TWO HANDS ON THE CANS

Lisbon,

By Joe Ray

Barcelona’s canned goods quality fanatic Quim Perez should know about this place.

I find the Lisbon landmark, the Conserveira de Lisboa (The Lisbon Cannery) - famous for their Tricana line of high-end canned seafood, completely by accident.

After I pay for a few tins, cannery owner Regina Ferreria walks out of the back room. She asks me what I’ve found, grimaces and walks to the side wall of her tiny, picturesque shop and pulls down a 125 gram tin of ovas de sardinha – sardine eggs. She uses both of her hands to place her gift into mine.

"Open them gently. Place them on a plate. Place them on bread – not toast – so the olive oil gets soaked up," she says. "No forks! It bothers them - use a spatula. Serve these to your sweetie with vinho verde."

I need to stop traveling alone.

Conserveira de Lisboa - Map
Rua dos Bacalhoeiros, 34
Lisbon
+351.218.871.058

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting