“Amor proíbido” (Forbidden Love), the blackberry pastry from Sete Cidades, in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, was presented to the public this Tuesday, October 22, in the hall of the parish’s Casa do Povo.

At the request of the Sete Cidades parish council, the delicacy was created and developed by the Centro Social e Cultural da Atalhada, an association based in Lagoa. The logo was designed by the creative team at Cresaçor —the Azores Regional Solidarity Economy Cooperative.

According to Nuno Martins, president of the Atalhada Social and Cultural Center in Lagoa, the final product “is the merit of a whole team.” He believes that it is an important brand for the parish since it “invokes what is important in terms of the identity” of those who live in the town.

“It’s important that this product is also yours. We made it and we built it, but above all it must be yours because that’s the only way you’ll want to preserve it,” he said during the presentation.

More than a dozen people attended the presentation session and learned that the aim was to create a typical sweet from the Sete Cidades Valley. The choice of blackberry as the base for the Quezada was no coincidence either, as the polychaete fruit is typical of the valley’s landscape, just as coal and the washerwomen are part of the local history. That’s why the cheese also contains activated charcoal, which gives it its black color, as well as the white topping, which represents the washerwomen.

Nuno Martins explained that the choice of name invokes the legend of the princess and the shepherd and their “forbidden love.”

For the parish council president, Cidália Pavão, this is “a long-standing idea.” After the session, the president spoke to Diário da Lagoa (DL) and explained that the fact that Sete Cidades is “a very touristy parish” sparked the desire to have something that tourists could buy and take away with them.

“Sete Cidades had nothing typical. Now we have to wait for the tourists to take the forbidden love of Sete Cidades with them,” said Cidália Pavão with humor.

Nélia Viveiros, a member of the board of directors of the Cresaçor cooperative, told DL (Diário da Lagoa) that they are “proud of the institution because it’s about the solidarity economy, training people and developing the territory, where we support our cooperators, and now we have a product from the region.”

The delicacy will be presented at the “Taste Azores” event in Lisbon from October 30 to November 4. Initially, the Queijada will be on sale in the parish of Sete Cidades. Still, those responsible don’t rule out the possibility of putting the product on sale elsewhere at a later stage.

in Diário da Lagoa, Clife Botelho-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.