“WHALE’COME AO PICO”
SLOW FOOD RESTAURANT
Eating local products, preferably of organic farming* and of season, is helping to protect the landscape and the Azorean heritage, is to discover the freshness of the local flavors. It is to limit the emission of gases with greenhouse effect due to food transportation and intensive agricultural production. It is also, and over all, to stimulate local
farming, promoting the creation of jobs and the food self sufficiency of the archipelago. In short, it is common-sense!
“Whale' come’s ao Pico” breakfast: Fresh cheese, cakes, pies and jams are homemade with fruit (oranges, guavas and apples) from our orchard. Our wheat and the maize bread are baked in a traditional wood fired oven by our cook. Ham, “chorriso” and milk are azorean (although not from Pico). The Pico cheese and the butter are produced locally, among others, in Arrifes or Silveira. When they are available, we prefer yoghurts from Terceira, undeniably of good taste!
“We import” green and black tea. From Gorreana, the last tea plantation of Europe, established in São Miguel. Our sincere excuses: cornflakes are from the famous brand! The traditional cuisine is not really “light”, but very delicious; sausages, chorizos and black pudding, also Yams and maize cake are produced close by Foros and Piedade, the extreme east of our island. It is enough to walk through the mountain and the villages of Pico to understand that we do not need to import meat and that it is not farmed intensively. No need also to import fish, because we do not lack it (for the time being ***), we buy our fish from local catch. Vegetables: pumpkins, potatoes, carrots, green beans and others are produced in the “Caminho de cima” exclusively for our restaurant**. It is more difficult to supply lettuce, which are grown on the north coast of Pico. Also “made in Pico”: eggs, cookies of the Ribeira do Meio (110% pure butter). We have a water fountain, because it is aberrant to import water from the Iberian Peninsula, over all conditioned in plastic. Following this same logic, we do not sell beverage in aluminum cans, preferring glass bottles instead, or better, cup service… as to serve beers, for example. Dry beans, rice, pasta, cuscus and others… cross the Atlantic, unfortunately! As aperitif, we prefer local drinks, wines and liquors…
Paradoxically, local production is more expensive than importing goods from the other side of the world… but consciously we buy local and assume to have a slightly superior sale prices ! We know that you understand and approve our approach. THINK GLOBAL… EAT LOCAL
• * in Pico, there are no certified organic producers, therefore we should speak of sustainable cultures instead
• ** in the high season, the production could be insufficient (mainly in the years of drought), therefore frozen or sterilized products, some of which imported, will be used instead
• *** to this respect, we invite you to consult the green list, to know which fish to consume in order to prevent the exhaustion of certain species and to stimulate responsible and sustainable fisheries.
• The products written in green are for sale in the “Espaço Talassa” store. Note: We do our best to respect this declaration of intention as much as possible, but it is not a contractual document which certifies the origin of our products. Certain times these products must be supplied from the traditional market.
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