Extremaduran cooking is one of Spain's great underrated regional cuisines — built on jamón Ibérico de bellota from the dehesa oak pastures, sheep's milk cheeses like Torta del Casar, game (partridge, venison, wild boar), and slow-cooked stews. Badajoz also benefits from its proximity to Portugal, which shows up in seafood and the use of cilantro in some dishes.
In Badajoz, ordering a beer in the right bar still gets you a free tapa unbidden — a vanishing tradition in most of Spain but alive and well here. The streets around the cathedral, Plaza de España, and along Calle Hernán Cortés are where most of the tapas bars are concentrated.