There are many stories (some true, some not) about why people from Porto are called “Tripeiros”, but one thing is for sure, it comes from tripe.

This month of May we celebrate nothing less than 600 years of the presence of tripe as a dish in Porto and so 1200 plates of “Tripas à moda do Porto” (tripes a la Porto) were served a couple of weeks back in downtown, by an initiative of the City Hall and Porto’s University. In total, we are talking about 150 kg of tripe, 120 kg of white beans and 50 kg of rice involved in making all of these. 10 restaurants participated, all of which selected due to their knowledge of cooking this dish.

The most well-known story says that in 1415, people from Porto won the name of “tripeiros” for having given away all the meat of the city to the armada of Infante D. Henrique who sailed that year from Porto to conquer Ceuta, our first stronghold in Africa. What was left was tripe which is what people ate. Is this story true?

Are there other stories you know of?
Ask your guide on one of our food tours!