ICELAND

[blue]

EMM my point is when you are home in the UK do you only eat 'traditional' English fayre, I know according to you that in Portugal apparently we should only eat traditional Portuguese food which is completely ridiculous & in my opinion very narrow minded. We all eat piripiri (you can't move for piripiri restaurants near us), cataplana, Portuguese stews, fish, meat, etc., until it's coming out of our ears (lucky us I know) but we do also want to enjoy other international dishes too, & do you know what that includes British! Yes Portuguese cheese is great, my fridge is full of it but I still buy brie, gorgonzola, mozzarella & yes even Cheddar cheese & there's even a jar of Branston pickle alongside the Portuguese chutneys I love. Most of us buy Portuguese fresh produce, meat, fish, veg' & bread, I don't know anyone who doesn't. There seems to be this daft superior attitude about only eating Portuguese in Portugal when in fact most people like to enjoy a multi-national approach to food wherever they are, including the Portuguese.

I didn't say that the Portuguese eat more fat & salt than Brit's, I said that I have never come across so much fat & salt consumption anywhere else.

[EMM]

Blue Ido not say that you should only eat Portuguese bad unhealthy food is the same where ever it comes from, my arguement is that why in a nation which has so far avoided the rush into the consumption of high fat, additive rich processed foods has the opening of Overseas SA which sells such products been greeted with obvious delight by the Anglo Algarvian population ??

[blue]

I suppose because like other European countries there are now more young professional couples who both work fulltime & want the convenience because they don't have the time or the inclination to start cooking once they get home from work, I don't think it's what the retired expats want to live on who have more time & probably more income to spend on good food. You seem to infer in previous posts that any Brit' food that expats eat or buy is automatically unhealthy, I don't know what your diet is like in the UK, you say you eat more healthily in Portugal, when we lived in the UK I ate the same mix of international food as I do here, my diet is the same, in the UK - plenty of fresh produce, in Porutgal - plenty of fresh produce. A diet soley of prepack convenience food is not good for anyone, but then I don't know anyone who lives like that, here or in the UK. All things in moderation, a little of what you fancy every now & then does you good - even if it's bad for you.

[EMM]

From the pictures and reports of Overseas opening, it was hardly full of middle class professional portuguese couples but rather Brits from all over the Algarve.
Overseas makes no attempt to hide the fact that Brits are its market place with all the familiar brands good and bad that you can find in the UK.

Cest la Vie they will not be getting any of our euros if we can help it.

[ditzy]

EMM I think the reason for that is that the Portuguese have never heard of Iceland. Give it a couple of months and I'm sure it will be very different.

[EMM]

As a discount Apollonia I am sure you are right.

[R.Wethereyet]

From the pictures and reports of Overseas opening, it was hardly full of middle class professional portuguese couples but rather Brits from all over the Algarve.
Overseas makes no attempt to hide the fact that Brits are its market place with all the familiar brands good and bad that you can find in the UK.

Cest la Vie they will not be getting any of our euros if we can help it.

EMM, where are all these photos and reports on the opening, I have trawled through the net and found nothing.

[Gary/Gaynor]

To be honest we do not buy any imported cheeses when in Portugal, the locally produced products are more than good enough.
Yes maybe 4-5 pizza year from the chill cabinet at Continente or Pinge doce, Certainly nothing like the pre prepared deep frozen ready meals so popular in the UK and now imported by Overseas SA.
Although I will admit that there is more of this type of product to be seen in the larger PT supermarkets it is nothing on the scale you find in the UK and I am not convinced that Jumbo or continente are targeting just a Portuguese market but rather in the Algarve the large number of expats and tourists.

We do eat much better in Portugal, typical meals in recent weeks were, chicken piri piri ( last evening outing for the BBQ ) with a fesh salad and home made chips. Pork and clam cataplana, all local ingredients, sausage and bean casserole, Chilli con carne , pork ribs slow cooked in the oven marinaded in soy, honey with home made coleslaw, grilled goats cheese with portuguese bacon.We also cook sea food rice, grill fresh fish especially if I am luck enough to catch any.
We grow chillis, and herbs like basil, mint, tarragon and sage in tubs.
It has nothing to do with more time in PT just that we feel more motivated and that the locally produced ingredients are better.
You may not believe this but you can go for weeks in the UK sometimes in the major supermarkets where they only have imported fruit and veg when smaller shops have UK produce.

As for your comment about the Portuguese diet, I would like to see some comparisons between the levels of adult obesity and childhood obesity between portugal and the UK. All statistics I have seen put the UK very high up on the list.

We even bring back Pt cheeses and believe it or not a brand of breakfast cereal we cannot get in the UK.

slightly off topin, Can I have your ribs recipe please, sounds lush and I actually have a slow cooker at our place in Portugal. Also the goats cheese in bacon'recipies, is it just wrapped in bacon then fried? We eat a lot of Goat's cheese here in Holland as the Dutch tend to use a lot of it, very good for you.
thanks
Gaynor

[EMM]

The basic rib recipe started as 50% light soy sauce ( less salty than dark ) and 50% of a proprietry sweet chili sauce marinade with optional , chinese 5 spice or thai spices added.
Marinaded for a least 2 hours ( I like even longer ) then slowly cooked in the oven cover the dish with aluminium foil,, removing the foil near the end to give them a sticky finish.
In Portugal we have altered it slightly by replacing the bottled sweet chili sauce with honey and home grown Chilis , sometimes adding a little garlic powder , star anise or what ever comes to hand.

If cooking on the BBQ, we first boil the ribs in 50% of the marinade and water to tenderise them keepiing the balance of the marinade back to baste the ribs on the BBQ. You can reduce the water/marinade mix further to give you a sauce to pour over or use as a dip.

A korean friend gave us a pot of her home made chili mix which is even better.

The goats cheese is simplicty itself, we buy the packs of two cheeses which can be found in almost every PT supermarket. Cut each in half place on a flat grill tray under a hot grill.
Before hand I cut up a piece of the smoked bacon you can find in any supermarket into lardons, removing the rind as this does not always crisp up. Fry the lardons in a small pan ( no oil needed ).

When the goats cheese is ready ( nice an soft ) plate up adding the warm bacon lardons, with a salad.
Dressings can be honey of balsamic vinager , top with pine nuts if you like them.
For a dinner party starter serve the cheese on croutons , packet ones will do.
Its a good brunch or supper dish and uses local ingredients ( no need to go to Iceland )

[Gary/Gaynor]

Thank EMM, have now got the recipie in my recipie book for next year as the BBQ versions sounds good.
gaynor

[R.Wethereyet]

[quote="EMM"]The basic rib recipe started as 50% light soy sauce ( less salty than dark ) and 50% of a proprietry sweet chili sauce marinade with optional , chinese 5 spice or thai spices added.

Mmmm sounds lovely, are the ingrediants Portuguese soy sauce, Portuguese sweet chilli sauce, and err Portuguese Chinese 5 spice or Portuguese Thai spices, and which PT supermarket stocks them?

No need to go to the Far East then.

[EMM]

Read the post , we adapted the receipe to use product we could buy locally in carvoeiro . We could use the imported brands but chose not to as there is no need.
You should read up on your world history Portugal was one of the main importers of spices from the far east from the 15th century when we in the UK still though a carrot was an exotic ingredient

[James Faro]

If the Iceland in Albufeira is selling the exact same lines of food as the ones in the UK ,then as mentioned previously there is going to be an obesity timebomb.

There are loads of these in London which I avoid. I was in Tooting High Street last week and one of these were located there. The dregs of society were congregating in there bulk buying and the food was all frozen (obviously) but very cheap judging by the offers on the window. If you have to get a quick cheap meal as a one-off now and then , then that is fine, but as the main staple diet for each week? I did notice that those coming in and out of it were not exactly anorexic! Nor was there any sign of Miss Katona or that Nolan sister one!

Then again, in times of economic woes familes or single parents with small budgets can only afford cheap food and will pay for it dearly health wise!

[cereza]

I don't know about the shop in Guia but Iceland over here sells a lot more than just frozen food - in fact they sell a lot of basic food and household items. All supermarkets sell frozen food of varying quality so I can't see any problem with Iceland opening in Portugal. If people want to eat fast food one more shop won't make any difference but for those who want some British food then this new shop offers another option. More shops should lead to more variety and more price competition which has to be welcomed

[EMM]

James we are in full agreement, there is a mistaken perception of value if you look only at the ticket price.
As has been proven many times on cookery programmes, preparing from fresh can be done for much less that the cost/kg of this type of food.

Lack of time. inclination . education are all used as reasons why there is a market for these products . That is what they are a manufactured product pretending to be food.