The Algarve Platform of Confrarias (PAC) has been gaining weight in the representation of the 11 gastronomic and wine greeks of the region and promoting a cultural heritage that is part of the Mediterranean diet, said the general coordinator.
Gonçalo Mesquita, from Serra do Caldeirão Gastronomic Brotherhood, was chosen to lead PAC’s coordination team in early February and explained to Lusa that the structure, created in 2020, aims that the confraternities were organized to the agenda level and of the participation in the confirability events that are held from north to south.
The official stressed that the platform is not an official legal entity and presents itself as an “informal movement” to support the confraternities of the Algarve, which in the last decade has gone from four to 11, with “two centers of confraternity, which are not Native to the Algarve ”, but have regional presence, such as Moamba and Vinho Verde.
“With the increase in responsibility and work developed by different brotherhoods, we, in a gradual and natural way, have also been having some responsibility for the participation and appreciation of the entire Conforadic Panorama of the Algarve, which are more than groups that join Around the table to enjoy the delicacies of a locality or region, ”he said.
In addition to participation in events and colloquiums representing the confraternities, the platform is also working to support the 11 existing regional structures and help in the creation of new confraternities, he stressed.
Gonçalo Mesquita said that there are four brotherhoods that can be created with the support of PAC and represent “four very their own identities of the Algarve”, such as the sweet potato of Aljezur, the Orange de Silves, the octopus of Santa Luzia (Tavira) And Castro Marim’s salt, listed.
“We are talking about four products that are four regional identities, we will give all the support and make the most of them so that these confraternities are a reality as soon as possible,” said Gonçalo Mesquita, recognizing that some of them are still in phase “Embryonic” and the most developed is Castro Marim Sal.
Among the brotherhoods represented at PAC are, among others, that of Serra do Caldeirão, the Ria Formosa Navy, the Sardine of Portimão, that of the lying of Olhão, the tuna of Vila Real de Santo António or the ‘Bacchus ‘From Albufeira.
The platform’s leader classified the confraternities as promoters of the “cultural development”, the preservation and appreciation of the “gastronomic and wine heritage of the Algarve” and stressed that, over the last years, a job has been done to give him visibility and this more and more “acceptance by public entities” as representative of all the confraternities Algarvias.
“If it is to Portimão or Vila Real [de Santo António] and want to develop some activity, my acceptance of a regional entity turns out to be different than if it is individually with my brotherhood [gastronómica da Serra do Caldeirão]”He exemplified.
Currently, PAC is already beginning to be “recognized” and its work “repaid”, being seen as “an organized entity” that defends all the gastronomic and vinical heritage defended by the confraternities of the region, he considered.
The goal is to “not create cleavages” and be “a true ambassador of all the gastronomic and wine culture of the region”, which is an integral part of the Mediterranean diet, classified as an immaterial heritage of humanity by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), concluded.
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