October Chronicles
The Gastronomer's Journey Diaries
Monday
I should go out more, I say to myself as I cross Rossio Square. The autumn air is crisp, yet I am comfortably cool in shorts and a loose T-shirt.
I pass two oversized humans.
The American season is in full swing, and they are all so pink and plump that they look like the character of that cartoon where people were so fat that they circulated a spaceship on fluctuating armchairs. Here, they go around Lisbon on a tuk-tuk, rendering the crossing of Baixa even more chaotic.
I pass a crowd of Asians in beige - Japanese tourists, heading towards the local Muji store for some reason.
I need to buy soy sauce and tahini.
I bought a fancy Japanese version of peanut butter with tahini, but it doesn’t satisfy my need for pure tahini - the one I use for hummus. Or should I wait to buy it in Morocco?
I have lots of questions today. I eat at Honest Greens in Chiado.
I kind of feel guilty about liking it: I know it is just another overpriced chain, and I know it is not the best, but it offers me that Starbucks feeling of being in a place where I can invisibly spend time outside, inside, have lunch unbothered, wifi for some work.
I have tofu, salad and bread. And a side of guacamole because I am a proud Millennial.
I recommend reading this piece by our fellow writer
: on Mondays, we feel rebellious, and surely I want to kick capitalism a bit harder.
Friday
Lunch date with my better half.
We visit our favourite neighbour, Chef Tozé, and his breezy Prado restaurant.
He dutifully prepares vegetarian options for my plates. I still eat some goat butter with eryngii mushrooms and ice cream. I make compromises, and at Prado, I know I can. The restaurant is really farm-to-fork, not just a silly slogan. I am flabbergasted it still does not have a star—and a green one, too. I mean, Cura restaurant has a star…just because it is located inside a five-star hotel?
Michelin is just a fucking joke, I think to myself while I enjoy a highly satisfying vegetarian meal. We end the meal with a “beef” of celery root for me - in the picture. Glorious. With toasted hazelnuts for the yum. Of course, my better half goes for meat, and we are both happy with our choices.
I think it is going to be very hard to be vegan when eating outside, but thankfully, I can always find an alternative that does not contain meat or processed meats.
October is breast cancer awareness month, and I decided to spend this month exploring the nexus between health and a plant-based diet. The pieces of evidence point me to the obvious solution. A further reading (in Italian):
Tuesday
It's raining and cold. It was a day packed with work and meetings and very little writing.
I still have some leftover pumpkin I roasted two days ago—giant white beans out of a can. I have bread in the freezer that I promptly put on the stove to toast. I love this small aluminium pan with holes, a staple of old Portuguese households for toasting bread on an open flame. You have to watch it closely, but it also invades my house with the delicious fragrance of toasted bread.
Incidentally, the first fragrance that filled this house when the renovation was over and I could move in.
Purée the pumpkin with additional cashews and a spoonful of water, then lather it with spicy oil from my favourite Parisian Chinese restaurant.
Add herbs.
If you feel inclined, have some vegan memes. I adore them
Thursday
It's still damp and rainy, so I crank the oven and roast everything in my fridge. I add a layer of roasted vegetables to a spinach salad and a generous dose of lentil soup. It's a bit too spicy but good.
There is still so much work; October and March are generally crazy months, and this year is no different.
Sunday
Sara Soares is a beautiful lady and an amazing pastry Chef.
I first met her at a dinner, and she gifted me some vegan chocolates I still dream about. It has been a long time since then, so I convinced my better half to go to Lisbon’s Vegan Market with me to say hello, meet her other better half, and get some food.
Her business is called CAOS - the future is vegetables, and all she does resonates immensely with me. She baked a “bola de enchidos”, a typical Portuguese bread dough filled with bits of cured meats and sausages. In her case, vegan ones.
Cured meats and sausages and even the lauded Jamón have been defined as carcinogenic, and we all know they taste delicious and, therefore, addictive. These enchidos perfectly replace the “fumeiro” flavours, without the meat. And without salt, cholesterol, and other additives.
Genius.
Wednesday
I went back to Norway for a while. I like it better in late spring when the sun never sets, but autumn also has charm. It is impossible not to go on a coffee pilgrimage to Tim Wendleboe and impossible not to remember the time I spent browsing for a flat, undecided about whether to move to Oslo or Lisbon.
It's funny how life settles out anyway. I will be back soon.
Fuck, this coffee is delicious.
Saturday
Dinner reservation at 17:30 at Sabi Omakase in Oslo. A Spanish waiter, a 17-course Edomae Omakase menu. Lots of Norwegian fish, mostly Iki jime fished, absolutely stunning giant scallops, sea urchins, and learning that Balfegó tuna is low in heavy metals, including mercury, thus safer to consume than the wild ones.
Good to know.
A delicious tea was a highlight of the non-alcoholic pairing, and I also enjoyed a beautiful glass of Krug Champagne.
Monday
Meaningfully eating, I prefer a simple yet delicious Palestinian falafel joint over another restaurant. A homely Lebanese place over a large restaurant owned by investors who may or may not be financing the ongoing Middle Eastern harakiri Israel is pursuing. In Oslo, Gazakjokken is the place to go. Falafels are lovingly fired on the spot and made to order. Salads are delicious, and hummus is a heavenly velvet cream.
There is no turning back from committing genocide, I am afraid. My heart aches, one falafel at a time.
Wednesday
Wagamama at the airport.
A warm curry bowl with noodles, mushrooms, spinach, coriander, fresh chillies, and crispy tofu. Curiously, the vegan options on the menu are also the ones with the lowest calories - or so my colleague on diet told me before proceeding to follow me in ordering a vegan bowl.
Her dietitian did not say that by avoiding meats and cheese, she automatically cuts off a chunk of useless fat, substituting it with valuable nutrients. I had a nutritious meal on the go, and finally, I found the restaurant at Oslo Airport (just behind the Fytoget train ticket counter).
Time to go back, and enjoy November.
Hi,
did they mention why Ballfegó tuna is lower in heavy metals?
Thanks in advance & regards.
“Cured meats and sausages and even the lauded Jamón have been defined as carcinogenic”, sorry but this is not exact. Under this prisma french fries, pickles and aloe vera are also carcinogenic