Land of fishermen facing the Atlantic Ocean, the Algarve is a paradise for anyone who enjoys fish and shellfish. Each day at the break of dawn the boats arrive with the harvest collected in their nets during the night.The Algarve people have centuries of experience in preparing fish doing it in plenty of ways, being the simplest, but always delicious, to grill the fish on a slow charcoal fire, as happens with the silvery sardine, the sea-bream and red mullet.

For something with a bit more flavor, there's nothing like fishermen's recipes, which range from nutritious fish, razor fish, shark and shrimp soups to conger eel, razor fish or octopus rice, or from lulas ferradas (squid dish), choquinhos com tinta (baby cuttlefish in their ink) and feijoada de búzios (bean, rice and dog-whelk stew) to caldeirada de peixe (fish stew) and açorda de marisco (bread-based shellfish soup).

The Algarve´s interior cooking uses volumes of the land and vegetable gardens of flocks and herds pastured in the serra uplands and of perfumed wild plants. From broad beans to galinha cerejada (typical chicken dish), and pot-roasted leg of lamb to chickpea or cabbage stew, to the simple, more appetizing, pickled garlic carrots, which accompany fish and meat dishes, or to snails cooked with aromatic herbs, all of these dishes are marked by their countryside origins However, we can't miss out the main recipe of Algarve cuisine, the heavenly tasting ameijoas na cataplana (clams cooked in a special cataplana pan). The secret of this dish lies in the cataplana, a two-sided copper pot with a hinge and clasp of Islamic origin, which is closed during cooking but when it's opened it reveals its heavenly aromas.

The Algarve's cakes and sweets are a tempting mixture of almonds, figs, lots of eggs and sugar and sun-ripened oranges that grow across the region. No one can resist to Dom Rodrigos, morgados, morgadinhos, figos cheios, queijos de figo, figo com amêndoa e chocolate and so many other traditional sweets.

To accompany your meal the Algarve offers good wines from Lagoa and Tavira, fruity in flavour, which the sun gives a high grading. Finally mention have to be made to aguardente de medronho (a spirit made from the fruit of the arbutus plant) and other traditional liqueurs made with fruit and honey.