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Mozambique, Brazil and Portugal in the spotlight at ‘Maillot à Table!’ Paris Global Gastronomy Festival
4:14 CAT | 19 May 2025
Photo: Brigitte Kuster/X
Mozambique, Brazil and Portugal were in the spotlight on Friday at the first edition of the “Maillot à Table!” International Gastronomic Festival in Paris, where they showcased “the potential of the Lusophone world”.
“We thought it would be a good idea to highlight the Lusophone world, because the French often don’t know what’s behind the concept of Lusophone world. We are nine countries, with a lot of cultural and economic wealth. Brazil is obviously the giant, as we are in the 2025 Brazil-France Season, but we also want to showcase our Lusophone Africa and Portugal,” the President of the Institut du Monde Lusophone (IMLus), Isabelle de Oliveira, told Lusa.
The event, which took place at Place de la Porte Maillot, next to the Palais des Congres de Paris, between 11:00 and 21:00 local time, also included the participation of Armenia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, the Philippines, Haiti, Italy, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
In an initiative that “was a success and will continue”, through the partnership with the Mairie of the 17th arrondissement of Paris, where the festival took place, and with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris, Isabelle de Oliveira defended the promotion of intercultural dialogue and peace “in an increasingly complex world”, without forgetting the Portuguese diaspora.
“We often forget that through cultural diversity, linguistic diversity and Latin identity – because Francophone and Lusophony are Latin identity and are also an escape from the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon world – we also affirm our identity, our traditions, and the best of gastronomy and culture,” she added.
In the more than 15 exhibitors, each country presented typical products for visitors to taste and purchase. They were then able to sit down and enjoy the musical performances of each country.
“Being here is an honour and a unique opportunity to show a more familiar side of Mozambique. We are here to present our family foods, the foods that represent our collaborative activities and several other occasions,” said Jéssica Ivo, executive assistant at the Embassy of Mozambique in Paris.
The Mozambican exhibitor, in addition to food made with “100% Mozambican ingredients”, had handicrafts, paintings and sculptures, and also aimed to promote tourism for the country and the Portuguese language in France.
For Jéssica Ivo, “Mozambican cuisine can be defined in one word: welcoming, because it is a warm food, most of the time”, with “a strong seasoning”, and because of the “mixture of various identities, in a country rich and diverse in ethnicities and cultures”.
“For appetizers, we brought golden peanuts and cashew nuts. We also have samosas, which are very emblematic in Mozambique. It is not of Mozambican origin, but it was adapted in the fusion of Indian and Portuguese cuisine,” explained chef Florência Cayol, 30, who was invited to participate by the embassy.
For the chef, who has been studying to become a chef in Paris for two years and dreams of “marrying French and Mozambican cuisine” and taking it beyond borders, her country has a “familiar and very rich” cuisine.
“Mozambique is a country that is bathed by the Indian Ocean, so we have a lot of seafood and shrimp is the best way to represent Mozambican cuisine. We have Zambezian chicken, marinated in coconut milk, and a cream of cassava with shrimp and a little coconut milk,” said Ms Cayol.
At the Brazilian stand, the key product was cheese bread, but there were also coconut and carrot cakes with chocolate brigadeiro frosting and biscuits, to showcase the “rich, exotic and welcoming” cuisine.
“Being here today is very important, especially because I represent the Monsieur Pão de Queijo brand by Antonio Cançado, which is a Brazilian product, produced in Portugal,” said Gustavo Lopes, 46, who has lived in Paris since 2016 and believes that the biggest challenge is finding the products to make Brazilian food.
According to Gustavo Lopes, visitors were “delighted, especially with the carrot cake with chocolate, which is different.” Given the good atmosphere of the festival they intend next time to bring “more variety of products and do more advertising”.
For Flora Rodrigues, 51, owner of the Comptoir Saudade Restaurant, which has been selling typical Portuguese products in Paris for nine years, the festival is “a great representation” for the Portuguese-speaking world and, therefore, accepted the invitation. “I chose to bring a little bit of everything, sweets for the children, chocolates, sausages, charcuterie, rissoles, bifanas and chips, which everyone likes,” he said.
In the case of Portugal, in addition to a concert with musicians from Sertã, Rancho Estrelas de Batignolles also performed for an audience of various origins.
In a future edition of the festival, the president of IMLus hopes to have more Portuguese-speaking representation, including other Portuguese regions, after this “first rehearsal” which was somewhat hampered by the proximity of the legislative elections in Portugal.
🧑🍳 Merci à tous les chefs, restaurateurs, artisans, ambassadeurs et habitants qui ont fait de cette première édition du Festival de la gastronomie du 17e organisée Pte Maillot un véritable succès !
❤️ Un arrondissement qui a du goût… et du talent ! #Paris17 #MaillotATable pic.twitter.com/MCTUiaj0vx
— Geoffroy Boulard (@geoffroyboulard) May 17, 2025
Le 17 mai, le 17e vous fait voyager sans quitter Paris ! ✈️
📍RDV Place de la Porte Maillot pour “Maillot à Table !”, un grand #festival culinaire & culturel ! 🌮
🌮 Dégustations, animations musicales… Plus d’infos sur : https://t.co/KLDvPRe1O7.#Paris17 #Gastronomie pic.twitter.com/DEt9CTZs2a
— Mairie du 17e (@Mairie17) April 23, 2025
💥Grande réussite pour ce premier événement organisé sur le Parvis Maillot avec des stands présentant des cuisines de différents pays en présence de nombreux ambassadeurs de chefs et artisans cuisiniers.
Un festival de la Gastronomie apprécié par des centaines… pic.twitter.com/bSMqgmbtLG— Brigitte KUSTER (@brigitte_kuster) May 18, 2025
Source: Lusa
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