Plant-Based in Portugal with Neria Bento

January 18, 2021 Christine Job

SEASON 1 EPISODE 34 |Flourish in the Foreign - Black Women Living & Thriving Abroad

In this episode of Flourish in the Foreign, Neria of Mama Benta shares her story of being born in Spain, growing up in São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon & Equatorial Guinea. She shares how she became plant-based and how she ended up settling in Lagos, Portugal.

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Plant-Based in Portugal with Neria Bento Flourish In The Foreign

Meet Neria

In her words…

Hello beautiful people, my name is Neria, but you may know me better as Mama Benta

I am a plant-based cook and online instructor. I have just launched my first vegan online course this year, 2021, in Portuguese for my Portuguese people, but I also have it planned for it to be in English soon. I am a black woman leaving a thriving abroad. I was born in Canary Island, in Spain. My parents came from an Island called São Tomé and Príncipe, West Africa. I spend some of my childhood and youth in Africa then came back to Spain, to pursue a better lifestyle. I currently live in Portugal, yes, once again I find myself in a different country. But travel is part of the learning and growth experience of life.

Three years ago, I went plant-based vegan, first for my health, then a whole world of learning and understanding came to me. Things I had no knowledge of, like animal suffering, climate changes, environmental issues. To better understand, this new lifestyle, I enrolled in several plant-based cooking schools. I went to Blue Lotus in Thailand, where I had the opportunity of meeting some fantastic vegan chef, like Christoph Berg, Joyce Goh, I also took an online course at Plant-Academy in London, with the lovely Lauren Lovatt. Now I am sharing my cooking experience with everyone interested in learning how to cook delicious, affordable with a touch of chic, plant-based vegan food.

Connect with Neria