After considering pastel de Belém as the best sweet in the world, the website TasteAtlas, known for promoting delicacies from various regions, once again cited Portuguese cuisine, but this time in a less positive context, choosing this typical Portuguese dish as one of the worst . The platform, created in 2015 by Croatian journalist Matija Babić, published on January 8th a ranking of the 100 worst dishes in the world, based on average user ratings of different specialties and countries.
At the top of this list appears Blodpalt, a traditional delicacy from northern Sweden and Finnish Lapland, with a score of just 1.6 stars. This dish consists of small cakes prepared with the blood of different animals and mashed potatoes, which can be stuffed with sautéed onions and bacon.
Although Portugal is widely recognized for some of the best delicacies in the world, it was also present in this less favorable ranking. Gizzards, a traditional dish, were ranked as the 18th worst dish globally, with 2.3 stars. TasteAtlas describes gizzards as “a typical Portuguese dish made from chicken gizzards, slowly cooked in a flavorful sauce of tomato, onion, garlic, white wine and spices. They are first sautéed with onion and garlic, then cooked in tomato and wine sauce until tender.”
This is not the first time that Portuguese gastronomy has been criticized by the platform. In November 2024, the same website revealed a ranking of the least popular national dishes, which included cod with everyone and bolo-rei. What may shock even the most patriotic is the fact that Maranho da Sertã — a sausage made from goat and sheep meat, stuffed in the animal’s stomach — was placed last on the list.
According to , the rankings published by the platform are based on evaluations made by users on social networks and on TasteAtlas itself. Using artificial intelligence tools, these classifications are validated, calculated and organized, comparing dishes with similar ingredients, preparation techniques or the most representative scores for each cuisine.
The same website, it is worth remembering, considered Alentejo to be the ninth best gastronomic region in the world.
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