Food History of Lisbon

Key eras

1147, the Christian Reconquest

Lisbon flips back from Moorish rule in 1147. Couscous, salt-preserved fish, sweet-and-savoury combinations and the use of cinnamon and cumin all linger long after the political shift. The city's everyday cooking is shaped from this point by Arab-influenced techniques sitting on top of Roman-era basics like olive oil and wheat.

1500s, the Age of Discoveries

Portuguese caravels return from India, Brazil and the African coast with peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, chillies, tomatoes, sugar and tea. Lisbon becomes the first European city to cook with all of them at once. The salt-cod trade with Newfoundland turns bacalhau into the national protein, eaten on Fridays for centuries.

1837, the birth of the pastel de nata

After the 1834 dissolution of religious orders that followed the 1820 liberal revolution, the monks of Jeronimos sold their cinnamon-cream tart recipe to a sugar refinery next door. Pasteis de Belem opens in 1837 making the original pastel de nata to that recipe, and has been guarding the formula in a locked room ever since.

1986 to today, the EU and the new wave

Portugal joining the EU brings funding for restaurants, wineries and tourism. By the 2010s Jose Avillez at Belcanto, Henrique Sa Pessoa, Vitor Sobral at Tasca da Esquina and Alexandre Silva at Loco redraw Lisbon's culinary map. The city now holds 18 Michelin stars across 14 restaurants, with three two-star rooms across Chiado, Rato and Parque das Nacoes.

Immigrant influences

• Brazilian (post 1500s): Coffee culture, the bica espresso ritual, sugar refining, chillies and Brazilian sweets that became Portuguese standards in Lisbon bakeries.
• Indian (Goa, post 1510): Vindaloo, jaggery, peppercorns and the curry-leaf tradition seeded by Portuguese-Indian merchants returning from Goa with techniques and palates.
• Mozambican and Angolan (post-1975 independence): Piri-piri chicken, chamuças, prawn curries and African-Portuguese fusion dishes now central to Lisbon's everyday eating, especially in Alfama and Cova da Moura.
• Bangladeshi and Pakistani (post-2000): Halal curries, biryanis and roti on Rua do Benformoso, making Mouraria's Little Bangladesh one of the city's most concentrated South Asian eating quarters.

Signature innovations

• Pastel de nata, perfected at Jeronimos by the monks and commercialised at Belem in 1837 after the 1834 dissolution
• Bacalhau as the Portuguese national protein, 365 cod recipes
• Ginjinha, sour-cherry liqueur invented in Lisbon by Francisco Espinheira
• The tasca, the working-class neighbourhood eating room that defines daily Lisbon
• Time Out Market, the curated chef-led food hall model first proven here in 2014