A place for those who love to eat
Tour dives into local cuisine to give visitors to Portugal authentic at-home experience
EVORA, PORTUGAL— You might say Patricia Canejo turned her passion for Portuguese food and traditions into a new profession “by accident.”
While recovering from a mishap in Thailand, she decided she wanted to do something new with her life. So she ditched the banking world and founded Singulartrips to provide travellers with gastronomic tours and hands-on experiences. That was about two years ago.
In early 2016, Canejo’s friend Julia Oliveira joined Singulartrips. Oliveira, who is from the U.K., had stopped in Lisbon nearly 20 years ago on a round-the-world tour and stayed.
Now, via their combined networks of family, friends and friends of friends, the duo have assembled an array of authentic Portuguese experiences. These can range from meals or cooking classes in local homes to food-tasting tours in various regions of Portugal, to making salt, bread, sausage or artisanal cheese.
They introduce me to Portugal Through the Belly, a tour to immerse me in regional food, with Lisbon as home base.
With a Eurail pass in hand, I board a train in the city. Less than 90 minutes later, I’m in Evora, a spectacular, well-preserved medieval town in the Alentejo region and the first stop on our tour. In the city centre, we meet our local hosts, Joao Junqueira and his wife, Nelia Martins, landscape architects who met studying at the University of Evora.
They walk us through the cobblestoned winding lanes, pointing out stunning combinations of Roman, Gothic and baroque architecture, for which Evora has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I ask Junqueira how many times he has had led this trek and perfected his spiel. “Just once, this is my first time doing this,” he replies. It shows, because it feels like a friend is taking you around.
Oliveira says she and Canejo chose to work with the couple because “they love to eat as much as we do.”
The tour ends in the couple’s kitch- en. Sitting with a glass of red Alentejo wine, it’s lovely to be adopted into a family home and conversation.
Fresh goat and sheep cheeses are laid out with breads and oils. Junqueira insists we try store-bought prosciutto versus the homemade version. Both are delicious, but the intense flavour of the homemade cured meat is incomparable.
There is more: fresh figs come from the couple’s house, Casa da Cerca de Lagos, in the Algarve, and the olives and olive oil are from Martins’ father’s farm in Alenquer, north of Lisbon.
“Let me know when you’re ready for lunch,” Martins says, signalling after an hour that this is just the beginning.
Our first course is a simple and re- freshing tomato gazpacho, paired with Herdade dos Grous wine, a local deep-flavoured red. The main course is a traditional roast lamb and potatoes, usually made for special occasions, such as Easter or Christmas. An everyday meal usually contains meat or fish, and a starch, like potatoes, rice or pasta.
According to Junqueira, life in this part of Portugal is slower, they often tease the locals for being so laid back. “In Alentejos we have time,” he says. “To look at the stars, to have a meal, to appreciate the finer things in life.”
We appreciate the lamb right through to the rice pudding — all paired with expertly selected wine.
With such riches in quiet, calm surroundings I’m ready to move to Evora and dedicate my life to eating really slowly. Canejo talks about this and the comparison to life in the city. She says life in Lisbon really isn’t a whole lot different. The Portuguese really love and respect their cuisine.
Canejo and Oliveira believe gastronomy is the best way to get to know the culture of a people. They say that in Portugal, it is at the dining table that business deals are closed, friendships are shared and marriage proposals are made.
After spending a day in Evora with good company, good food and copious amounts of good wine, I can say the dining table is an excellent place to be introduced to Portugal. Mallika Viegas was hosted by Eurail in partnership with Singulartrips, both of which did not review or approve this story.