Artwork Description:

Macao is often celebrated as a unique place in the world where "East meets West." One place where this happens is in Macao’s Portuguese restaurants where visitors from greater China encounter Portuguese and Western culture for the first time in dishes, decor and dining habits. Researchers have discovered that food is a lens that visitors use to imagine Portugal and the Portuguese people, romanticize Macao's past and pursue elegant experiences. To someone who grew up eating Portuguese dishes in a domestic context and associates that cuisine with home and family it is fascinating to imagine how the same food can produce an entirely new set of emotions. This too is the beauty of Macao: it is so many things to so many people.

Courtesy of the artist