Exploration of Macao Culture

Macao cultural exploration comes to the fourth chapter-food culture! In the contemporary era of accelerating urbanization, when we set out for another city or even a country, the architectural designs we see are more and more similar, but the menus provided by restaurants and food stores in the streets will silently say, "Welcome to XX!"

Yes, food culture is the DNA of a place. The more distinctive a place is, the stronger its food DNA is. Macao is like this! Just looking at the buildings here, I thought I was in Europe, and then I looked at the handwritten letter shops all over the street. I thought that in Hong Kong, only when I tasted the delicious food did I know that I was in Macau.

There are many topics about Macao cuisine, but they are all inseparable from Portuguese cuisine, which is unique in the world. Therefore, Macao is recognized by UNESCO as the food capital of creative cities.

Native Portuguese?

When it comes to native Portuguese cuisine, we have to mention native Portuguese. Since the Portuguese settled in Macao in the16th century, they began to intermarry with the local people. Their descendants were born in Macao and speak Portuguese, which is a mixture of blood and culture.

Because we are mixed-race, we can judge who is a native Portuguese by observing the faces on the streets of Macao. It is best to talk to them in English or Cantonese, and Portuguese is of course the most convenient.

The Portuguese, born and raised, identify with Portugal, but they are culturally influenced by various local cultures in Macao. They even created a native language called "The Language of Christ", which is based on Portuguese and mixed with dialects of Malay, Cantonese and Dutch. Unfortunately,/kloc-declined after the 9th century. Today, this dialect has been included in the intangible cultural heritage list, and there are programs at the Macao Art Festival every year.

Portuguese local dishes

Just like the creation of local languages in many languages, Portuguese local cuisine is also created by this group of cultural mixtures. Integration is its greatest feature, bringing together Asian, African and European styles. That's why you go to Portugal, but you can't find any traces of Portuguese local food. Even Portuguese egg tarts look related but different.

Portuguese chicken is a classic Portuguese local dish. Besides drumsticks, there are Portuguese sausages, which keep the tradition of Portugal. The brown sauce on the plate reflects the tradition that Portuguese local dishes are heavy in taste and attach importance to sauce. Coconut milk, turmeric powder and curry sauce are the ingredients of soup, which represent the dietary elements of Malaysia and India. This sauce can not only make chicken taste and stimulate the taste buds of diners, but also contains profound history and culture.

In addition to Portuguese chickens, there are African chickens, which is the embodiment of African dietary elements. The sauce composed of African black-eyed peppers with extremely high spicy degree is the essence of this dish. The English pronunciation of black-eyed pepper is Piri, and it is also appropriate to be called thunderbolt by Macao people. African peppers were brought to India by the Portuguese, then to Macau, and even to Brazil and other former Portuguese colonies in America.

After the main course, have some dessert. The most famous Macao dessert must be Portuguese tart. There is always a long queue at the door of Andrew and Margaret's shop. However, Portuguese egg tarts are not native to Portugal, but an Englishman Andrew improved the recipe of egg tarts made in a small shop in Lisbon and created the Macao version of Portuguese egg tarts. The real Portuguese local dessert is called western-style butter cake, which consists of flour, almonds, coconut juice, milk and so on. It is a must-have food for the native Portuguese at Christmas. Since it is Portuguese, the "life experience" of this dessert is not simple. Its real birthplace is the Arab world, which was introduced to Portugal by Moors, followed by Indian style. It seems that we can't underestimate a bunch of snacks that look like China rice cakes!

Cookies, cookbooks and restaurants

The charm of Portuguese local dishes is that it is difficult to copy and there is no fixed standard. Authentic Portuguese local cuisine? Really not! Portuguese local dishes are first spread in families, and family recipes are confidential, usually passed on from mother to daughter. Even if the chef outside can find the menu, it is difficult to restore the taste. So every family and every restaurant has its own secret recipe and unique taste.

As the native Portuguese immigrated to Europe and North America, they added local ingredients and sauces. It can be said that the native Portuguese cuisine has been innovating all the time, just as it was a process of constantly integrating new food cultural elements when it was first created, and the ever-changing, diverse roots and different standards of native Portuguese cuisine are the constituent elements of Macao cultural mixture.

Nowadays, tourists who travel to Macao want to eat native Portuguese food, so they all go to restaurants. Most of the chefs are born and raised in Portugal and speak fluent English. However, local people will eat this kind of food in a humble small restaurant, which is a bit like the old-fashioned tea restaurant in Hong Kong. The decoration is very general, but the food provided is made with ancestral family recipes and has a unique taste. In a city, it is the right way to travel and the best opportunity to learn about a city's food culture to go to restaurants and eat dishes recommended by local people. Unfortunately, online celebrity restaurants always appear on major websites. Traditional restaurants that can't be promoted online and still pay in cash can only do neighborhood business.

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In addition to the native Portuguese cuisine, there are delicious Cantonese cuisine and other cuisines in Macao, but the native Portuguese cuisine has a unique taste, contains a profound history and represents a unique Macao food culture, which should be valued and spread. In fact, it is difficult to find a place to eat Portuguese food except Macao. Maybe it can be found in Hong Kong and Taiwan province, but it may be a Hong Kong and Taiwan version, or it may be an innovation?