A big “bean stew” in Vasco da Gama bridge

You’ve probably heard of the Vasco da Gama bridge, or even crossed it. It was baptized with the name of the famous portuguese navigator, and it connects Alcochete to Lisbon and to Sacavém. It is known for its hardiness (it is capable of standing wind gusts of 250 km/h!) and for being one of the biggest in Europe.

But you might not know that in that same bridge, in the year of 1998, there was a Guinness Event with a traditional portuguese dish: a big “feijoada”, made of meat, sausages and, of course, black beans (“feijoada” comes from “feijão”, bean in Portuguese).

This was an event promoted by a detergent brand - Fairy - and it got into the Guinness World of Records as the biggest table in the world. A table with 5,05 meters was set up, to serve 15 thousand people!

When the bridge was finally inaugurated, seven days later, there was a big traffic jam as expected: kilometers and kilometers of cars queuing, leading to traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, the long bridge was surpassed by the Crimea bridge, built on the Kerch Strait, in Russia. Now, when you cross this bridge, you might remember the taste of the big “feijoada” which, on the day of 1998, united the lisboners.