Interesting and Inspirational People from Union County, Spain Expert Gerry Dawes by John Davis, Anna, Illinois

 

 

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 Gerry Dawes at the Moorish Alcazaba fortress in Málaga, Spain.

Photo by Kathleen Balun.

  

Interesting and Inspirational People from Union County by John Davis, a guy I grew up with who is writing a book about people from Union Counry in Southern Illinois who made their mark in the World, both back home and those who went away.

 

Gerry Dawes by John Davis.

 

Most people who grow up in Union County carry a little piece of this place with them wherever life takes them. Few have taken it as far as Gerry Dawes.

 

Born and raised in Southern Illinois, Gerry Dawes developed a curiosity about the world that eventually led him across the Atlantic and into a lifelong love affair with Spain. Over the past half century, he has become one of America's most respected authorities on Spanish food, wine, culture, and travel. His work has been read by food lovers, travelers, wine enthusiasts, and culinary professionals around the world.

 

What makes Gerry's story especially remarkable is that he did not simply visit Spain. He immersed himself in it. Over decades of travel, he explored regions large and small, documenting local traditions, family-run wineries, village festivals, and culinary customs that many outsiders never experience. He has traveled throughout the country for more than fifty years and has crossed the Atlantic countless times in pursuit of understanding the people and culture he came to love.

 

Gerry is an award-winning writer, photographer, and historian of Spanish gastronomy. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, and his book, "Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain," is widely regarded as both a travel memoir and a love letter to Spanish culture. The book draws upon five decades of experiences and friendships throughout Spain.

 

What I find most impressive is that Gerry became a bridge between cultures. Through his writing and photography, he helped Americans better understand Spain, while also helping Spaniards appreciate how deeply their traditions were admired abroad. His work reminds us that learning about another culture begins with listening, observing, and respecting the people who live it every day.

 

Union County has produced educators, soldiers, doctors, artists, farmers, inventors, and public servants. Gerry Dawes reminds us that we have also produced world travelers and cultural ambassadors.

 

His story is proof that a young person from Southern Illinois can develop a passion, follow it for a lifetime, and become recognized around the world for sharing knowledge and understanding with others.

 

Thank you, Gerry Dawes, for demonstrating that curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to embrace other cultures can turn a Southern Illinois boy into one of the world's leading interpreters of Spanish food, wine, and tradition.

 

As I often say, interesting people come from all walks of life. Sometimes they stay close to home. Sometimes they travel thousands of miles away. But no matter where life takes them, they never stop being a part of Union County.

 

 

 

 

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

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In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com