Casa Gama Since 1963

Text: Paulo Galvão | Photo: Mauro Mota | Translator: João Diogo Rocha Pereira

Mouth-watering biscuits

This interview is interrupted by customers who, despite being quite early in the morning, are already at the counter of Ericeira’s oldest pastry shop. Inside we find Francisco Gama who, when his father passed away, was obliged to abandon his studies in Tomar – «I didn’t care much for studying anyway», he confesses, rolling up his sleeves – and to seize what would become his first and only job. «My father died too early and only saw this open for five days». This took place in 1963.

Before the takeover, his parents owned a bakery (which still exists to this day) in Eduardo Burnay Street. Business was good and so they decided to open Casa Gama, a few meters down the block. Francisco Gama was in charge of its management, along with his mother Maria Perpétua Gama, who retired as time went by. In fact, Casa Gama would only truly become of his ownership from 1986 onwards, when a favourable evaluation allowed him to keep Isabel Gama Claudino’s – his only sister – share.

Casa Gama is a successful brand and its biscuits represent a high quality product, which explains why there are long customer lines at its doorstep up to this day, despite the competition from countless pastry shops based in Ericeira. «There were few places like this one and sometimes we would be here in the shop until midnight». Here, the secret of the biscuits has been hidden for decades, with the original recipes worked on by the owner’s mother. «But meanwhile I’ve already perfected the recipes: a few more eggs, a little more margarine, etc.»

The shop’s decoration is characterised by the cans that store the biscuits: Ericeira’s “areias”, butter biscuits and cinnamon biscuits.

Activity in the shop began with only the biscuits and the cupcakes. Afterwards arrived the “queijadas”, the flans and the chocolate cake. The shop’s decoration is characterised by the cans that store the biscuits: Ericeira’s “areias”, butter biscuits and cinnamon biscuits. These are forty-year-old cans that were ordered at the time from Torres Vedras and Malveira’s tinsmiths.

Summer is a decisive period concerning the workload. At five in the morning Francisco is already in the shop and by half past six we already can smell the biscuits in the streets. He arrives, bakes the dough and places the biscuits in the oven. «I have customers that purchase biscuits here since the first day», he proudly mentions. Assisting him we find his two sons, who take turns between morning and afternoon and allow their father to dedicate some free time to his two passions: tropical fruit, which he grows in his own backyard and in a terrain in front of the school «… papayas, mangos… I have beautiful things there »; and the other one having its fair share of controversy: the Benfica football club. Francisco Gama, who’s associate no. 7340, hasn’t been to the “Estádio da Luz” for some seasons now, despite having a reserved seat. «I do not fancy Jorge Jesus [Benfica’s football coach], and while he’s there I won’t set foot in the stadium again.»

Running Casa Gama for 50 years, he states that soon it will be his sons that will take care of the business. «While I still have the strength to be here, I’ll come to work but…I think I will be managing this for another year and then they are the ones who must keep the shop going».