5 Things you won’t find in a Portuguese grocery store

Portuguese grocery stores are well-stocked with delicious food and handy household items. But for me, an American living in Portugal, some items are difficult to find.

Peanut Butter

Portuguese people in general aren’t big fans of peanut butter. You won’t find peanut butter cookies in bakeries and peanut butter isn’t a staple of kid’s lunches.

Grocery stores in Portugal will sometimes carry a single brand of peanut butter, but we’ve found it below average in taste. So, when we need some pb for the pantry, we’ll shop at the German grocery store chain Aldi. They carry some Trader Joe’s products including Trader Joe’s peanut butter.

Sometimes, a friend with a car will roadtrip to Spain to the Costo in Seville. They’ll kindly pick up an industrial-sized jar of the creamy stuff for us.

Dill

Portuguese people love cooking with herbs. Rosemary, mint, parsley, and cilantro are a few of the herbs that are available fresh in any market. Dried herbs, especially oregano, are also plentiful on store shelves.

One herb you’ll rarely see, however, is dill. I remember one time, soon after we arrived, there was a post on our city’s expat Facebook group excitedly proclaiming that a vendor at the local market was selling dill.

“What’s the big deal?” I thought as I continued mindlessly scrolling.

The big deal was that I didn’t see dill anywhere the rest of the summer.

Now, I too get excited when someone is selling dill at the market. I’ll be making potato salad for sure!

Dawn

Most houses in Portugal don’t have dishwashers (though they’re becoming more common, especially in new buildings). So, you end up washing dishes by hand.

For me, it’s not a big deal. I’ve always washed dishes by hand, even when I had a dishwasher (weird, I know).

Good dishwashing liquid, like Dawn, makes the job of scrubbing the dinner plates easy, or at least tolerable. However, in Portugal, good dishwashing soap is hard to find. I must’ve tried a dozen brands and they all have the same problem. They suck.

Put some soap on the sponge and after a couple of dishes, it’s suds are gone. And, if you’ve just fried up a batch of crispy eggplant in oil? Forget it. That will take half a bottle of the limp dishwashing soap to get the pan clean.

Meat substitutes

In many European countries like Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, there are tons of vegan options. Grocery stores have entire refrigerated sections and aisles dedicated to vegan cheese, vegan yogurt, and vegan meat substitutes.

In Portugal, that’s not the case. There are a couple vegan cheese makers, but their distribution isn’t great. The meat substitutes, if there are any at all, are limited to one or two selections hidden in corner.

On the other hand, Alpro, a plant-based food company from Belgium, makes vegan yogurt that is widely available in Portugal and of very good quality.

Mac & Cheese

The other day we were in Lisbon filming a video when we stumbled upon the “Liberty American Store.”

Inside they had “American” products like Lucky Charms flavored Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix, Frank’s Hot Sauce, and Duncan Hines cake mix.

Then, I saw it.

Sitting beside a display of Oreos were boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese. I haven’t eaten boxed mac & cheese since I was in college but this immediately transported me back to Champaign, Illinois and our off-campus apartment where we’d whip up some m&c in a saucepan without a handle and add in some Spam. Fancy.

About the Author

Brent Petersen is the Editor-in-Chief of Destination Eat Drink. He currently resides in Setubal, Portugal. Brent has written the novel Truffle Hunt (Eckhartz Press) and the short story collection That Bird. He’s also written dozens of foodie travel guides to cities around the world on Destination Eat Drink, including an in-depth eating and drinking guide to Portugal. Brent’s podcast, also called Destination Eat Drink, is available on all major podcasting platforms.