Serving dishes shaped like food...

Faianças Artísticas Bordallo Pinheiro (Bordallo’s Artistic Earthenware) was founded in 1884 and is still extremely popular today. His pieces (now mass-produced) are shown in museums across the world and most Portuguese people you meet will have at least one pumpkin or fish-shaped dish in their home. They’re extremely common as wedding gifts but there is something nice about having one in the family for generations. My mother had a salad bowl shaped like a cabbage leaf that was handed down from my great-grandmother. Although the designs are very ornate and now more likely to be purchased as ironic tableware (I've got my eyes on the melon bowls for breakfast) if they’re to be used rather than displayed, the company has an impressive history and their pieces are instantly recognizable. It’s a shame that their website isn’t better constructed – losing half of each image at the bottom of the page is frustrating but then I’ve noticed that the vast majority of Portuguese businesses are badly represented on the web. There’s a campaign in this somewhere, I just know it. In the meantime, I give you a soup tureen shaped like a pumpkin. Aren’t the fish dishes just a little bit scary?