Shared meals have an essential community-building aspect. Especially when it is preceded by cooking together: as well as being the most cost-effective option, it has become one of our favourite team-building activities for trips and retreats over the years. Not to mention the opportunity to get acquainted with the local culture through the flavours.
I always loved to cook, at some point I even had my own poké bowl bar in Budapest.
Having had this opportunity to learn more about the craft of catering is a skill I can now put to use on the GoBeyond trips. I travelled with the team for the first time two years ago, and since then I’ve become responsible for the gastronomic experiences of the month-long home office camp in Portugal.
Ericeira is not only a popular destination for surfers, motorcyclists and campers, here you’ll be a returning guest even if culinary delights are the main driver of your trip. We always head to the town’s traditional Portuguese restaurants – my personal favourite is AVO! We also host themed dinner parties for which we go grocery shopping, cook and feast together. I particularly like the Marisco seafood nights, when we eat shrimp and octopus and grill different types of fish. I enjoy a number of things on these trips, but one of my favourite experiences is guaranteed to be when the passengers fall into a food coma.
In Ericeira, you can also taste the town’s namesake animal, the sea urchin, which is eaten raw by locals as an after-lunch snack. So much so that there is even a statue of a sea urchin in one of the squares.
But whatever you eat, cooking is always a communal experience, which not only recharges you after a day of surfing, but also opens up space for great conversations!