The good old Portuguese soup: caldo verde, sopa da pedra and sopa de peixe

Soup is one of the oldest dishes there is, going back to prehistory, and in Portugal it has never gone out of fashion. The country defends its position as Europe's leading soup consumer fiercely, with a repertoire wide enough to suit every region and every season.

Most soups here are served as a starter, though some are substantial enough to be the whole meal. In Portugal, a soup a day is shorthand for eating well. It carries all the associations of home cooking: care, comfort, and a plausible cure for most of what ails you.

Caldo verde

The favourite is caldo verde, green broth, and it is almost austere in its simplicity. Collard greens, a delicate native cousin of kale, are sliced into fine ribbons and dropped into a creamy potato base with a few slices of chouriço. Traditionally it comes with a slice of crusty wood-baked cornbread. It started on the northern coast and spread from there across the country and beyond it, to become the best-known green soup Portugal has. Have it as a starter, as a midnight snack, or as the thing that puts you back together after a night out.

Sopa da pedra

Sopa da pedra, stone soup, is smoky and filling: pork and red beans in an earthy vegetable broth. The recipe comes from central Portugal but has won over the whole country. The Portuguese are almost as fond of the story behind it as of the soup itself, because it flatters something we like to believe about ourselves. The moral of stone soup is that sharing what you have with strangers tends to leave everyone better fed.

Sopa de peixe

Finally, one of the finest and most popular of all: sopa de peixe, fish soup. It is made from genuinely fishy odds and ends, usually in a light, herb-infused tomato broth. Wherever you are in Portugal there is a regional fish soup waiting for you. It may or may not include prawns, clams, mussels or elbow pasta, and it may be a mix of several fish or a solo performance by one, with anything from monkfish to white fish in the lead. With a coastline this long, Portugal has a deep rapport with its sea, and nowhere is that easier to taste than in an unpretentious bowl of fish soup.