The month of November on the island of Madeira is certainly one when food seems to take the centre stage.

The Portuguese holiday island, known by most people for its famous variety of sweet wine, find's itself in a slight lull in November as the peak of the summer holiday season is behind it and the first of its grand Christmas celebrations are yet to start. The time is perfect for residents of the island to celebrate some traditional customs and food is certainly one of those.

At the start of the month the island hosted its annual Chestnut Festival on the 1st of November. This is very popular with all kinds of food on offer in addition to the roasted chestnuts you might expect. Islanders showed off their cookery skills with all kinds of dishes, both sweet and savoury, made using the humble chestnut. There are even alcoholic liqueurs made from chestnut too. On the 2nd November the island celebrated the Feast of All Souls. The day is also known as the dia de Pao-por-deus where, just like Halloween in the UK, children go from door to door asking for the Pao-por-deus or God's Bread. Their hand-made decorated bags are filled with sweets, bread and fruit which they share amongst themselves whilst singing traditional songs.

The main food event of the month was the Madeira Gourmet Festival which ran for 5 days from the 3rd to 7th November. Funchal is the centre point for the Gourmet activities and the island takes the chance to showcase its best known chefs. Many local hotels and restaurants participated in the festival by hosting tasting sessions and on 6th November several of them hosted gastronomic lunches and evening dinner events. The final day of the Festival saw the closing Gala Dinner which this year was held at the Reid's Palace Hotel in Funchal.