Braganza’s City Council invited the investigator Armando Fernandes and the photographer Manuel Teles to research and record the region’s gastronomic culture. In addition to historical research, hundreds of interviews were conducted and old recipes from popular culture were collected. Carta Gastronómica de Bragança (Food History of Braganza) is, therefore, the aggregating element of all this material and immaterial heritage.
The book was organized in three sections: historical context, photographs of artifacts related to gastronomy, and interviews and recipes from popular culture. To reinforce this editorial division, three types of paper were used, making it clear to distinguish the three moments. On the cover, we combined different materials and techniques to offer the reader visual and tactile stimuli. To this end, the text elements were printed on Braganza's cartographic map, printed in bronze metallic Pantone, on dark brown paper.
Carta Gastronómica de Bragança is the only complete document with all region’s ingredients, recipes and culinary history, and allows forgotten flavors and processes to be recovered both by restaurants and by private kitchens. The book contains 128 photographs of objects and artifacts for future memory, as well as 199 recipes that reveal the bragançanos’ (Braganza's inhabitants) most common products and food practices.