This is the last instalment of my Foodie Photography Tour of Portugal series after Part I and Part II. The series are photo essay of the journey I made with Emanuele Siracusa during the summer of 2014 to write the Portuguese Travel Cookbook.
The book is a journey through the Portugal which is Semper Fidelis to its origins. A country proud of its culinary identity and heritage, where stories about the food, the places, the eateries, the villages, the producers, the fishermen, the farmers and the chefs who dedicate their life and their day to make traditional Portuguese cuisine the everyday wonder that it is.
Our main objective in conceiving, writing and photographing this book is to make you hungry and inspire a future journey to Portugal. To make you dream and imagine how the different dishes must taste like, what are their texture, how are the ingredients cooked and who cooks them.
We set out to tell the stories behind the people, the places, the villages, the product and the recipes which make Portuguese Food unbelievably unique. Because we believe that the culinary heart of Portugal is away from the big cities, this project focused only on the peripheral Portugal. The Portugal that produces its own vegetables, milk and still cooks the way his grandmother taught him. A culinary Portugal that finds its origins in the nets of the fishermen, in the wood-fire oven, in the hoe of the farmer and in the local eateries not listed in any guide.
I think this is the greatest asset and beauty of Portugal. A small country in the corner of Europe, still rather unexplored, still raw, still true to its roots…Still proud of its ancestry and its character.
This is the Portugal that I love and whose stories I am going to portray in the Portuguese Travel Cookbook.
Adega Velha, Mourão
Casa das Penhas Douradas, Serra da Estrela
Taberna do Alfaiate, Aveiro
Cherry Producer in Fundão
Angel Cake (Bolo Anjo), Cartaxo
Alentejo Cow, Alentejo
Vila Nova de Mil Fontes Beach
Char Grilled Salt Cod with turnip greens and cornbread, Adega dos 7 Condes, Mondim de Basto
Playful dog, Praia do Amado, Alzejur
Drinks at Adega Velha, Mourão
Wall art at, Zé Manel dos Ossos, Coimbra
View from the top of Penhas da Saude, Serra da Estrela
Champagne with juniper berries, Casa das Penhas Douradas, Serra da Estrela
Seafood rice at Tasca do Confrade, Aveiro
Surfing Kids at Praia do Amado, Alzejur
Striped houses, Costa Nova, Aveiro
1 year cured sheep cheese, Celorico da Beira
Tail of red bream, Restaurante a Rotunda, Praia do Pedrogão