When Lori L. Tharps wrote her memoir, Kinky Gazpacho, she had plenty of material to take from her adventurous life. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Tharps writes about growing up as an African American with a passion for foreign culture. Desperate to become a star on the world stage, Tharps visits Morocco during her junior year in high school. She falls in love with the vibrancy of life outside America. When she attends Smith College in Massachusetts, she decides to take her year abroad in Spain, a country she has been anxious to visit. Having dreamt of Spanish culture and the wonders Spain will hold for her Tharps is disappointed by the racism she finds in Spain. However, as she spends more time there, her heart begins to thaw. She introduces colorful roommates and a new boyfriend, Manuel. When she returns to the states, her memoir fast-fowards to her life in New York City, and her connection to Spain is still standing. She travels back and forth between the States and Spain attempting to find black culture in Spain or a sign that there were once slaves on Spanish land. What she finds surprises and intrigues her. Spain's apparent racism may really just be ignorance about its past. Tharps takes readers on a wonderful journey to define what "blackness" means to the Spanish culture.