Good food has a context

As much as I enjoy travel for the pleasure of broadening my physical horizons, so I revel in immersing myself (as far as it is possible) in other cultures.

Being the person I am, this means frequenting restaurants and bars, as well as museums and cathedrals. Portuguese food is something I could eat several times a week.

It’s a taste I cultivated as a kid growing up in Hillbrow and have subsequently enjoyed throughout Southern Africa, as well as in Portugal and Brazil.

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Cape Town’s Portuguese food scene

Until recently, I thought I’d landed in Iberian foodie heaven in Cape Town where restaurants such as the Vasco (aka the Portuguese Embassy) and Dias taverns, as well as the Chapman’s Peak Hotel have enjoyed my patronage for many years.

Then an old gunship pilot pal in Gqeberha urged me to visit Shanna’s the next time I was in his ’hood.

Maria “Shanna” Carvalho and husband Jorge are culinary legends in the Friendly City, having opened their first restaurant in the centre of the city in 2001. Check them out on TripAdvisor. I learned more about Portuguese food from them in a morning than I had in 50 years.

I knew what ingredients were the foundation of certain traditional dishes but wasn’t aware of their historical context.

Take carne de porco Alentejana; pork fillet with clams cooked in a garlic, coriander, red wine, and mild chilli paste. “A lot of Portuguese foods come from humble beginnings,” says Jorge.

“Alentejo lies south of Lisbon which is at the mouth of the Tagus River.* “Merchants couldn’t always afford to pay one another, so they bartered… pork for clams.”

Put them in a pot and away you go! Feijoada – bean stew with pork, chicken, beef, and chourico served with rice (my all-time favourite) – is “servants” food.

It combines their masters’ meat leavings like giblets and pig snouts as well as leftovers slow cooked with black beans and herbs.

Enjoy both dishes with a fairly robust red wine. * “Alem” (Beyond) the Tejo (Portuguese for the Tagus).

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