Meet the Chef - Cooking up with Tradition

Oscar Cabral 

School of Hospitality and Tourism of Estoril  

Óscar Cabral will cook up with tradition and with Portuguese traditional products in a showcase featuring Azeitão cheese (PDO) and Alheira (chicken and pork sausage) from Mirandela (PGI)

My name is Óscar Cabral, I'm a Portuguese Chef and Culinary teacher working in the present moment at Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril. I've graduated from University of Aveiro in Public Administration having also completed my Masters in Administration and Public Management. Having worked for a couple of years in a public procurement company I decided that the 9-to-5 job with a suit and tie weren't actually for me despite the fact that I loved to help people out in their businesses. Seizing the opportunity for a career change, I decided to take a Culinary Arts course in 2016 with the clear notion that I'd like to become a Culinary trainer.

And here I am! today A Culinary teacher with a public policy background, full of experiences in the Food business field (and keen to have more) and happily dreaming about completing my PhD studies in Gastronomic Sciences as a way of linking my two beloved areas.

As a lover of Portuguese traditional products and our gastronomic symbols (some of them yet unexplored), I'm absolutely focused in trying to understand the dynamics behind it and - the most important part - the linkage between products, people and territories. I'm a PDO Serra da Estrela cheese official taster, I do take part in a Gastronomic Confrary, I do organize local events to promote local and popular Gastronomy and by doing that I do gain additional knowledge to help restaurants, food businesses and people in making the most out of their agendas and of Portuguese gastronomy.

But, as I always mention, nothing of of this really matter by the end of the day. It's the way people connect with food that counts the most for me.

The people and the Portuguese Food! Oh! Our cuisine which I am frankly passionate about, is worth gold.