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Polbo á feira/polvo à feira (Galician name meaning fair style octopus) is a traditional Galician dish. An alternative name is polbo estilo feira/polvo estilo feira. The name of this dish derives from its use as a staple by attendants to the traditional fairs and markets of the rural Galician hinterland. For preparing this dish, the octopus is firstly boiled whole inside a copper cauldron, and then trimmed with a scissors. Finally the trimmed octopus chunks are sprinkled with coarse salt and pimentón/pimentom picante (similar to paprika) and drizzled with olive oil.

Before the actual cooking starts, the whole octopus is repeatedly dipped in and out of the boiling water, while holding its head. The objective of this operation is to curl the tips of the tentacles, which is highly appreciated by the Galician consumers. The tentacles are preferred over the head, which sometimes is discarded (by no means always). The optimal cooking point is the one in which octopus is not rubbery but not overcooked either, similarly to the al dente concept in Italian pasta cooking. This is roughly achieved after 20 minutes of boiling, provided that the octopus is left for a further 20 minutes inside the hot water away from the fire.

The dish is traditionally served on wooden plates, along with cachelos (sliced boiled potatoes) and bread. This traditional plates are disappearing in some places for hygienic reasons, but they are still widespread in real octopus-eating strongholds. Tradition dictates that one must never mix drinking water and octopus, and so the dish is usually accompanied by young red wine.

It is somewhat paradoxical that octopus has been historically more widespread (and allegedly better cooked) in the Galician hinterland than in the Galician coast. Traditionally, this diatopic use of octopus was facilitated by its inland availability as stockfish. In the last decades, frozen octopus has replaced dried octopus. Fresh octopus is not so frequently used nowadays either, as it is necessary to pound it heavily before cooking in order to avoid the dish becoming rubbery. This procedure can be skipped after freezing, which, unlike it happens with other fish, does not alter the organoleptic properties of octopus.

The provinces of Ourense and Lugo have by and large a reputation for good octopus. Fair style octopus is the totemic food of the patron saint festivities of Lugo (San Froilán). Some Galician cooks specialize in this dish. They are usually women, known by the name of pulpeiras (pidgin Spanish/Galician name). After the modern decay of traditional rural fairs, many pulperías (octopus restaurants, by its Spanish name) have sprouted across the Galician geography. Pulperías tend to be rough-and-ready rather than refined restaurants.

This dish has also been adopted in many parts of Spain, where it is usually found under the Spanish name Pulpo a la Gallega (Galician style octopus). Inevitably, these tend to be poor imitations of the original dish. Be also warned that the term Galician style tends to be applied to fish first boiled and then seasoned with a "refrito" of garlic and paprika in olive oil, and served with boiled potatoes. This is not the exact way in which polvo à feira is prepared.

With respect to the antiquity of the dish in its current form, note the use of olive oil was limited in Galicia until perhaps the end of the 19th century.

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