Typical

It is tempting to sigh once in a while ‘strange fellows, those Portuguese’, just like cartoon character Obelix did at the time of Julius Caesar when he used to grumble ‘ils sont fous, ces Romain’.

If you are what you eat (drink, smoke) or love (males, females, yourself), then countries certainly aren’t the same. There are after all innumerous appetites and lifestyles. For example, health club membership is twice as high in Spain and three times higher in Denmark.

Portugal, on the other hand, has the highest wine consumption in the world and its population devours the most fish in the EU.

Portuguese people take 4744 steps a day, far less than the Chinese in Hong Kong or even their Spanish neighbours. Two-thirds are not physically active, in particular, low-skilled women. Hence, more than half of the population is overweight and 7%  obese.

Portuguese adore cars – one in every two owns one – and use them every day. For everything: commuting, shopping, and outings. Unfortunately, these motorists hardly ever use public transport and are keen to make phone calls while driving.

Anti-smoking campaigns aren’t successful at all and overall smoking hasn’t declined in 30 years.
Strangely enough, highly educated women smoke most.

But do these people then only have bad habits?

Apparently not. Portuguese people love their culture and are– besides Fado, Football, and Fatima – fond of grilled sardines, Pessoa, Saramago, sunny weather and popular saints. They also work a lot – make much more hours a week than the Dutch and Germans – and enjoy fewer holidays than the average European.

Moreover, they serve piles of food to family and friends and it is impossible to leave a restaurant unsatisfied! These folks have an open mind, to their compatriots, and to the world. They are well informed and know how to enjoy Spanish tapas, Brazilian music, Japanese sushi, French cinema, German books, and Chinese medicine. Although they initially show a somewhat timid approach, they are very helpful and always there for you. Friendships aren’t superficial but for life.

The most stunning, however – at least according to the Observer – are the eyes of their men. Wherever you are in the world, you should look at their eyebrows. ‘If they are breath-taking, then the fellow must be Portuguese’.

Bom fim de semana              Enjoy the weekend     (pic Lusa/SAPO/Público)

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Taxi!

The place was deserted when he arrived late that night at the Humberto Delgado airport in Lisbon. Not the familiar cacophony of cars, buses, trolleys, and travelers. Just silence. Only a small group of tourists stood patiently waiting outside the Arrivals hall, glued to the screens of their smartphones. What the hell was going on? The onset of another revolution? The one from some 40 years ago had also started quietly, with carnations instead of bullets in the barrels of the guns. But in that case, he certainly would have heard something alike during the flight. And although the incoming aircraft had suffered some delay due to a drone teasing the airspace above the capital earlier on, that could hardly explain the total emptiness of the place. Looking to his right, he noticed a distant cab with its doors wide open and someone sitting up front. “I ‘am sorry to bother you sir but is it possible to give me a ride into town.” The startled driver looked up from his flimsy newspaper and replied annoyed. “That can be very dangerous! People may be dragged out of the car and beaten up. There is a national strike underway.” “But is there no possibility at all? I have to go to Campo Santana, it’s only 15 minutes”, the man insisted as friendly as possible. The cabbie sighed, folded the paper and gestured him silently to the back seat.
Once driving, he became more talkative. “The new law, that enters into force on November 1st, is a complete disgrace! Only in favour of the electronic platforms. Uber is taking 25% of the profit, stashes it in tax havens and doesn’t invest even one penny back into the country.” In the meantime, the car was building up speed on a desolate Avenida Almirante Reis. “Any political support for your cause ?” his passenger asked carefully. ”Only from the Commies, the Greens, and the Block”, the driver muttered. “The same parties that voted against legislation last July. And you know what? The worst of all is, that there is no quota for these electronic services, while the maximum number of taxis per municipality is strictly fixed. That sucks. No fair competition at all! But mind you, we will not stop until there is a decent deal for the nearly 14.000 registered taxis in this country. In 1976 – just after the revolution – we also had to defend ourselves against discrimination. Back then it took us 55 days to win.” He remained wary, when he drove all the way down to the Avenida da Liberdade, in order to join the growing queue of stationed vehicles and wait for the sun to rise.


Bom fim de semana               Have a nice weekend         (pic DN/SAPO)

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Pork

The pig in Chinese astrology is tolerant and understanding, sympathetic and truthful. Pigs maintain order and authority and believe in justice.

Although Portuguese eat the most fish in the EU – over a kilo per person per week – pork remains extremely popular, especially in the north of the country. There – in Gimonde, near Bragança – you can even find a real pork museum (Museu do Bísaro), which says a lot about the national love for the beast.

Popular pork dishes are Leitão no forno (suckling pig – cooked for hours in wood-fired ovens with aromatic herbs), Bifana (pork steak in thin slices, often eaten on wheat bread called molete) and Rojões (cuts of pork from the thigh or belly, fried with lard and eaten with sauce of boiled blood and tripe).

There are many types of sausages (enchidos), encompassing an array of textures and tastes. Alheira, includes bread, chopped meat, and garlic. Morcela (or black pudding) is encased in jelly-textured blood, giving the sausage its consistency and dark colouring. Chouriça is a horseshoe-shaped smoked sausage, containing meat, blood, and pork fat of the indigenous Bísaro breed. Salpicão is also smoked but made primarily with pork loin.

In ancient Egypt, the pig was considered sacred and offered to the Moon, the Greeks honoured the goddess Porca and the Romans feasted on roasted piglets with honey.
Pigs – which descend from the wild boar (javali) – have been eaten worldwide for centuries, except by Jews and Muslims, who consider pork unclean.

Pig production in Europe is concentrated in a few countries. Denmark has the highest number of pigs per inhabitant, Portugal ten times less.

In recent years meat consumption has been placed under a magnifying glass in view of climate change –  pork production generates four times fewer greenhouse emissions than beef – and carcinogenicity.

The consumption of red and processed meat – any meat that has been modified by salting, drying or smoking to improve its taste or extend its shelf life – has been extensively evaluated by the World Health Organization, which concluded that 50 gram eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer. These findings support the most recent scientific recommendations to limit the intake of meat as much as possible. The less the better!

Bom fim de semana            Enjoy the weekend           (pic SAPO/Observador)

 

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Pottery

‘Zé Povinho looks from one side to the other and it stays – as always – the same’

Who doesn’t remember the bright red tomato-shaped bowls, turmeric-coloured pumpkin tureens or pitch-black swallows on the wall in your grannies’ home?
Portugal is the ‘hottest’ tourist destination in the world and even temperatures reached record highs this summer. The over a century old pottery of Bordalo Pinheiro has also become ‘hot’ and a ‘must-have for today’s millennials.’

Raphael Bordalo Pinheiro was a socialist, journalist, political caricaturist and publisher of satirical newspapers, who liked to mock the late 19th-century Portuguese society.

He created the popular cartoon Zé Povinho – a character of social criticism – who became the symbol of the ordinary Portuguese man.
The figure’s main characteristic is the gesture of the cuff (‘Toma’), representing his facet of revolt and insolence.

Bordalo was also a sculptor and ceramist, who wanted to elevate everyday tableware to the design standards of porcelain.


Although by many called ‘kitsch’, his designs are firmly rooted in the Portuguese culture and natural environment. He made vegetables, flowers, insects, fish, and birds – in natural shapes and colours – look as real as possible.

The Bordalo Pinheiro factory –since 1885 based in Caldas da Rainha, 75 km north of Lisbon – works with its own sculptors, who create new moulds from original pieces designed by Bordalo between 1884 and 1910.

This year the company is opening its first shops abroad, in Paris and Madrid.
Half the one million pieces it sold last year – almost entirely handmade by the 250-strong workforce – went to buyers outside Portugal.

The Bordalo Pinheiro museum in Lisbon reunites much of his work although most of his ceramic pieces can be admired in Caldas da Rainha.

Bom fim de semana                                                     Have a great weekend

 

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Holidays

Happiness has many faces, traveling is probably one of them — José Saramago


Tourism is injecting 30 million euros per day into the local economy, whereas the number of hotels in Lisbon has doubled over the last 10 years.

Tourism has not only become one of the most important pillars of the Portuguese gross domestic product (GDP), it also diminished regional asymmetries and unemployment, while increasing the national self-esteem.

Discussing its massive expansion in public, however, has become a new taboo. “The ones who are concerned about the gentrification of the historic city centres, want to destroy the economy. Those who ask for more regulation by government are unrealistic and whoever talks about the negative impact mass tourism has on other European cities, is said to be a manipulator.”

Fact remains that Lisbon and Porto have twice the number of tourists per resident than Barcelona or London and that there exists a lot of discontent about holiday rental services – such as Airbnb – and exorbitant rising rents for local tenants.

Although international tourism is more and more becoming an all year long issue, most tourists prefer to spend their summer holidays in August. They mainly come from the UK and Germany or –by car – from Spain and France,  residing in apartments and small villages, either on the mainland or on the islands of Madeira and the Azores.

The vast majority of the Portuguese celebrate the long school holidays in their own country. Also in August, just like the tourists from abroad. Traveling by car to the northern and central countryside, and staying with the family in a hotel is their favourite way of spending leisure time. Residents of Lisbon love to visit local beaches around the capital or savour free time in their summer cottages in the sunny Algarve.

Only 10% of the Portuguese travel abroad, mostly to nearby European destinations, although Cabo Verde, Morocco, and Turkey are gaining ground. When traveling – both inside and outside the country – the Portuguese spend about 40% less money, compared to their fellow Europeans


BOM FIM DE SEMANA           HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND     (pics Sapo/Publico)

 

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Wine

God created only water but man made wine – Victor Hugo

Portuguese drink the most wine worldwide, on average 1 litre per person per week.
Although no major producer, export – mainly to France, Brazil and the US – reached record levels last year. ‘Domestic consumption also increased substantially, due to a booming tourism industry,’ declares Jorge Monteiro, president of ViniPortugal.

Portugal’s wine culture developed in relative isolation for more than 2000 years. Many grape varieties – there are over 250 indigenous ones – do not grow elsewhere in the world.

The most famous wines are Port – a fortified and sweet wine from the Douro Valley, nowadays a Unesco world heritage site, Vinho Verde – a unique white wine from the Minho area, Dão – a quality wine, shown to age very well from growing in high altitude areas and the typical blends from the Alentejo region.

But would you still buy a bottle of wine with a label ‘alcohol causes cancer’ on it?
The Irish government – equating alcohol with tobacco – has recently passed a law (the Irish Alcohol Bill), that such a warning should be put on every bottle of wine, every can of beer and every flask of whiskey. As with cigarettes.
This kind of labeling is a thorn in the eye of the Portuguese wine industry, who fears a similar action in the EU.

‘To state that wine causes cancer is simply untrue’, says Georg Sandeman, chairman of the Portuguese Wine and Spirits Association (ACIBEV). ‘Northern countries want to impose their culture on us. In the north of Europe, people use to drink a lot in short periods of time (‘binge drinking’) and often without food. Here, wine is part of our culture, our gastronomy. Of course, excessive use should be reduced but not moderate consumption.’

The WHO, already since the 90’s, claims that alcohol raises the risk of cancer of the throat, esophagus, liver, and breast. More recent research shows that even moderate consumption is not without risk of cancer and cognitive decline.
In addition, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warns, that alcohol is the third leading risk factor for disease and death after tobacco and hypertension in Europe.

The best advice, therefore, is to stick to the American Cancer Society’s guidelines. ‘If you don’t drink, don’t start and if you do drink, limit your consumption to one drink a day for women (who need more time to metabolize alcohol) and two for men’.


BOM FIM DE SEMANA                ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND              (pic SAPO)

 

 

 

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Delay

‘When traveling from Amsterdam last Sunday, the incoming TAP flight was delayed by an hour. Although they had to change terminals, no information whatsoever was given to the passengers. On arrival in Lisbon, they had to remain seated in the plane for about 20 minutes, due to lack of transport to the main building. Once arrived at the assembly line, they had to wait another 45 minutes to get their suitcases and subsequently stood 30 minutes in the queue to catch a cab to the city center!’

With the vigorous rise in the number of flights to Lisbon over the past 10 years – and a subsequent increase in passengers from 13 to 27 million – complaints about Humberto Delgado Airport have doubled since 2015. Delays at departure, on arrival, at customs ( especially when arriving from a non-Schengen destination) and delays in communication. ‘TAP is always delayed’, you often hear from fellow passengers and water bottles have become standard equipment in the long waiting queues.

Lisbon Airport is congested and overcrowded, a victim of a booming tourism industry. Records are broken every year. On the 22nd of June, 680 flight movements – take-offs and landings – were reported, an all-time high. That same month, the airport had to cancel even more flights than Heathrow, that handles three times as many passengers per year.

Nevertheless, growth is skyrocketing and a further boost of 10 million passengers is expected over the next 5 years. The 75 years old airport certainly can’t cope, despite its clean appearance, tasty food, and nice shops.
To alleviate the constraints, the government seriously considers renovating a former military airbase in Montijo – across the Tagus – that could be made operational for civil aviation by 2022.

The ecological movement ZERO criticises the lack of transparency in the decision-making and fears the impact on the flora and fauna in the nearby Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve and noise pollution for the approximately 55.000 residents in the area. It demands a proper environmental evaluation, including alternative sites for the complementary airstrip. If the government doesn’t meet these requirements, the environmentalists will go to court and eventually proceed to the European Commission. The aviation lobby warns that further postponement will cost the treasury each year 600 million euros in revenues, from tourism alone.


Bom fim de semana                   Have a great weekend                 (pic Público)

 

 

 

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Undocumented

‘Only foreigners work here, he confesses. It’s hard work and poorly paid. Sixteen hours a day for the minimum wage. You keep going because they give you a contract, that is needed for a permit.’ Amit Kumar, originating from India is 32 years old and works since 2013 in Portugal. First in horticulture in the Algarve and after that in a restaurant in Belem. Although he is paying tax and social security, he runs the risk of being expelled as he can’t prove to have entered the country in a legal way. In 2017 he falls ill and has to be admitted to hospital for a week. Being unable to pay the bill, he asks his uncle in India for help. ‘I was supposed to support my family over there, not the other way around.’
When he returns to work, he discovers he is fired.

The ruling socialist party wants the government to speed up the legalization of undocumented immigrants, who have been working for more than a year and paid tax and social security. Even if they have entered the country illegally. The party invokes on Article 123 in the Aliens Act, which permits residency for foreigners on humanitarian grounds.

The reason for the amendment was the large-scale demonstration in May, when immigrants gathered before Parliament, expressing that they were treated like second-rank citizens, even though they paid tax and social insurance.

‘It concerns a group of approximately 30.000 people, who have work commitments but no rights whatsoever’, explains Flora Silva, president of the solidarity organization Olho Vivo (www.olho-vivo.org). ‘Most of them are from Lisbon but also from the Algarve, where many people from Nepal and Indonesia work in agriculture.

‘The law doesn’t promote the integration of immigrants, who work here for many years but are not treated as human beings’, says Timóteo Macedo, president of Solidaridade Imigrante (Solim). ‘Our Government argues, that we need more immigrants for our economy. Fine. They are already here, just come and see!’

Research by Solim in April showed that illegal immigrants pay on average 6 times more for a visit to the Emergency Department and 8 times more for a doctor’s consultation in Primary Health Care, than legal employees. ‘When undocumented workers pay their social security’, Macedo points out, ’there shouldn’t be any difference at all, isn’t it?’

Bom fim de semana            Enjoy the weekend                       (pic Público)

 


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Animalism

Dog at the table, fish on the plate

‘And what if the dog bites one of the customers? How do we know the dog isn’t sick?’ utters José Manuel Esteves, director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRESP). ‘Than we will be responsible!’
Eunice Marcelino, attorney at the Public Ministry is less concerned. ‘Pets are already allowed on terraces and that has never raised any concerns.’

As of next week, a new law enters into force allowing pets in restaurants and bars. ‘With domestic animals, one automatically thinks of cats and dogs but in our legal proposal domestic is not strictly defined’, explains Cristina Rodriguez, MP of the party for Persons, Animals, and Nature (PAN) and one of the submitters of the proposal.

This implicates that any pet is allowed as long as the owner of the restaurant – who always has the final say – raises no objections and the animal is leashed. ‘But the law is of course drafted with dogs in mind, which usually accompany their owners’, declares Maria do Céu Sampaio, president of the League for Animal Rights.

In most European countries domestic animals are tolerated in food courts.
France is the most pet-friendly in this respect, Scandinavia least.
Small dogs are in general no problem in Italy and Germany but for large dogs, eyebrows are raised.

More than half of the Portuguese households have a pet, which is often considered as ‘member of the family’ or ‘friend.’ Most popular are dogs (42%), ranking well before cats (22%), birds (18%) and fish (5%).
They consume on average around 15% of the family budget.

According to an investigation in April by the Association for Consumer Protection (DECO), only 20% of the owners consider taking their four-legged friend out to dinner.
‘One of the favorable side effects of this new law might be, that owners are now more motivated to raise their dogs properly, concludes Maria do Céu.


BOM FIM DE SEMANA           ENJOY THE WEEKEND          (pic SAPO/Público)

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No

‘Don’t kill our elderly’  people shouted in front of Parliament on May 29.

Euthanasia continues to be a crime with prison sentences ranging from two to five years in “the land of the Maria’s” as Parliament rejected with 115 against 110 votes a proposal of the ruling left-wing parties last week to decriminalize assisted death. It was the Social Democratic PSD – the country’s biggest opposition party – who held the key for change but in the end, nearly all their members voted against the legislation.

That the conservative Christian Democratic CDS – fiercely supported by the Catholic church – would vote against, was no more than expected. The surprise during the vote was the unanimous ‘njet’ of the Communist PCP, despite a comment of Mariana Mortágua, MP of activist party BE (Left Block).
She reminded her leftist colleagues of the historical words of Nobel Prize winner and militant communist José Saramago on the Spanish tetraplegic Ramon Sampredo, who wanted to die. ‘Nobody has the right to say: just stay attached to those (ventilation) tubes. We don’t kill but respect those who ask us: please help me.’

Euthanasia – good death in old Greek – is allowed in 4 European and 2 South American countries, Canada and 5 North American states. The Netherlands was the first country legalizing euthanasia in 2002. Although under strict conditions and carried out by a physician who knows the patient well.
In Belgium assisted death for minors became available in 2014.

‘There has been a lot of progression in the last two years regarding the right for everyone to die decently’, declares João Semedo, physician and ex-coordinator of the Left Block in response to the election results. ‘Acceptance of euthanasia is just a matter of time and the topic will undoubtedly return in next year’s elections.’

Bom fim de semana              Enjoy the weekend                        (pic Sapo)

 

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