Salsicharia Luísa

Stalls: 159-160

Ms. Luísa's family history in Bolhão begins with her grandmother Laura. Still at a very young age, Ms. Laura used to hitchhike from Avintes to Porto in the truck that brought the bakesters, who came to sell the typical bread from their hometown in the city markets. Ms. Luísa's grandmother's day-to-day life was very busy: she would go to the slaughterhouse to buy tripe, she would prepare the tripe, and then she would sell them raw and ready to be floured by the market ladies; the blood, she would cook it at home, and then she would sell it at the various market stalls. 

Ms. Luísa was only 9 years old when she started coming to Bolhão with her grandmother. Despite being a little girl, she would make deliveries and collect requests that she would then pass on to her grandmother. From those times, Ms. Luísa remembers how she liked to help her grandmother and how pleased she was when she received a little cheese or sweets as gifts from her. But Ms. Luísa's story in the market continued: at the age of 10 she was hired to work for a lady, also from Avintes, who had a meat stall. At her new job, the first task she remembers doing was breaking bones with an axe. In the meantime, 18 years passed until Ms. Luísa — when she was almost 30 years old — took a new step in her professional life and started working on her own, in a stall that was available and that still remains open until today, bearing her name.

At the age of 63, after a long life of hard work, Ms. Luísa is thinking of retiring and taking advantage of her well-deserved rest.