Henry Jeffreys

Oporto

A beautiful city where I have still yet to see a single hipster

issue 08 August 2015

‘When he’s away, the thing he misses about Porto is the tripe.’ I was talking to Eduarda Sandeman, wife of George Sandeman, chairman of the eponymous port firm. Despite his illustrious name, George Sandeman isn’t from Oporto (as the British call it). His family are from Jerez and he was educated in England. He speaks English and Spanish fluently but he told me that he is still teased by his wife for his imperfect Portuguese. It’s a hard language to pronounce — a bit like Spanish spoken by a Russian. George’s love of tripe, though, marks him out as a true son of Oporto. The inhabitants of the city are known as Tripeiros — tripe eaters.

This name dates back to 1415, when the Portuguese army were trying to take Ceuta in Morocco. To feed the troops, Oporto’s people went without all meat except tripe.

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