The typical food of Madeira is based on fish dishes, in particular tuna recipes such as tuna carpaccio, or simply tuna fillets fried in olive oil with a lot of garlic, chilli and wine. A typical meat dish is the espetada, beef cubes cooked on a bay leaf fire and then served on a skew suspended over the table. Tropical fruits such as passion fruit, papaya, mango and bananas that are produced on the island are an integral part of local diet.
Madeira wines are the longest lasting wines maintaining all their properties even after 150 years thanks to their production method that keeps the wine inside the barrels at the steady temperature of 45 degrees centigrade for the first three months.
There are 4 main types of Madeira wines, the Sercial, the Verdelho, the Bual and the Malvasia, a fortified dessert wine. Like most wines Madeira is distinguished by vintage, but its characteristic is primarily in the blends, the mixing of various vintages. The Finest blend contains wines not younger than 3 years; the Reserve blend is made with the mixture of wines that are at least 5 years old and the Special Reserve is a blend of wines of 10 years and more.