Macau is in a fight to keep its own culinary traditions alive
Home to the original fusion cuisine, Macau is striving to revitalise its own culinary traditions as well as welcome new fusion styles
Fusion cuisine might seem like a modern phenomenon – with the internet, and global travel, making the exchange of ideas much faster, but the concept has been around for centuries, ever since the beginning of trade.
One fusion cuisine close to home that has stood the test of time is Macanese. “Macanese cuisine has a 400-year history and it’s the original fusion food,” says chef Antonieta Fernandes Manhao (Neta), who is renowned for promoting the cuisine. “Nowadays, they have all these fancy fusion cuisines, but Macanese is the original.”
Blending southern Chinese cuisine and Portuguese ingredients, spices and cooking techniques from Macau’s colonial days, they melded into a distinct style that became known as “Macanese”.
Fast forward four hundred years, and there is growing confusion between Portuguese and Macanese cuisine. Concerned that the heritage of Macanese cuisine is being eroded, Neta, who was born and raised in Macau, stepped up as an advocate of her beloved native food.
Of all the new hotels and resorts that have opened in Macau in the past 10 years, not one has a Macanese restaurant. This is very sad.
“Many people in Macau today find it hard to distinguish between Macanese food and Portuguese food, so I want to help educate people,” Neta says.
