‘Portuguese Food Is Non-veg And Complimented With Wine’

Chef Vasco Silveira, owner of The Horse Shoe restaurant in Goa was in Mumbai to organise a Portuguese Food Festival at Hotel Marine Plaza. In conversation with Express Hotelier & Caterer, he talks about the gastronomy and tradition of Portugal

EH&C: What is Portuguese cuisine and is it similar to Spanish cuisine? What are the influences that have crept into Portuguese cuisine?

CHEF VASCO SILVEIRA: Portugal has a moderate and healthy climate, a rich fishing coast, and smooth, protected valleys. Portugal is rich in olive oil and wine and since it has a long coastline it is rich in seafood, so most of the food found in Portugal encompasses a lot of the three ingredients. The interior of the country uses more meat due to the lack of seafood. Beef, pork, lamb, turkey, duck, partridge and pigeon are made differently in each region according to its own original recipes and local traditions.

The Portuguese being seafarers have a long history of absorbing culinary traditions from other people. The age of discovery was propelled by the desire for exotic spices and ever since Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India, they have proved enormously popular. Peri-peri, a Brazilian spice transplanted to the former African colonies is used to flavour chicken and shrimp. Curry spices from Goa are common seasonings. These spices are typically used very sparingly, adding subtle flavour and depth to dishes. It is these influences that have helped make Portuguese food so markedly different from that of other Mediterranean countries.

While Spain frames the country on the East and North, Spain was a hostile neighbour thus further isolating the country and the cuisine. Despite this isolation, influences on the Portuguese cuisine can be attributed to Portuguese explorers in the East Indies, the Far East and in the New World and their discoveries of new types of food. In the South of the country and on the island of Madeira, Moorish and African influence can be detected, while Spanish cooking managed to make its mark especially in the North where dishes similar to Galicia across the border can be found. The southern border of Portugal touches on the Mediterranean from where garlic and pasta were introduced. Still, Portugal has accepted these influences in its own way and there is no distinctive influence on the flavour from any other cuisines.

If Portuguese food consists predominantly of seafood and meats are there any vegetarian dishes how did incorporate vegetable-based dishes here?

The Portuguese attitude to food is simple and imaginative, traditional and inventive. It is true that meats are predominantly used and the only time vegetables are used is either in a salad or with meats. Here I have had to be innovative to make food that incorporates vegetables for our vegetarian clients.

Every region of Portugal has its own way of making each dish and what we have done here is getting a particular type of cuisine from each region. We have fish from Algarve in the south, Beef from Lisbon, which is in the centre, lamb from Beira-Alta from the north central and chicken from Minho in the north.

Portuguese cuisine is light since it uses olive oil and is not influenced by spices, what are the many accompaniments that can be served with this food?

Portuguese food is eaten with bread. Pasta is also eaten in Portugal but without cheese like the Italians do. The breads are made in fire wood ovens and usually made from corn.

The food is usually eaten with wine. Red wine is served with the red meats and white wine with the white meats. The locals do drink any other types of alcohol before or after their meals and wine is predominantly drunk with their food.