To Pinhais & Cia.

The New York Times had an article this summer describing the tour of the Pinhais canning factory, which has retained an entirely manual processing method. The original founding Pinhal family, was ready to close the conservaría (which has been the fate of nearly all of the many canning factories in this area), but a rich Austrian who very much loves these particular sardines bought the factory in 2020. His condition was that the original methods be preserved. And he opened the factory to tours. It was incredibly interesting.

We started in the original business office, with ornate staircases, beautiful tiles, all the old office equipment. There are a couple of movies (a little hokey) some reels showing old fishing scenes. Then we move to the actual factory, where the work is being done (a M-F visit is highly recommended though they give tours on weekends)

The line work is all done by women (some in the third or fourth generation). First step, chop off the head and pull out the guts in one swipe of the knife. Another woman cuts off the tail. There’s another line of women that put the special seasoning in each can —clove, Bayleaf, chili pepper, carrot, pickle, and black pepper. Then finally the perfectly cut sardines are placed in the cans. The cans themselves are closed mechanically. But the labels are put on by hand, at a pace of one every six seconds.

The women seemed to take enormous pride in their work. Many came to greet us on the floor and seemed genuinely happy. The NYT article reported that the women make 800€ a month, which is just minimum wage. I’m not equating job satisfaction with a high salary, but it did surprise me.

We took a bus out and back, from the Douro to the sea and up the coast a bit. After an hour walk along the water, we headed back. I then took one last walk across the bridge to enjoy the view in late afternoon sun and to watch all the people speaking so many different languages and all enjoying the same beautiful sights.Read more