Cachupa, grogue and the flavors of home

You haven't tasted Cabo Verde until you've waited for a cachupa to finish — slow-cooked, generous, and best eaten in company.

Cachupa — the national table

Every family has a cachupa, and none of them agree. At its base: corn, beans, sweet potato and fish or meat, simmered low until the pot itself seems warm. Order cachupa rica for the full spread; cachupa pobre is its humbler cousin but no less loved. The next morning, that same pot is fried as cachupa refogada — smoky, crisp at the edges — and served with egg and linguiça.

Grogue and ponche

Sugarcane spirit grogue is distilled in Santo Antão's valleys where you can tour a trapiche and taste still-warm spirit cut with sugarcane juice. For something softer, try ponche — grogue steeped with honey, milk or passionfruit, often bottled for the journey home.

Markets, fish and coffee

Morning markets bring tuna so fresh it barely knows it's been caught, plus loaves still warm and coffee from Fogo's volcanic slopes. Sit. Share. Cabo Verdean hospitality doesn't rush.

Vegetarian? Say “sou vegetariano/a” — most kitchens will steer you to beans, grilled vegetables and the islands' surprisingly good salads.

Traveller's order

1. Breakfast: cuscuz de milho + papaya + Fogo coffee
2. Lunch: grilled tuna with xerém
3. Dinner: cachupa rica with grogue (or ponche)

Hungry? Browse the Janded Directory for local favourites near your stay.