This year was the fourth and certainly the most popular year to date as over 100,000 meals will have been served in restaurnats and bars in the three council areas participating in the Rota do Petisco that promotes traditional cuisine at a very reasonable price.
Organised by Teia D'Impulsos, the event began on September 5 and ends tonight with the total number of meals served already beating the 100,000 in 2013 which best all expectations.
"We do not have exact numbers yet, but we do know that already we have exceeded last year’s total. The indications are that the initiative again has been a huge success," said the Teia D'impulsos association’s president Nuno Vieira.
This year the promotion covered Portimão, Lagoa and Silves with 124 restaurants and bars offering snacks consisting of a small dish of locally sources food and a drink for €2.50 to get tourists and locals into the swing and tasting Algarve cuisine from the land and sea.
According to Vieira, the event when it began was "a shot in the dark but it already has assumed an important place in the cultural and gastronomic calendar of the most important tourist region of the country."
"Four years ago it was a new concept in the Algarve, but it has attracted the attention of businesses and in 2014 the coverage was extended to two other municipalities," said a happy and well fed Viera, adding that "the success of the event already has had ramifications beyond the Algarve" and that "there are other regions of the country that have expressed an interest in adopting the ‘rota’ idea.
The Rota de Pestico has a social mission as well since the money obtained from the sale of the rota passport, a document that allows participation in the event and costs €1, is donated to charities local to the Algarve.
