Being a local myself, born and raised in Lisbon
(Alfama), I was fascinated by the city and then
Portugal in general.
𝗚𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀. Through them, I was constantly creating opportunities to explore the country and to share it with my closest friends.
I can feel myself traveling, in the deepest sense, in my own country. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲, 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲, 𝗮 ‘𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿’ 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀. This momentary external gaze, this decentered position, and genuine curiosity is not always easy to foster in a local native, but it’s essential to ‘really see’ what we have in front of us, and to nurture the admiration and the passion for something (or someone!) you are in touch with every day, sometimes since the day you were born.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 and 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, even collecting money to offer free clinical consultations to migrants and refugees, during a period where we had no funding.
I could be doing what I love, sharing it with endless cultures and people while funding part of my clinical work.
So, I started this journey in 2016 and, step by step, Oh! My Cod grew organically, expanding to the Azores islands and the Alentjo region, thanks to all of you!
Caçarola Miúda
Lebre (caça) + Caçarola e Carapaça
Some things aren’t meant for us to be quick on our feet. To jump to conclusions. And this species physically cannot do that as it is theliving embodiment of slow food traveling.
Trudging along, heavily, it always carries its home on its back - stock full of recipes and memories. Like a seasoned traveler, it explores with a discerning eye, savoring each moment, each encounter, each bite. Wherever it goes, it really goes down the rabbit hole.
An Anthony Bourdain-esque experience
“Silvia is truly an expert on all things Lisboa! She is so fun and personable and not only knows
Lisboa gastronomy but city history as well. This is a food AND history tour. She shows the best
spots in the city which I wouldn’t have ever found on my own. If you’re looking for an Anthony
Bourdain-esque experience, THIS IS IT!"
Kyle Ferguson
New Jersey, USA
I was inspired to merge my background in anthropology and my love for Portugal and food, with this conscious travel mindset to create impactful traveler experiences to other people.
Now we are a small team of food experts and cultural mediators and we’ve welcomed over 20,000 guests and collected more than 6000 five-starts reviews.
In 2024, 𝗢𝗵! 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 & 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘀 was recognised as 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 in Portugal, receiving the 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 from Turismo de Portugal.
Ave Rara
A rare foreign breed
Flies like a tourist, walks like a local. An odd bird that travels in small flocks. After arriving at their chosen destination, they slowly use their bare humanoid feet in search of food.
An insatiable sense of curiosity permeates them; their beak is a universal gateway for acknowledging history, culture and crumbs of artisan bread. Commonly, they pass their beaky knowledge unto others and are known to shake their heads on conversational swagger. Wingmen for sociability, “kewk”.
WHAT ARE MY PASSIONS
Research
Fieldwork
Colect stories, and discover hidden gems. Considering Oh! My Cod, research would be centered on food and using this as a way to explore specific problematics but also as a way to establish connections.
Travel People
Unknown
In Portugal and aborad. Food is a great way to connect with people and to have access to endless cultural representation and cultural transformations.
Write and
Research Fieldwork
Narrate subalten voices, interpret what we “see”, be the mediator between what we perceive and the other (reader/listener/local).
Create new connections between elements and then new meanings.
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS OR WHAT I FIGHT FOR
Be part of the world change.
Become the narrator and participant of a cultural change, be part of the local transformations
Porcalhau 2.0
Porco + Bacalhau
50 million years ago... Scratch that.
9 years ago, this peculiar creature, a curious blend of pig and cod (or was it the other way around?), crawled so the next step of the species could walk.
Homo Porcalhau stands as a testament to the unpredictable nature of evolution. With the intelligence of a salty scholar and the tenacity of a truffle-hunting swine, they now walk among us, their presence a carefully guarded secret, protecting their hidden coves full of gastronomical mysteries.
Transformative
Tourism Experience and the only way to personal transformation, manful and imersive experiences, slow down approach, communal sharing, commensal featings, develop critical thinking.
Sustainable
Experiences Authentic interpersonal connections, exclusive experiences, experiences co-constructed with all the protagonists
Shake common/dominant
narratives Give voice to locals (Storie, narratives, knowledge), “the subaltern speaks”, diversity in speech against hegemonic narratives, subversive stories, counter discourses.
MY POSITION PRINCIPLES | VALUES | EPISTEMOLOGICAL POSITION
Caranqueijo
Caranguejo + Queijo
50 million years they've been here, crabbing around, communicating with themselves, fishing for shellmates - that's some real cra-nnection rigth there.
And one of their hot bubbly topics? Cheese. From Ancient Egypt to 15th century settlers in Azores, they've withnessed the rise and dominance of cheese.
You like cheese? we like cheese. So they became one with the cheese.
Slow food travel in Portugal Our model of travel and food experiences is made up of meetings and exchanges. Small-group food and cultural traveler experiences. Connecting authentically with locals, working with locally own business only, promoting sustainable travel experiences and food biodiversity and keeping a diverse and inclusive perspective.
Be sustainable and glocal as a host and as a traveler By glocal we mean to stress the urgency of going beyond the expired dichotomies of local and global but also tradition and modernity, native and foreign.
Be eclectic, act, and think accordingly. This is reflected in the way we design our experiences, but also through the members who comprise of our team, with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. We always aim to have an eclectic team, with personal interests and ideas, ‘outside’ from Oh! My Cod Tours. Because this is what an interesting and happy host is.
Slow food travel in Portugal Our model of travel and food experiences is made up of meetings and exchanges. Small-group food and cultural traveler experiences. Connecting authentically with locals, working with locally own business only, promoting sustainable travel experiences and food biodiversity and keeping a diverse and inclusive perspective.
Be sustainable and glocal as a host and as a traveler By glocal we mean to stress the urgency of going beyond the expired dichotomies of local and global but also tradition and modernity, native and foreign.
Be eclectic, act, and think accordingly.
This is reflected in the way we design our experiences, but also through the members who comprise of our team, with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. We always aim to have an eclectic team, with personal interests and ideas, ‘outside’ from Oh! My Cod Tours. Because this is what an interesting and happy host is.
Our contemporary world is best understood when we replace the gap between these concepts with connections. Local communities are better understood when we place them within a broader global context. The classical “native” perspective — or the idea of a “native legitimacy” as the ultimate representation and truth of a specific culture or community — is outdated. There is no such thing.
We are no longer defined exclusively by geographical borders or by traditional and folkloric practices. Instead, while traveling and living in a certain place, we come to better understand what we experience, observe, eat, and see through a combination of perspectives and positions, and through the interplay between “insider” and “outsider” viewpoints.
Our contemporary world is best understood when we replace the gap between these concepts with connections. Local communities are better understood when we place them within a broader global context. The classical “native” perspective — or the idea of a “native legitimacy” as the ultimate representation and truth of a specific culture or community — is outdated. There is no such thing.
We are no longer defined exclusively by geographical borders or by traditional and folkloric practices. Instead, while traveling and living in a certain place, we come to better understand what we experience, observe, eat, and see through a combination of perspectives and positions, and through the interplay between “insider” and “outsider” viewpoints.
This is true whether we are in contemporary Lisbon, the Portuguese countryside, or anywhere else in the world. It is through this approach that we create sustainable, meaningful experiences and encounters.
Critical thinking. Applied to everyday life but also to history and culture. Be sensitive to multiple perspectives around the same content.
The best way to learn and be transformed is through experience. As my clinical and therapeutic work shows — and as many scholars have demonstrated — we need to experience something firsthand in order to truly connect with it, relate to it, incorporate it, and ultimately be transformed by it. We learn through experience.
Traveling changes us all. Living local, impactful, and meaningful experiences through a “glocal” perspective — while sharing different viewpoints — transforms all of us for the better.
Oh! My Cod, works with gastronomy in an eclectic and holistic approach, as a medium to narrate several voices, cultures, generations and different perspectives – namely the subversive ones – through immersive experiences and human encounters, where we all become cultural narrators.
Fogalo
Fogo + Galo; E.: Rooster + Roast = Roaster
OMC has no place for cock and bull stories. We ruffle traditional narratives’ feathers as a way to spark human connection through food, with a fiery will to keep changing for the better.
Do travelers dream of electric sheep? We’d say flaming roosters. Fogalo carries the torch of our ways. To blur the lines between local and traveler. Flame on.
OUR CENTER = OUR GUESTS
All these beautiful faces are unique — each with their own personality, energy, tastes, fantasies, caprices, shyness, and vulnerabilities. And we love that.
It is precisely this diversity that enriches us and gives depth to every encounter we create — making each experience authentic, dynamic, unpredictable, creative, and truly alive.
This is our philosophy.
This is what we believe in.
This is what we do.
Cachalote
Baleia + Vinho (cacho de uvas)
The wondrous Wino Whale, a whimsical wanderer of the watery deeps, was a creature of curious cravings. This quirky cetacean craved Verdelho and cool Terrantez from the Azores grapes.
Whispers of wine would waft through the water, guiding this wayward whale. With a wide, welcoming maw, it would engulf wine bottles whole. Then, a transformation. It became one with the wine.
A cautionary tale for all: Even the most discerning traveler can succumb to the siren song of the grape.
After all, we were all strangers once. Yet somehow, through shared tables, conversations, landscapes, food, wine, and time, we become connected. And sometimes, those connections even grow into friendships.
We build invisible bridges.
How do we do it?
By working with some of the most passionate hosts you could hope to meet — open, warm, empathetic, genuine, sensitive yet assertive, adventurous yet responsible, deeply knowledgeable yet always curious and willing to learn from every encounter.
By keeping our groups intentionally small and our experiences meaningful, informative, intimate, and joyful.
Whether you join us with friends, family, or entirely on your own, each experience is shaped around the people who are part of it - including you.
Valcão
Vaca + Vulcão ; E.: Volca-moo
Volcamoo paradiso, it exists. These happy cows, pasture-driven, hungry for the most verdant of leaves, carry their literal heritage on their backs.
The miniature inactive volcanoes they carry on their backs serve as a testament to the island's dramatic birth, and a reminder of the enduring power of nature.
Under their watchful gaze, they document the countless humans and culural ties who have been drawn to this enchanting island.
Join our food and cultural group!
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