Paperback
978-1-77212-655-6Size: 6" x 9"
Pages: 320
epub
978-1-77212-688-4Pages: 304
Pages: 304
How to Clean a Fish
And Other Adventures in Portugal
Wayfarer
By Esmeralda Cabral
How to Clean a Fish describes an extended family stay in Portugal, full of food, adventure, and the search for home. Offered the opportunity to live in Costa da Caparica for an extended period, Esmeralda Cabral jumped at the chance to return to the country of her birth. Together with her Canadian-born husband, children, and Portuguese Water Dog, Maggie, Cabral makes new and nostalgic discoveries—a labyrinth of cobblestone alleys and beautiful painted tiles, a delicious bica and pastel de nata, a classic fado concert, the gentle ribbing of local fishmongers, a damaging high tide—translating words and emotions for her family along the way. Packed with local cuisine and customs, tales of language barriers and bureaucracy, and threaded with that irresistible need to connect with the culture of our birth, How to Clean a Fish is for readers curious about life in Portugal and for anyone who has moved from one place to another and is seeking their own version of home.
Book details
Publication date: May 2023Features: Map, recipes
Series: Wayfarer
Keywords: Portugal; Costa da Caparica; Lisbon; fado; sardines; extended stay; foreign country; travelling; pets; identity; culture; adaptability; duality; translating for family; longing; home; recipes; cooking; food; markets; hospitality; immigation; saudade
Subject(s): TRAVEL / Essays & Travelogues, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Travel Literature, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Literary Nonfiction, Area Studies, Area Studies / European Studies, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Auto/biography & Memoir, TRAVEL / Europe / Spain & Portugal, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs, Memoirs, Travel writing, Travel, Literary Nonfiction, Travel / Portuguese Culture, Portugal; Costa da Caparica; Lisbon; fado; sardines; extended stay; foreign country; travelling; pets; identity; culture; adaptability; duality; translating for family; longing; home; recipes; cooking; food; markets; hospitality; immigation; saudade
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: May 2023Features: Map, recipes
Series: Wayfarer
Keywords: Portugal; Costa da Caparica; Lisbon; fado; sardines; extended stay; foreign country; travelling; pets; identity; culture; adaptability; duality; translating for family; longing; home; recipes; cooking; food; markets; hospitality; immigation; saudade
Subject(s): TRAVEL / Essays & Travelogues, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Travel Literature, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Literary Nonfiction, Area Studies, Area Studies / European Studies, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Auto/biography & Memoir, TRAVEL / Europe / Spain & Portugal, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs, Memoirs, Travel writing, Travel, Literary Nonfiction, Travel / Portuguese Culture, Portugal; Costa da Caparica; Lisbon; fado; sardines; extended stay; foreign country; travelling; pets; identity; culture; adaptability; duality; translating for family; longing; home; recipes; cooking; food; markets; hospitality; immigation; saudade
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Esmeralda Cabral. Esmeralda Cabral is a creative nonfiction writer. She was born in the Azores (Portugal), grew up in Alberta, and now lives in Vancouver.
"These pages are as delicious as the Portuguese food the author so enthusiastically writes about. Any English speaker interested in Portugal will gladly savor Esmeralda Cabral's genuine narratives as a tasty introduction to Portuguese culture's joys, appeals, intricacies, and mysteries. She is well-versed with food, fado, the language, and even soccer, but she has to negotiate how to feel somewhat at home in the complex web of subtle Portuguese ways.” Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, Brown University
"With the keen eye of a traveller, Esmeralda Cabral serves up close depictions of daily life in Costa da Caparica, including market days, pastéis de nata, and Portuguese hospitality. Told with warmth and layered with Cabral’s nuanced reflections on home, belonging, and family, How to Clean a Fish is an enticing memoir that will connect with readers." Meaghan Hackinen, author of South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels
“Our easy-going and approachable narrator gives us a charming and entertaining book that is part travelogue, part memoir. Readers will find themselves cheering Esmeralda—and her family—on.” Scott Edward Anderson, author of Falling Up and Azorean Suite
“Esmeralda enthusiastically embraces the opportunity to live with her family in a beautiful fishing village near Lisbon. Sharing genuine conversation with folks she meets, exploring her love of fish, and constantly translating and interpreting for her husband and children, Esmeralda’s journey is rooted in an awareness of history and culture, and in the dilemma of belonging.” Maria Manuela Vaz Marujo, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto
Map
INVERNO (WINTER)
A Harrowing Ride
How Did We Get Here?
Passport Woes and Flight Plans
Around Town
The First Big Storm
Portuguese Hospitality
A Rainy Day in Lisbon
Planning to Run
Winter Market Days
Ashes to Ashes
Belonging
A Phone Call from Canada
PRIMAVERA (SPRING)
The Lisbon Mini-Marathon
Tracking The Passport
Lost in Alfama
Fado Concert
25th of April
Reflections on Duality
Our Guests
Matt’s Arrival
A Weekend in Aldeia
Haircut
World Cup Friendly
Border Services 1
Spring Market Days
VERÃO (SUMMER)
A Dog’s Life
Border Services 2
Summer Market Days
An Inheritance of Loss
Fado Bar
Sardine Season
Adeus Costa da Caparica
A Vacation in the North
Good-bye Lisbon
Back in Vancouver
Recipes
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Esmeralda Cabral. Esmeralda Cabral is a creative nonfiction writer. She was born in the Azores (Portugal), grew up in Alberta, and now lives in Vancouver.
"These pages are as delicious as the Portuguese food the author so enthusiastically writes about. Any English speaker interested in Portugal will gladly savor Esmeralda Cabral's genuine narratives as a tasty introduction to Portuguese culture's joys, appeals, intricacies, and mysteries. She is well-versed with food, fado, the language, and even soccer, but she has to negotiate how to feel somewhat at home in the complex web of subtle Portuguese ways.” Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, Brown University
"With the keen eye of a traveller, Esmeralda Cabral serves up close depictions of daily life in Costa da Caparica, including market days, pastéis de nata, and Portuguese hospitality. Told with warmth and layered with Cabral’s nuanced reflections on home, belonging, and family, How to Clean a Fish is an enticing memoir that will connect with readers." Meaghan Hackinen, author of South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels
“Our easy-going and approachable narrator gives us a charming and entertaining book that is part travelogue, part memoir. Readers will find themselves cheering Esmeralda—and her family—on.” Scott Edward Anderson, author of Falling Up and Azorean Suite
“Esmeralda enthusiastically embraces the opportunity to live with her family in a beautiful fishing village near Lisbon. Sharing genuine conversation with folks she meets, exploring her love of fish, and constantly translating and interpreting for her husband and children, Esmeralda’s journey is rooted in an awareness of history and culture, and in the dilemma of belonging.” Maria Manuela Vaz Marujo, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto
Map
INVERNO (WINTER)
A Harrowing Ride
How Did We Get Here?
Passport Woes and Flight Plans
Around Town
The First Big Storm
Portuguese Hospitality
A Rainy Day in Lisbon
Planning to Run
Winter Market Days
Ashes to Ashes
Belonging
A Phone Call from Canada
PRIMAVERA (SPRING)
The Lisbon Mini-Marathon
Tracking The Passport
Lost in Alfama
Fado Concert
25th of April
Reflections on Duality
Our Guests
Matt’s Arrival
A Weekend in Aldeia
Haircut
World Cup Friendly
Border Services 1
Spring Market Days
VERÃO (SUMMER)
A Dog’s Life
Border Services 2
Summer Market Days
An Inheritance of Loss
Fado Bar
Sardine Season
Adeus Costa da Caparica
A Vacation in the North
Good-bye Lisbon
Back in Vancouver
Recipes
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
