Short Stories

Saturday the 23rd of January 2021 Leaving Vila do Bispo and travelling north, we reach Pedralva and the Pizza Pazza restaurant. Unfortunately, it’s closed. I was really hungry for a freshly baked crispy pizza there. So I carry on north on the EN120, which goes through Carrapateira next to the Atlantic Ocean, and which then reaches Aljezur. I recently had a very good vegetarian pizza in the village of Alfambras at Trigo Vermelho, the restaurant that also serves a pizza made with gluten-free dough and also a vegan pizza. Due to the lock down of the country, the owner has …

Saturday the 16th of January 2021 It is shortly after 12 o’clock on this day before the lock-down, shortly before the country is once again completely closed down. The Parliament decided an hour ago to close Portugal and all its restaurants. The door opens and the guest who enters says into the room: “Mmm, it smells good in here.” We start our journey through the best cuisines of the Republic in Vila do Bispo, in the extreme southwest of Portugal. Our idea is to travel through all 308 counties and test and recommend the food in each one. Somewhere I …

Saturday, 9 of January 2021 At the smallest restaurant in the world Dreams – will they come true or will they forever be an illusion? How about we take a look at our food and how it is produced. In 2021, this feature is dedicated to food. In this context, I have several requirements. There are several aspects that are important to me. First of all, when I have a meal away from my home, I want it to be at least as good as if I were eating at home. Otherwise, the travel, the expense of the car and …

Saturday, January 2nd 2021 How do we get through hard times together? Are you hungry, alone, ill? With solidarity, with the heart, a modicum of generosity and with the will to love your neighbour. At the moment, probably the best campaign representing these attributes can be found here: https://ppl.pt/en/lugaramesa. On the first day of the new year,  2,815 meals had already been prepared and distributed. However, the aim is to reach at least 4,000 full plates and the campaign will run until 18 January. At the end, it may also come tor (much) more than 4,000 dishes. This is a …

The other day I was asleep, and dreamed of waking up; however, all around me was darkness. Did I find myself in the world of a blind man or simply in a space in the universe without any light whatsoever, not even stars on the horizon? In that dream, I had lost something valuable in the forest and was looking for this… something, I didn’t even know what it was. I could sense life around me, everywhere, but I couldn’t see it. I became unsure of myself. What happens when you are in a public space where you can’t see …

  Are trees able to communicate with one another? Working independently from each other, the Canadian forest ecologist Suzanne Simard and the German forester warden Peter Wohlleben have discovered that trees are highly individual beings that have feelings, understand friendship, possess a mutual language and look after each other. This documentary examines the different ways in which trees communicate with one another, combining scientific research with the observations of a practising forest warden. The film also looks at how this knowledge may influence our relationship with the forest. Just below the forest floor lies the ‘Internet of the Forest’ , …

Saturday, the 12th of December 2020 How about we prepare a little field trial? Let’s think this experimental setup through theoretically? Let’s assume we stay within our own four walls, or on the plot of land that we own. So we move as little as possible, don’t meet anyone, don’t go to school, nor to university. Life goes on, but a little differently. The Internet has been switched off. There is no Facebook, no Instagram and no WhatsApp. The TV screen is set to freeze frame. All we have available is the landline, in case we break a leg or …

Saturday, 5th December 2020 Eight Portuguese youngsters from Lisbon and Leiria, between eight and 21 years of age, have taken Germany, France, Great Britain as well as another 30 states including Russia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. Their complaint claims that the states they are suing aren’t doing enough against climate change. Surprisingly, the ECHR has admitted the legal action. Given the importance and urgency of the issues raised, the complaint would be given priority, the ECHR said on Monday. A lack of climate protection is a violation of human rights. In the context of …

Saturday 28th November 2020 The answer is easy. You make friends with a tree by planting it yourself. Choose a species of tree that you like: an oak or an olive tree, an umbrella pine or a fig, a chestnut or an apple tree. The choice is yours, the selection is huge. How do you go about it? Visit a tree nursery and take a look at those  little trees… It’s late November now, the best time to plant a young tree. For this your fingers have to enter into close contact with the earth. Pick up a handful of …

Saturday, 21st November 2020 Following years of negotiations, 15 countries formed the world’s largest trading bloc on Sunday. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is composed of the ten ASEAN states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The agreement, which is the result of intense and lengthy negotiations that first started in 2012, is seen as an extension of China’s influence in the region. Although it is relatively limited in scope, the RCEP covers more people than any previous trade agreement, with China …