In Belém today, close to Vasco da Gama’s tomb, the statue of gruff Albuquerque, and the shore from which the Portuguese sailed away, there is a venerable pâtisserie and café, the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém. It is perhaps a shrine to the more benign influences of Portugal’s global adventure. People flock here to eat its specialty, the pastéis de Belém, sweet custard tarts, baked golden brown and sprinkled with cinnamon, accompanied by hits of coffee, black as tar. Cinnamon, sugar, coffee: the tastes of the world first landed here in sailing ships.
