If there is one calling card Lisbon is famous for, and effortlessly, is food. Our guide for foodies shows you which grocery stores in Lisbon to go to and why!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Walk down any cobblestoned street in the historic center of Lisbon and count how many roasted chestnut vendors (in the winters), salted codfish stands, canned sardines\u2019 shops, wine shops, and jam-packed grocery stores you find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re feeling the cartoon-like urge to follow the pungent cheese scent coming from the door behind that crowd of tourists, take a deep breath. There are places where customers are mostly locals and where products are better than the price tag would have you believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll show you what grocery stores in Lisbon to peel your eyes for and what to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Sandra Henriques Gajjar<\/a>, Text overlay: Devour Lisbon Food Tours<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercearias<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mercerarias<\/em> (grocery stores in English) are the ancestors of supermarkets in Lisbon before large national chains and shopping malls came along. These tiny stores, typically located in strategic locations near residential neighborhoods, are full top to bottom with anything and everything you need daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the old days, people came here to mostly buy dry goods (rice, beans, flour, canned food like the now tourist-famous conservas<\/em><\/a>) and regular customers had a tab (buy now, pay later or, as the Portuguese call it, fiado<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days in Lisbon, there\u2019s a mix of traditional mercearias<\/em> that still survive, as long as there are customers to keep the business going, and other establishments, some of them more recent, that became tourists\u2019 delight for their specialty items like cured meats (Manteigaria Silva<\/a> in Baixa), fresh goat milk butter (Mercearia do Po\u00e7o dos Negros<\/a> in Santos), local products from the Portuguese islands of Azores (Mercearia dos A\u00e7ores<\/a> in Baixa), and salted cod<\/a> (P\u00e9rola do Arsenal<\/a> in Baixa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n