Alentejo clay tableware: the tureen, the olive dish and the cups, between the soup and the toast

By Sérgio Carvalho, co-founder of Ra-Ro · View profile

About a 4 minute read

Almost every Asterix adventure ends the same way. A banquet under the stars, wild boar on the spit, the whole village at the table and Cacofonix the bard tied to a tree so he cannot sing. These albums pass from house to house and from one generation to the next, and the ending is always the same. Maybe that is why nobody tires of it. The adventure changes. The table stays.

Alentejo clay tableware was born for that everyday table, not the formal one. At Olaria XT, in Redondo, a municipality in the district of Évora, master potter Xico Tarefa (Francisco José Rosado) throws tureens, olive dishes, cups and plates on the wheel, and his wife, Zeza, paints them by hand with sunflowers, olives and flowers. The tureen is the deep lidded piece that brings soup to the table; the olive dish is the small dish for olives; the clay cup is the wine glass. Together they set a whole Alentejo table.

I start with soup, because in the Alentejo that is where everything starts. Alentejo soups are recipes of memory, made of bread, olive oil, herbs and whatever the land gives. Açorda, with bread softening in a broth of garlic and coriander, is the best known. The Olaria XT tureen has sunflowers painted by Zeza, and it is one of those pieces that make the difference between serving from the pot and serving at the table. The difference is small. It is not nothing.

Then come the olives, rarely missing in the Alentejo and almost never announced. They just appear. They are there before the bread, with the bread, after the bread. The olive tree has long been part of the Alentejo landscape, and olive oil sits at the centre of the region's cooking, from dipping bread to the drizzle that finishes the soup. On the olive dish, Zeza painted the olives themselves, which has its charm: the piece tells you what it holds before it holds anything.

Wine and clay

The Alentejo is one of the regions where talha wine is still made, fermented in large clay vessels, so the link between clay and wine there is not decorative. The Olaria XT clay cups, a set of four, were made for serving wine and carry flowers painted by Zeza in strong colours. From lunch to snacks, from the first glass to the last, from the conversation that starts serious to the one nobody remembers starting. Four cups make a small table. That is enough.

And there is the owl plate, large, with an owl painted in the middle, which carries cheese and charcuterie to the table and hangs on the wall once the table is cleared. It is the freest piece of the set.

I set the table by heart, without rules, the way you tell a friend who asks. The tureen in the middle, because it is in charge. The olive dish next to the bread. One cup per person. The owl plate with whatever there is to nibble. A plain cloth, white or natural linen, because with painted sunflowers, olives and flowers you need no other pattern. Simple cutlery. Cloth napkins, if you have them.

Everyday use

I always come back to the same idea: the proof of anything lies in the everyday, not the special occasion. Over the decades, Xico Tarefa's wheel has turned out plates, salad bowls, basins, pots and frying pans, ware made to be used. These painted pieces carry on that line. They deserve an ordinary Tuesday as much as a Sunday. Does a painted tureen need an occasion, or does it create one? I am not sure. I lean towards the second.

Care is the same as for any painted clay ware: wash by hand, no scourers, and avoid the dishwasher, direct heat and sudden changes of temperature, such as pouring boiling soup into a cold tureen. If you are unsure about a particular use, ask us first through our contact page.

At the end of every Asterix adventure, the bard is tied up while the others eat. At an Alentejo table set with these pieces nobody is left out, and that is how it should be. If you want to meet the hands that made them, the story is in Tiago's article on Redondo pottery and on the Olaria XT page. And if you are already thinking of new wine, there is what Luís wrote about água-pé and jeropiga.

Frequently asked questions

What is a tureen for?

A tureen is a deep lidded dish for bringing soup and other spoon dishes to the table and keeping them warm during the meal.

What is an olive dish?

A small dish or bowl for serving olives at the table; the Olaria XT one, from Redondo, has hand painted olives.

Why is wine drunk from clay cups in the Alentejo?

Because clay is tied to wine in the region, where talha wine is still made, and the clay cup was the everyday vessel for serving wine at meals and with snacks.

Can painted clay tableware go in the dishwasher?

It is not recommended. Wash it by hand without scourers, and also avoid direct heat and sudden changes of temperature.

Who makes Olaria XT painted tableware?

Master potter Xico Tarefa throws the pieces on the wheel in Redondo, and his wife, Zeza, paints them by hand.

Where can I buy hand painted Alentejo clay tableware?

At Ra-Ro, which has the tureen, olive dish, wine cups and owl plate from Olaria XT in Redondo.