One of the best things about travelling to various countries and regions is sampling their cuisines. Since I love experimenting with various styles,  no journey for me is complete without having brought back into my kitchen, elements of cuisine from the the country just visited. From what we saw, the Portuguese paid scant attention to their diet - potatoes are present at every meal - invariably fried. Desserts lean heavily towards egg yolks, butter cream and sugar - and are probably the richest and sweetest to be savoured with the exception of the Turkish delight! However their use of healthy cooking mediums like olive oil, and steaming and boiling sea-food and vegetables, countered any excesses the cuisine may have had.

Main dishes served would usually be fish, chicken (usually grilled), pork, and occasionally rabbit. Beef was rare, since the mad cow disease alert was being taken very seriously by most of the EU members. We would usually order some fish, and when the menus would get boringly repetitive (which they did on some days) we would order the chicken (frango churrascaria).