next holiday party. Traditionally used as a decanter for Spanish wines, the porrón aerates wine as it pours through its narrow glass opening — decant wine with it during dinner, then channel the festive atmosphere of Spanish wine bars and sip wine from it directly as it pours.

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A TASTE OF SPAIN

Alumni-owned La Tienda brings Spanish flavors and culture to customers throughout the U.S. and Canada

By Tina Eshleman
Photos By Alfred Herczeg P ’23

Inside an unobtrusive warehouse just west of Williamsburg is a treasure trove of Spanish delicacies. There are jars with saffron, colorful paprika tins, blocks of artisan cheese, bottles of olive oil, loaves of crusty Galician bread and — the crown jewel — jamón Ibérico, the richly flavored, dry-cured ham coveted by gourmands worldwide.

This is the headquarters of La Tienda, the leading online U.S. retailer of gourmet food and cookware from Spain, owned and operated by a family of William & Mary alumni.

La Tienda is more than a business for Don Harris ’57, P ’91, P ’94, P ’98 and Ruth Harris P ’91, P ’94, P ’98 and their sons and daughters-in-law: Tim Harris ’91 and Amy Brown Harris ’91, M.A.Ed. ’96; Jonathan Harris ’94 and Stacey Reid Harris; and Chris Harris ’98 and Rian Harker Harris ’98. It is a platform to share Spanish food and culture, support and promote sustainable food production, and expand knowledge through engagement with W&M faculty and students.

Williamsburg residents and visitors might be more familiar with La Tienda Tapas Bar & Market, which opened as a shop on Jamestown Road in 2010 and later expanded into a restaurant, now owned by executive chef Greg Mincher. But the online retail business came first, launching in 1996. The internet had just entered the public domain three years earlier, and businesses were still learning how to use it.

The inspiration for La Tienda came from the Harris family’s deep connection to Spain, beginning when Don was stationed there as a chaplain in the Navy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the decades since then, family members have returned to Spain whenever they could, often bringing back mementos, works of art and favorite foods. The family recently established a study abroad scholarship that encourages William & Mary students to explore Spain's Camino de Santiago. Read more in the online exclusive article "Traveling the Way."

After retiring from the Navy in 1988, Don served as the Episcopal chaplain for William & Mary students, based at Bruton Parish Church, and Ruth worked as a music librarian at W&M from 1989 to 2004. All three sons followed in Don’s footsteps to become W&M alumni.

In the mid 1990s, when Ruth was battling breast cancer, the family looked for a way to pull closer. Don thought about their time in Spain, where they were influenced by families’ day-to-day multigenerational interactions.

“Our family has always been interconnected and supportive — we learned that from the Spaniards,” he says. “We said, ‘Why not concentrate on Spain and find something we can do together?’”

Originally, La Tienda sold the kinds of Moorish style ceramic tiles and Spanish artwork that Don and Ruth had used to decorate their home in Williamsburg.

“While that was fun and interesting, it quickly turned out that people were most interested in the wonderful food of Spain, which at that time was hard to find,” Tim says. “So we put up a picture of Spanish jamón and asked, ‘Who out there is interested in ordering ham from Spain?’”

Lots of people, it turned out. But working through customs issues to import the ham proved to be a hurdle that took a couple of years to resolve.

“While we were waiting for the ham to come in, customers started to ask for other products,” Tim says. “So we began to bring those in, and it just took off organically.”

Today, La Tienda carries 800 products and fills about 150,000 orders a year, exporting goods from Valencia, Spain, to the port of Norfolk and then shipping them all over the United States and Canada by UPS. It has grown from a small family operation to one with 40 to 100 employees in Virginia, depending on the season, as well as two in Spain, at offices in Valencia and Zarautz.

As they developed the company, the Harris family maintained ties with William & Mary, hiring interns and graduates, receiving advice from Raymond A. Mason School of Business faculty members and providing case studies for business students. Cate Bruce-Konuah Faddis ’91, a Pi Beta Phi sorority sister of Amy Harris, currently serves on the company's board of directors.

Hector Guerrero, a professor emeritus and former director of the Resident MBA Program at the business school, served on La Tienda’s board of directors from 2005 to 2015. At that time, the company was expanding its distribution network, and Guerrero worked with the Harrises on making the transition from an informal family operation to a more businesslike structure.

“There had to be an organizational chart,” he says. “There had to be responsibilities for decision-making. I helped them think through the process of how to organize.”

As a result, Tim took on the role of CEO, overseeing the operational and financial side of the business, while Jonathan became president and head of product development. Their younger brother, Chris, who works for the U.S. Department of State as senior political-military officer for Ukraine, provides a physical presence for the family in Spain, where his wife, Rian, is serving as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.

Several other businesses have spun off from La Tienda: Virginia Packing LLC, a specialty USDA packaging facility, and Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods, both in Toano; and Austin, Texas-based Texas Iberico, which produces ham from Iberico-breed pigs raised in the Texas Hill Country. The family also established the Harris Family Foundation, which supports local food relief efforts. 

During the pandemic, La Tienda Tapas Bar became a community kitchen that provided free meals to front-line workers. The restaurant also offered food to the community in a pay-what-you-can model and established the first Virginia outpost of World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit run by chef Jose Andres, providing thousands of meals to families living in motels and homeless shelters during the early days of the lockdown. 

In spring 2023, W&M graduate business students scrutinized La Tienda’s voluminous ecommerce data as part of the master of science in business analytics (MSBA) capstone course taught by professors Rachel Chung and Guillermo Rodríguez-Abitia. The goal was to better understand clients’ behavior, with a focus on customer retention.

“We learned that our best repeat customers live in the Midwest, which has allowed us to better target our marketing,” Tim says.

For Stefanie Guizar Diaz ’22, M.S. ’23, one of the main takeaways from working on the project was the importance of understanding customer demographics. “I had already accepted a data analytics consulting job prior to working on the project,” she says. “Working with La Tienda reassured me that consulting is the right field for me.”

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Harris family establishes a study abroad scholarship to encourage William & Mary students to explore Spain’s Camino de Santiago

By Tina Eshleman

Walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain is a meaningful way to prepare a William & Mary student for life as a global citizen. Just ask Jonathan Harris ’94, who traveled the centuries-old pilgrimage trail by foot the summer after his sophomore year at the university.

During the 500-mile trek from the French-Spanish border to Santiago de Compostela, Harris experienced the landscape, culture and history of Spain in a deeply personal way. While doing so, he walked alongside a Brazilian ship’s captain and a Dutch land-rights negotiator, among others who came seeking spiritual renewal, a deeper understanding of their place in the world and a human connection away from everyday distractions.

“It opened my eyes to our shared journey in life, and that people are more similar than we sometimes think,” Harris says. “On the Camino, everybody is doing the same thing. It’s not about status or position, but taking it step by step.”

To make this kind of experience possible for other William & Mary students, Harris’ family, including his parents and siblings, has established the Harris Family Study Abroad Scholarship Endowment. The donor group includes Don Harris ’57, P ’91, P ’94, P ’98 and Ruth Harris P ’91, P ’94, P ’98 and their sons and daughters-in-law: Tim Harris ’91 and Amy Brown Harris ’91, M.A.Ed. ’96; Jonathan Harris ’94 and Stacey Reid Harris; and Chris Harris ’98 and Rian Harker Harris ’98.

Two additional donors who wish to remain anonymous partnered with the family to fund the endowment for a combined gift of $100,000. The scholarship will provide support for W&M students to participate in Camino pilgrimages or, if those opportunities are not available in a given year, other study abroad opportunities in Spain.

The Camino de Santiago, also known in English as the Way of St. James, comprises a network of trails that pilgrims have traveled since the ninth century to reach the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. The cathedral was built at the site where, around the year 813, a hermit discovered a tomb believed to contain the remains of the Christian apostle James the Greater and two of his disciples. As recounted in the Book of Acts, James was martyred, and tradition holds that his body was transported from the Middle East to what is now northwestern Spain, where he had spent time evangelizing.

Today the pilgrimage routes continue to attract people from near and far, and interest has grown over the past 20 years. According to statistics published by the Oficina de Acogida al Peregrino (Pilgrim’s Welcome Office), more than 437,000 made a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in 2022.

“Spiritually you get something out of it because you’re out of touch with the ordinary world,” Don Harris says. “You meet strangers with similar experiences and it’s very enriching. For some people, it deepens their faith.”

A Boston-area native, Don randomly picked out a William & Mary catalog at his high school library in the early 1950s and was captivated by pictures of the historic Wren and Brafferton buildings. Harris’ three sons followed in his footsteps to become William & Mary alumni. Tim and Jonathan run the Williamsburg-based family business, La Tienda, which Don founded in 1996 with his sons’ help. Previously, he had served as Episcopal chaplain for William & Mary students, based at Bruton Parish Church, after retiring from the Navy, and Ruth Harris served as music librarian at W&M from 1989 to 2004. The leading online U.S. retailer of gourmet food and cookware from Spain, La Tienda expanded with a retail shop and tapas bar in 2010.

As La Tienda’s CEO, Tim is responsible for the operational and financial side of the business, while Jonathan is president and head of product development. Their younger brother, Chris, works for the U.S. Department of State and will soon move from the Republic of Georgia to Madrid, where his wife, Rian, will serve as deputy U.S. ambassador to Spain.

In addition to establishing the scholarship, the Harris family encourages cross-cultural learning through their business. Because La Tienda’s employees represent at least eight different nationalities in Latin America, Asia and Europe, the company made it a priority early on to provide English literacy classes during work hours. More recently, they have added Spanish instruction for English speakers as well. La Tienda regularly employs William & Mary students as interns and provides case studies for business analytics students at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.

“Williamsburg turned out to be a wonderful place for La Tienda to be based because we have so many neighbors who worked in the State Department, CIA or the military and have spent time in Spain,” Tim says. “A lot of William & Mary professors have also been over there to study or travel.

“That’s why we decided to open the restaurant and retail store on Jamestown Road as a way for my father, in particular, to continue to connect with people face-to-face, and share the way that the Spaniards celebrate life with their families around food — that’s his favorite part.”

The family first discovered the Camino de Santiago when Don was serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy in Spain in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While there, the Harrises came to love the warmth of the Spanish people, the flavorful cuisine and the beauty of Romanesque art and architecture.

Since then, family members have returned periodically. Jonathan and Stacey walked a 62-mile stretch of the Camino for their honeymoon; they recently traveled there again to share the experience with their daughters, one of whom was making a pilgrimage with a college group, just as Jonathan had done.

Tim has traveled portions of the trails multiple times. While attending William & Mary, he studied with George Greenia, co-founder of the university’s Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, now a professor emeritus of Hispanic studies. An authority on the Camino de Santiago. Greenia founded the W&M Institute for Pilgrimage Studies and has taken undergraduates backpacking on the Camino de Santiago to conduct interdisciplinary field research. He noted in a 2019 interview that his students had conversed with fellow pilgrims in English and Spanish as well as in French, German, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even Hebrew.

In addition to establishing the scholarship endowment, the Harris family is providing funds through La Tienda to maintain the infrastructure in communities along the Camino de Santiago, such as installing water fountains and helping with repairs to the boarding houses or albergues where travelers stay.

“We encourage the La Tienda community to support this effort along with us and maybe go over there and help out,” Tim says.

The goal of the Harris Family Study Abroad Scholarship is for at least one or two William & Mary students each year to have the opportunity to walk the Camino de Santiago on the W&M faculty-led summer program managed by the Reves Center for International Studies. Since 2012, 117 William & Mary students have participated in the Santiago de Compostela program. Faculty directors have represented Hispanic studies, theatre, sociology, chemistry and education. Typically, students spend two weeks walking from León, Spain, to Santiago de Compostela and then a few weeks in the medieval city completing their projects.

The Harris scholarship ties in with the university’s commitment to study abroad experiences as a way to enhance academic excellence and prepare students for successful careers in a global economy. W&M ranks fourth among public universities in the nation in study-abroad programs, with almost 60% of undergraduates studying abroad before earning their degrees.

By participating in the Santiago de Compostela program and other study abroad opportunities, students can fulfill the university’s COLL 300 requirement — part of the W&M College Curriculum courses designed to integrate knowledge across the academic disciplines. COLL 300 programs introduce students to people and ideas outside of their familiar surroundings.

“Study abroad on the Camino de Santiago hits all the right notes for a William & Mary experience — interdisciplinary inquiry, experiential learning, close student-faculty collaborations and global learning,” says Ben Boone ’07, M.Ed. ’09, Ph.D. ’19, assistant dean for undergraduate education in Arts & Sciences. He has led the program twice and wrote his dissertation on the Camino de Santiago and study abroad.

The Harrises hope that students who walk the Camino will connect with other pilgrims and bring back stories of learning and growth to share with their family and friends, Tim says. “We believe this experience will give them a different perspective on the world and on their lives.”