We talked with Sofia Magalhães, author of 'Blog da Spice', about her views on food, lifestyle, and Nature.
You favour healthy food, always made with natural, organic, and seasonal ingredients. When did this passion of yours begin?
The passion for cooking comes from my childhood, I always liked to cook and to be in the kitchen, but I didn’t think I would make this a life until a few years ago. My awakening to a healthy diet was something of a more gradual nature. In 2015, I had just moved to Angola when the country went through perhaps its biggest oil crisis ever. The supermarkets were almost empty for several months, they had only the products of the land - which I was not used to cooking with - and I had, due to the circumstances, to start researching more about those products, about their benefits, how to make them , etc. At the same time, I was going through a more introspective personal phase. All of this led me to research more and more about the effects of food in our bodies and minds and to wake up to a new lifestyle.
Can it be said that you see slow food as a great benefit for both the individual and nature?
Of course, and not only slow food, but actually a slower life. More and more we live in a hurry for everything. We want quick money, fast diets, quick health. We are encouraged to work fast, to buy fast, to eat fast, to live fast and that is killing us little by little. We are completely out of tune with Nature, with its cycles and with ourselves. We don't invest time getting to know ourselves, learning how our bodies work, what is good for you, what is bad for you. How can we spend 70, 80, 90 years inside a body and not know what foods benefit and harm it? Or how does our thinking, our emotional side function? We ended up being a bit "zombies" in this perspective. Of course, if we are not in harmony with Nature, we end up wanting it to suit us and our wills, with all the side effects that this entails. We need to create more awareness in the way we live, which includes the way we eat, of course.
Speaking of slow, this passion is certainly also a way of life. What changes did you have to make in your pursuit of a slow living style?
Yes, it is impossible to dissociate all of this. When we “slow down” in one area of our life, we end up having to do it in all areas, even gradually. The awareness, peace, and serenity that this “slowdown” brings us are like a switch that is suddenly turned on and make us see life in a different way. And we can’t go back, we can’t stop thinking about the impact of our choices on us and the world. And this goes from small changes, like taking our own bags and containers when we go shopping, to avoid plastic waste, for example, to bigger ones like making the decision to stop living in the city and move to the countryside.
What made you come to Sobral de Monte Agraço?
An enormous desire to change my life, to slow down, to be closer and connected with Nature. To have the opportunity to grow and harvest a part of what I eat. On the other hand, knowing that both me and my husband would often need to go to Lisbon for work, we chose a place with ‘the best of both worlds’: we are immersed in nature and relatively close to the city. In addition, it is impossible not to fall in love with the scenery, it is wonderful!
You keep a blog about healthy food, Spice's Blog. What can we find in it?
You can find recipes for everyday life and even for special occasions, with natural, honest, and seasonal ingredients. I also share a little bit of my life, what inspires me, my choices, and also many tips for a sustainable and healthy life. In addition to my website, I have accounts in social networks, Facebook and Instagram [@blogdaspice], where I end up sharing a little of my daily life and having a more direct contact with those who follow me: I ask questions, give suggestions, share tips , etc.
And why Spice?
Because it was, and is, my teenage nickname. I was a fan of the Spice Girls, I knew their songs and choreographies by heart and my friends started calling me Spice (they still do it today!). When I created the blog, I thought I had to give it a genuine stamp and thus ‘Blog da Spice’ was born.
Your experience as a new mom made you reflect on baby feeding. What can you share with us on this subject?
Motherhood made me reflect on a number of themes, actually, but of course, on food as well. I always wanted to feed Henrique as natural a food as possible, hence I make all the soups and porridge at home. I noticed that this started to generate immense interest on the part of those who follow my social networking and I ended up creating a page on my website featuring only recipes for babies. The phase of food introduction is especially important in children and can even determine a good or bad relationship with food in the long run. However, few people are aware of this. Children must be allowed to explore food, colours, flavours, textures, but they are often prevented from doing so because they get dirty. Getting dirty is part of the process, it is great and necessary. In addition, it is good to expose children to the widest variety of foods possible as soon as they are able to deal with it. So, since Henrique started consuming food, he has tasted a plethora of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cereals. Meat and fish too, but we eat those in small quantities here at home.
What is the concept of the ‘pic nic club’?
The idea of the ‘pic nic club’ is to organize picnics in places where we normally would not be able to do it. The objective is to make known places of natural beauty and / or historical importance that are currently undervalued in terms of tourism. Therefore, each edition happens at a different place, in order to provide a diverse experience. It consists of a picnic where we just need to come, sit, and enjoy. This event provides an afternoon well spent, with friends and family, with healthy, local, seasonal food, and we always get to know a little bit more about our country.
The first edition of the ‘pic nic club’ was entitled By the Hill and took place at the Fort of Alqueidão. Can you describe this experience?
We couldn’t have asked for a better place for the first edition. A fantastic view, a place with a lot of history, it certainly was wonderful. The first edition happened two years ago and since then people keep asking me when it will be repeated. People came from north and south who did not know this area and they were delighted, eager to repeat the experience.
This edition had Sara Diniz, an adept of relaxation, meditation and a more balanced and wasteless life, as a special guest. You also place a high value on the sustainability of the environment and respect for the ecosystems. How can we reconcile these aspects so fundamental for the survival of the planet with the lives of today? Especially when we face the challenge of feeding 7.7 billion people worldwide?
Food is a key point, our food choices – both what we eat and what we leave uneaten and wasted – are the biggest source of our environmental footprint. In Portugal, one million tons of food are wasted annually. Reducing food waste is the most relevant step towards environmental sustainability, since agricultural and livestock production is one of the activities with greatest environmental impact, and food waste generates 8% of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Avoiding food waste is a daily struggle that begins with our choices as consumers. Buying in the right quantity, from local producers of from a sustainable origin, and knowing how to make the best use of everything we buy, are undoubtedly steps that we can all take to lead a more sustainable life.
You know the Lines of Torres Vedras well. Here, 210 years ago, nature was at the service of the country's defence. The forts then built for the defence of Lisbon are now national heritage, mostly inserted in a natural environment. How can this heritage contribute to raise the awareness that it is necessary to preserve the ecosystems, and that it is possible to make use of nature and heritage in balance with leisure?
I love to travel; I have been to several countries on several continents and when I return home, I always have the same feeling: Portugal has a lot of natural and historical heritage that is highly underutilized. I think this is a task that starts at home, the task of learning to value what is ours, our history and the Nature that surrounds us. And after that we have to have the structures of the State oriented towards this path as well, schools, cultural initiatives, local policies. It has to be a joint effort to add value to what we have.
What can each of us do in a practical and immediate way in our day-to-day activities to contribute to achieving “zero waste”?
Zero waste is a little utopian, it is impossible to live a life without creating any waste. And if we feed that expectation, we will rapidly feel frustrated and unmotivated. Instead we can – and should – create smaller, more achievable goals, because they all have an impact. For example, refusing disposable and single-use bags and containers, better planning our purchases and meals to avoid food waste, opting for more environmentally friendly and bulk products and, above all, making use of what we already have (reuse) instead of buying more.
Being a dynamic person, you are not afraid of new challenges. Tell us a little about this new Cozinha ao Domicílio service.
Cozinha ao Domicílio is a new project but it is already having an exceptionally good acceptance. This service delivers home meals for the whole or part of the week, ready to eat, so that people do not have to worry about it. In my workshops I always felt that people love to learn and put the recipes into practice, but they all complain about the same thing: they lack the time to dedicate to the kitchen as they would like. And this often prevents them from having a more balanced diet. They arrive home tired, after a day at work, with no mental availability to think about big menus, and the most immediate options are usually not the healthiest. This service responds to that need, every week there is a different menu and people can order three or five meals for two or four people. The menu is plant based and can be adjusted to the preferences of each person – for example, if you don't like or are intolerant to any ingredient. This service turns out to be a materialization of the content of my website and of my vision of food, and I am incredibly pleased not only for taking this step but also for the acceptance it is having.
We know that you provide other services such as showcookings, workshops, recipe consulting and catering. How does this work and how can people contact you?
Yes, in fact these are the main focuses of my work. I develop workshops and showcookings for individuals and companies, I have had many requests for these online initiatives, due to the pandemic, and they have been going very well. I find that companies are increasingly betting on themes related to sustainability and the importance of a balanced diet for their employees. I also develop consultancy for restaurants, cafés and other establishments that wish to include healthier and / or vegetarian options in their menus. In this case, the consultancy may undergo only a review of the menu itself, or else, the creation of exclusive recipes for that Client and the respective training of the kitchen staff. I occasionally develop content and recipes for brands and hypermarkets and also some caterings or private chef service for selected events. The best way to contact me for these or other initiatives is through my website.
