Food of Portugal

My Luso-Americano husband bought me this cookbook when I expressed my desire to try to learn to cook Portuguese food for him like his mother and grandmother did. I pulled off a few good meals and loved reading about the country and the Portuguese way of life. A few years later we moved to Portugal to work there, and I found out for myself just how delicious virtually every dish really is! Jean Anderson's book became even more helpful to me, as I was able to translate the ingredients I was buying, understand the reason for combining certain flavors, and taste the original inspirations for Jean's choices. Portugal is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and its people (and cuisine) are friendly and accessible -- I wish everyone who wants to experience a truly unique culture would visit. It is NOT Spain or a poor imitation of Spain, and does not deserve to be lumped into all of those travelogues as if it were. We lived there for 4 1/2 years and I can tell you that Jean Anderson's recipes will give you as close a taste to being there as is possible! (Jean, if you're out there I'd love to compare notes some day -- please write to me!)

I am Portuguese and this was my first Portuguese cookbook. My family was amazed with our Sunday dinners. Even my mother-inlaw was impressed. The recipes were easily prepared and even the wine section helped me to pair the right dish with the right wine. I know my vavo would be proud.

I was born in Portugal and came to the United States at the age of 6. Being able to speak and write the language fluently is something that I am very grateful to my parents for. However my one fault is the inability to convert the European to American measurements. Well my mother has a wonderful cookbook on traditional Portuguese cuisine but it is all in Portuguese. Therefor I decided to use the WEB to find a Portuguese cookbook with the recipes in English to avoid the conversion issue. Well, I found "Food Of Portugal" and figured why not order it and see. After all if I didn't like I would and could return it. That was months ago. I love this cookbook. It is the best Portuguese cookbook, with recipes in English, I have found so far. It has all of the traditinal dishes which I grew up eating and many more. I would recommend this book to anyone Portuguese or not. My sincere congratulations to the author for a job very well done.

The Food of Portugal is the most complete and authentic Portuguese cookbook I've ever had the pleasure of coming across. Being Portuguese, I was doubtful that anyone could capture the food I grew up eating. But recipe after recipe proved me wrong. Even my mother begrudgingly admitted they were delicious. And that's no small feat.