A foodie photography tour of Portugal - Part II

A foodie photography tour of Portugal – Part II is the continuation post revealing photographs of my  journey through Portugal during the Summer of 2014.

These Photos serve as inspiration for the book that I have written, which is entitled ” The Portuguese Travel Cookbook”.

The first post of my foodie photography tour of Portugal , was published during the time when I was still writing the manuscript and going through some of the 30.000+ photographs that we took during the journey. Accompanied by Emanuele Siracusa, and with the help of APTECE – The Portuguese Food Travel Association, the two of us travelled the country for about 5 weeks, seeking to document the stories, the people, the places and the recipes of the heartland of Portugal´s traditional gastronomy.

Portuguese gastronomy and its humble origins are bursting with travel inspiration, candid photos, stories, history and emotions which are capable of provoking feelings like any other cuisine in the world. Portugal has the advantage of (still) being a relatively unknown country in the world culinary travel panorama. Our other great asset is that we do not need to invent, alter or produce anything – all we have to do is to tell the stories of the persons, the recipes and of the places which make traditional Portuguese Cuisine happen on a daily basis.  It is places like the ones you will see bellow that are the true bastions of Portuguese Traditional Gastronomy.

Places like Adega velha in Mourão, the Solar Bragançano in Bragança,  Zé Manel dos Ossos in Coimbra or Café Correia in Vila do Bispo. Much beyond the tremendous deepness of flavour that is produced in places like this, there is soul, character, authenticity, pride and plenty of stories to tell – written and visual ones. Basically there is raw, unprocessed Portugal in these places.

Set to be published in late March, “The Portuguese Travel Cookbook” sets out to showcase the Portuguese feeling of saying “I Love you” through food. The book is a journey through the Portugal which is Semper Fidelis to its origins, proud of its culinary identity and heritage, where stories about the food, the places, the restaurants, the eateries, the villages, the producers, the fisherman, the farmers and the chefs who dedicate their life and their everyday to make this reality more tangible.

Discovering Lisbon is easy…Hearing a German friend, to whom you advised a Portugal journey, saying that the highlight of his trip was to be sitting in the main square of Vinhais (a deep interior village), eating charcuterie and drinking red local wine, knowing he was the only foreigner in 50 km is another…

Seafood Fritada at Caçarola 1, Figueira da Foz

Abandoned Restaurant, Praia do Almograge

Bento Valente singing Cante Alentejano at Adega Velha, Mourão

Homemade Liqueurs at O Bruiço, Vila Nova de Foz Côa

Cured Sheep Cheese at Tradimontana Fumeiros, Mirandela

Fisherman at Praia da Leirosa

Homemade corn bread at Paço de Calheiros, Ponte de Lima

Fishing nets at Porto da Baleeira, Sagres

Bullfighting Arena, Mourão

Fisherman, Praia do Pedrogão

Jewish symbol, Trancoso

Handstand at 2000 meters, Torre, Serra da Estrela

Donax clams in Marisqueira Rui, Silves

Fish market, Tavira 

Turbot Fish at Praia da Leirosa

Octopus at Café Correia, Vila do Bispo

Stewed Bones at Zé Manel dos Ossos, Coimbra

Portuguese Petiscos at Adega do Faustino, Chaves

Local festivity street light, Mondim de Basto

The cover of my book with APTECE and Emanuel Siracusa, “The Portuguese Travel CookBook” is to be published in July in Portuguese and English.