Two-thousand years ago, Evora was an outpost at the western edge of the Roman empire.

Portugal's cuisine is a dual product of its going about the world and colonizing distant backwaters and also being colonized and conquered itself.

While spices of every ilk represent the cultural leftovers of Portugal's empire, cheese represents the leftovers of the Roman Empire's expansion into Iberia. Like me, the Romans were also keen on the idea of travel food. Their marching armies needed food that could keep well over a variety of terrain and temperatures. Cheese became the fuel source of the Roman Army, and they brought all their cheesemaking technology along with them. As they conquered and colonized, they brought their techniques to each new city and town. And thus a network of protein and calcium providers expanded out from Rome and became cheddar and blue cheese and triple-creme.

Although cheese was probably first popularized in the Middle East, it was the Romans who spread it across Europe, and thus created a bloom of new cheese types across a subcontinent.

The Romans built a sturdy wall around Evora, and so the entire center of town is enclosed even today.

Although the French and British argue about where the best cheeses come from, it was the Romans – and therefore Italy - who fueled Europe with so many of the staple varieties.

Maps and Journals Portugual Map Iberian Peninsula Map

Iberian Peninsula Madrid and the Southern Meseta "..and I sensed that he too, could 'pick up the dirt and smell it' at least if it was a good Spanish vineyard dirt." Faded Majesty of Lisbon's Alfama It is colored in a smudgy gray, festooned with pinks and canaries and aquas and limes. Tangier and the Imaginary Maitre'd Fromager Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: On day One of Ramadan, we seek out handmade Berber cheese in Tangier. Ernest and the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: Reflect on the monkeys of Gibraltar, culture and cheese. Mission in the Sun: Andalucia, Spain Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: Notes regarding our quest to find the best artisanal cheeses in Southern Spain. Cheeses of Extremadura, Spain Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: Wandering in Spain's most unvisited region. The Beiras and the Sheep's Cheeses of the Serra Mountains Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: "...Many of the shepherd huts are made of stone and thatch. Our goal is the small settlement the boys mentioned..." Rolling Alentejo Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: "...Weather which tops out at over a hundred and ten degrees in the summer season help to keep this third of Portugal thinly populated." Azeitao Cheese of the Lisbon Coast Travels with an Imaginary Fromagier: Setubal is a mazelike city, even more gnarled and twisty than Evora. It hugs the coast of the Setubal Peninsula, facing south.