ABSTRACT
The design of the meal/event “A Saudade Portuguesa” was conceived by the MSc in Innovation in Culinary Arts (ESHTE) as part of an inter-disciplinary academic project and a meta-territorial task, in dialogue with design students who created unique crockery for this culinary experience. Together with a reflection on sensorial stimulation throughout the creative cooking process, the performance was closely connected to the developing gastronomic process, throughout a process of musical and visual interpretation. Such a mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences perfectly suits the theme “saudade”—a feeling of longing and recollecting experiences, widely indicated as the essence of the Portuguese soul. Because food memories shape the future, the twelve guests were offered several moments that simultaneously took them to a journey through past gastronomic traditions, discoveries and innovative fusions.
