Is it true that you can cook food underground in the Azores?

Yep. That’s true.

In São Miguel, in the village of Furnas, you can literally cook a full meal using the natural heat of the earth. Because this island is volcanic, the ground in certain areas releases geothermal steam strong enough to slow cook food for hours.

The most famous example is Cozido das Furnas. Locals prepare a large pot filled with meat, sausages, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, beans, sometimes even chicken or pork ear. The pot is sealed, lowered into a hole in the ground near the fumaroles, covered up, and left there for six to eight hours. No flame. No oven. Just volcanic steam doing the work.

The result is a stew that tastes like nowhere else. The cooking process gives the food a very specific texture and flavor that is hard to describe. Slightly mineral. Deep. Comforting. It is not smoky. It is not grilled. It is something else entirely. You have to try it to understand it.

And this is not a tourist trick. Restaurants in Furnas still cook Cozido das Furnas this way every day. It is tradition, geology, and lunch working together.

So if someone tells you we cook food in the ground here, believe them.