According to some Portuguese locals, if you were to represent Portuguese cuisine with just one dish, then that dish would have to be cozido a portuguesa. It’s a type of traditional Portuguese boiled meal made with a wide variety of meats, smoked sausages, vegetables, and spices.
Madrid has its share of iconic dishes like cochinillo and bocadillo de calamares, but more than any one dish, what I enjoyed most about this city was its diversity of food experiences.
With all the delicious food you can have in this city, the one dish that perhaps best represents San Sebastian food is the humble pintxo. Similar to tapas, it refers to a family of small bar snacks that are typically skewered onto a piece of bread with a toothpick.
Paella is one of the most well-known dishes in Spanish cuisine. It’s available throughout Spain where many consider it a national dish, but it’s originally from Valencia.
There’s a lot to love about Lisbon. It’s a beautiful city with a passion for the arts and terrific food. In fact, so good is the food in Lisbon that National Geographic readers declared it the world’s top foodie hotspot in 2019.
In spite of its overwhelmingly gothic and neoclassical architecture, Budapest is an incredibly hip and trendy city. It’s forward thinking in its approach to art and design and much of that creativity seems to have carried over into its food.
I don’t have much experience with Czech food but one thing seems clear, roasted meat dishes heavy on gravies, starches, and root vegetables figure prominently in Czech cuisine. It’s the type of food you’d expect from countries that experience harsh winters.
If you drink wine, then port tasting is one of the best things you can do in Porto. After all, port wine is one of Portugal’s most famous exports and was named after the city of Porto.
Magiritsa is the opening meal that breaks the Greek Orthodox fast (Lent). Dense and filling, the soup is traditionally prepared on Holy Saturday evening and served right after Easter midnight church service.
Before arriving in Porto, we had little experience with Portuguese food except for what we’d seen in travel food shows. I knew the Portuguese ate a lot of seafood, especially bacalhau or salted cod, and were the inventors of those delicious eggy custard tarts known as pastel de nata.