Faial Gastronomy
Although Faial faces the sea and various influences from it over the centuries, the cooking of Faial does not stray from Azorean tradition.
There are the substantial dishes of linguiça com inhames (sausages and yams), molha de carne (a meat speciality), morcelas de porco (a pork blood sausage), torresmos de vinha-de-alhos (bacon prepared with wine and garlic), sopas do Espirito Santo (beef broth) as well as caldo de peixe (fish soup), caldeirada (fish stew), and polvo guisado com vinho (octopus stewed in wine), accompanied by maize bread and massa sovada (sweet bread).
Lovers of shell-fish will be delighted at the taste of the local lobsters, cavaco, deep-water crabs and delicious arroz de lapas (limpets cooked with rice).
The llha and other cheeses produced on Faial, along with the sweet with the picturesque name of fofas, provide a good close to a meal.