The avant-garde of Portuguese rural tradition

Chefs Octávio Freitas and Filipe Ramalho present the culinary wealth of Madeira, and Alentejo Terrae dedicates one of its sessions to discovering the rural cuisine of neighbouring Portugal, a country rich in tradition and territory. A country whose cuisine is flourishing and making its important work known throughout the world. And it did so with the help of two outstanding chefs, Octávio Freitas, chef at Desarma* in Funchal (Madeira), and Filipe Ramalho of Páteo Real in Alter do Chao (Alentejo), to discover the country's rural geography with them.

Octávio Freitas began by presenting "the forest where my heart lives, the oldest laurel forest in the world, over 20 million years old". Trained at the Madeira School of Hospitality and Tourism and passionate about everything that comes from the land, Freitas shows a curious vision of traditional products and their use in his cuisine, dedicating himself to organic vegetable gardens and researching and studying typical island ingredients. Executive chef at The Views Hotels and Desarma Restaurant, he surprises with a cuisine of sensations created from the most traditional ingredients, in a mixture of originality and simplicity. In the Terrae kitchens, he has prepared a kebab of laurel leaves with smoked tuna, inspired by the kebab of beef "that is part of a traditional Madeiran feast and is eaten by hand".

Filipe Ramalho, meanwhile, has brought the rural cuisine of the Alentejo to Terrae, 'a region of contrasts, where the landscape shapes the way people live and eat, and where rural cuisine is deeply rooted. We use simple ingredients such as bread, olive oil, aromatic herbs and pork,' he explains, describing a cuisine that is always sustainable and 'considered one of Portugal's most respected culinary heritages'. At the Páteo Real, a restaurant with a 25-year history, Ramalho is inspired by traditional recipes and continues his commitment to promoting local products through initiatives such as 'Slaughter Day', an event that recreates the traditions associated with the use of pork, accompanied by Cante Alentejano. In the Congress kitchens, he has recreated one of his dishes inspired by the traditional Alentejo chickpea stew, "a stew of chickpeas, potatoes, green beans and carrots, with pork and sausages. A very rural and rustic dish, but presented in a contemporary way'.