I have been commissioned by APTECE to write the “Portuguese Travel Cookbook”. During the months of July and August I travelled with Emanuele Siracusa in search of Portuguese Food Stories and Photos. We have been speaking about doing such a project for a while now and we finally make it happen this summer. We set out to tell the stories behind the people, the places, the villages, the produces and the recipes which make Portuguese Food unbelievably unique. Because we believe 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 fisherman, 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 unexplored, still raw, still true to its origins…Still proud of it heritage and its identity. This is the Portugal that I love and whose stories I am going to portray in the book.
Here I am now, showing a glimpse…a mere fraction of the experiences I had and the food I tasted. This foodie photography tour of Portugal serves to show just how much diversity in ingredients, shapes, textures, presentations and tastes are included in the Portuguese Kitchen.
Just to give you a quick idea of the foodie photography tour of Portugal journey that I did with Emanuele :
32 days
5000 kilometres
300+ Cities/Villages
60+ Restaurants
30+ Producers/Farmers/Fishermen/Craftsman
250+ Dishes
30000+ Photographs
50+ hours of audio recordings
2 baby goats as best friends and 2,5 kg chubbier.