In Portugal, this Christmas was adapted, but never dissolved. Married to a Portuguese woman, Mário assumes that at Christmas time he cannot do without eating goat – whether in funge, stew or roast – wherever he goes, be it to his in-laws’ house or somewhere else. More important than this dish, which he classifies as indispensable, is the family. Cod may appear, but it is not central. Furthermore, it guarantees: “I really like Portugal, but I wouldn’t exchange a Portuguese stew for a moamba.”
Days before this conversation, Susana Ribeiro, Mário’s Portuguese wife, recalled how, after marrying the Angolan native, her life was never the same in gastronomic terms. The family dinner table is, therefore, a hybrid territory.
Alongside rice pudding and rabanadas in syrup, which are also legacies of the Portuguese tradition taken to Angola, Angolan sweets appear. Mario talks about paracuca e Futuresweets made from peanuts – which in Angola is called ginguba) – and quitaba, a spicy and intense peanut paste with gindungo. The gindungo, in fact, is never missing. It is not always cooked, it is always on the table to be added to food, respecting a logic of natural and little processed use.
More than the dishes, however, it is the family structure that defines Christmas. In Angola, age is synonymous with wisdom. Mário’s mother is “Menha Cota”, the oldest in the family, the one who everyone asks for advice before making important decisions. An emotional hierarchy is organized around them, with the “quotas”, that is, the uncles, the cousins who, in a decision-making process that goes beyond the family connection, become the mother’s brothers. Respect manifests itself in simple gestures, such as kissing the forehead and being present. This year will be the first Christmas spent without her in Portugal, as she returned to Angola. Absence weighs heavily, but does not break the ritual.