If it appears that Mother-In-Law Restaurante serves a lot of meat, you’d be absolutely correct.
I’ve been eating rather differently after moving to Portugal, foods I really didn’t eat much of before.
For example, pork. I’ve eaten more pork in Portugal than probably all other times in my life, combined. Part of that is because I didn’t grow up with pork at all, or shellfish (basically, any sea creature without scales was off my radar), thanks to my parents’ religion. Once I left home at 18, I started eating foods that were previously forbidden. I wanted to try them all, see what I was missing. I felt rebellious eating pork, but fast forward a couple of decades and now my consumption is making up for lost time. Pork is a daily required food group in Portugal.
Other foods I’m still learning to eat: squid (lulas and potas), lamb (which wasn’t forbidden, but my parents would never buy it), octopus, crabs, and other underwater creatures such as gooseneck barnacles (percebes in Portuguese) and the shudder-inducing lamprey.
This is how much of a food ignoramus I still am: I’m pretty sure the photo above shows borrego assado (roast lamb) but even after combing through Google Image Search, I’m not convinced that it isn’t cabrito assado (roasted kid goat). It’s also two o’clock in the morning so I’m not about to ask my mother-in-law, either.
For more posts/photos of Portuguese food and drink:
https://gailatlarge.com/blog/tag/portuguese-kitchen
https://www.pinterest.com/gailatlarge/portuguese-food-drink/
https://www.instagram.com/gailatlarge/
June 4, 2017
Album: Portugal [Spring 2017]
