The End

Bom Dia!

As you might know, I already left Brazil two months ago. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Time to say goodbye. But where’s the ‘good’ in goodbye? I just wish I can go back in time and live this experience again, because it was just the best time of my life. It has been an honour and a privilege to be part of this experience. Life wouldn’t be the same without Brazil and all the memories it has given me.

It was definitely worth the struggle to come here. During my time in Brazil, I visited 18 states, 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 2 Wonders of the World, learnt the language, tried most of the local food, and got to know the Brazilian culture. I went to the fourth best restaurant in the world, the best concert in my life, the biggest party in the world, caught my first fish, almost drowned, almost got robbed, got completely soaked in a thunderstorm, and met my Brazilian family. I met people from all of Brazil on my travels. It has been epic, and I have to say that I love Brazil. I am surprised and delighted by how many amazing places there are to visit. My experience at work was also nothing short of amazing. I taught English at a private school, and by the end, I was so attached to the students. I also started playing piano at school and composed five songs.

Thanks to all the loyal readers of this blog.

I would like to take this occasion to thank AIESEC for providing this opportunity and all the AIESECers who made it happen. You really do change lives! Special thanks to AIESEC McMaster, my home LC.

Finally, Carpe Diem, because our days are never coming back!

Sincerely,

Bader Hassan

My bedroom wall

Special Nights in São Paulo

São Paulo is my favourite city in Brazil. Not because it’s the biggest, or the economic heart of Brazil, but because of the multitude of interesting things you can do there. I had many great days there with memorable experiences. I will talk about four of the most special nights. Incidentally, they were all in June, my last month there. Two of them were a show and the other two were an epic dinner.

 

 

Fasano

The first one is the most amazing gastronomic experience I’ve had so far. It was some of the best food I’ve ever had and the best all-round experience. It was at an Italian restaurant called Fasano. I heard so much about it. It was in a hotel, and the street was named after it as well. I was welcomed by live piano playing and a very well dressed maître d'. The restaurant looked fabulous, and I couldn’t wait to try the food. As I looked through the menu, I saw a Caviar appetizer for $350! I had Cod risotto with pesto, and Tiramisu for dessert. The risotto was one of the best I’ve ever had, and the tiramisu was divine.

I took a trip to the restroom and it was also very elegant with granite walls. There was a little maze and you had to walk a bit before getting there. The restaurant’s ambience was extraordinary. Everyone there was calm and refined. It was almost as if I was in another city. By the time I finished the meal and the bill arrived, the restaurant had already justified the ridiculously expensive price. For what it offered, it was reasonable, and I’d say it was great value for money. In fact, I loved it so much that I went again!

Fasano
Cod risotto with pesto

Samba Suor Brasileiro

Next, I will talk about the show I watched in the building which is the background of this blog! Yes, it is the ‘Teatro Municipal,’ São Paulo’s beautiful theatre designed by Ramos de Azevedo. I watched a samba show called ‘Samba Suor Brasileiro’ or Sweet Brazilian Samba. I was more excited to see the building than the show. I had never seen it at night with the beautiful lighting.

Teatro Municipal
Right after the show Samba Suor Brasileiro

As I got there, I realized I was underdressed, but I didn’t care. I had visited the building before, and I knew where I had to go. I got my ticket and went up to the noble hall on the third floor. This hall was as glamorous as a hall in Versailles. It had beautiful chandeliers and paintings. There was also the obligatory grand piano which, to my disappointment, I was not allowed to play. The show actually beat my expectations. It had masterful use of light and costumes with great direction. As a bonus, it was also very Brazilian. I will always remember this very Brazilian show in the very beautiful Teatro Municipal, my favourite building in Brazil.

D.O.M.

And now, we up the stakes a little. I had been reading about São Paulo being the world’s capital of gastronomy, and I got a brochure for the 100 best restaurants in São Paulo. I checked online and found out that one of them was the fourth best restaurant in the world! I was definitely going; there was no question about it. I wasn’t about to let an opportunity like this pass me by. I tried all the other restaurants and left this until the end. I had to wait a little when I got there, but I hadn’t made reservations, so that was ok.
As a looked through the menu, I was pleased to find out that the food wasn’t $500 for a main course. It was actually very reasonable pricing for its reputation. It’s also cheaper than other restaurants around the world because it’s in Brazil and the currency is not as strong.

Anyway, the food was so amazing, no surprise there. I got a steak, and it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. The thing is, food can’t get much better after a certain point. Therefore, I was very pleased with my meal, but I had erroneously expected better. I had really high expectations. I thought I was going to eat the best food in the world. To be honest, my experience at Fasano was better, but this was still very special. It was especially delightful to meet the chef and talk to him. I found out that he was the owner and that he created all the recipes for the items on the menu.

D.O.M.
The fourth best restaurant in the world!

 The Ninth

Finally, I left the best for last. This was a night to remember forever. It was by far the best concert experience in my life. It was Beethoven’s 9^th symphony. This 75-minute epic was written by the greatest of the masters of classical music. It was his final symphony. He composed it in 1824, three years before his death. The 9^th is one of the best-known works of the Western classical repertoire. It is considered by some to be the greatest piece of music ever written and it has been adapted for use as the European Anthem. What is even more astonishing is that Beethoven wrote the whole thing while he was completely deaf!
I had told my boss at work that I was going, and she had invited many teachers, but only one other woman came, who was the coordinator for the school. So, there I was with my boss and my other boss, and it was all my idea. I felt proud of myself that I convinced them to come.
A few days before that, I took a tour of the building and they talked about everything. It was one of the best concert halls in the world. It had an adjustable ceiling for perfect acoustics. I had seen the building before, but it looked particularly beautiful at night with the big clock tower. The hall was enchanting. It was like going back to the 19^th century.

The concert blew me away. I had just witnessed something epic. The crowd went wild and there was an encore. Freude! I can honestly say that I did not think I would ever attend a show like this, especially at a young age. It was one of the best experiences I had in Brazil. I kept my ticket as a souvenir too

Sala São Paulo at the end of Beethoven's 9th. It was legendary!

O Nordeste: The Northeast

Although I visited 12 cities in nine days, this trip was by no means glamorous. It was actually very tiring because most of the time I slept on buses or in bus stations. I only stayed in a hostel when I had to. Nevertheless, it was lots of fun, and it was the longest trip I’ve ever been on.

Day 1 – En Route + Serqipe

I left home at 7:30 on a Friday evening. I was about to get to the first city at around 4:00 a.m. However, I fell asleep and missed my flight. I had to catch another one, but it wasn’t direct. I went through the airports of Salvador and Brasília before I got to Aracaju in the afternoon. I had the choice of seeing either Aracaju or São Cristóvão in the day. I picked the latter because it’s a World Heritage Site. I still got to see the former in the evening. The bus to the next city was just after midnight. I had three hours, so I started reading the magazine I got from the plane. To my surprise, I knew the person on the cover. It was none other than Alex Atala, chef of the fourth best restaurant in the world. I had met him three days before when I ate at his restaurant. Anyway, I went to my bus and slept almost the whole way. I got to Maceió at around 5:30 although the trip seemed longer. I was still a bit sad that I wouldn’t see my students again.

Convento de São Francisco e Igreja do Bom Jesus da Glória (Museu de Arte Sacra) na Praça São Francisco

Day 2 – Maceió
I decided to start with a walk on the beach (romantic, right?) and come back through the city centre. There were many historic buildings and churches, but 75% of them desperately needed restoration. I got to the famous beach and it was pretty cool. I tried something new for dinner: Sururu (Mussels broth), and I watched the second half of the Euro Cup final. Again, my bus to the next city was around midnight, so I went to the bus station and slept until then.

Praça Marechal Floriano Peixoto

Day 3 – Pernambuco
I got to Recife at 6:00 a.m. I put my bag at the hostel and went straight to Porto de Galinhas (Port of Chickens), a famous beach nearby. I got back to Recife in the afternoon and I was able to see some of the downtown. The hostel was really nice and I met some of the people there. Earlier that day, I put my phone on the charger…in the bathroom (bad idea). That night, I found out that it had drowned. I was more upset about not having a phone than losing that particular phone.

Porto de Galinhas

Day 4 – More Pernambuco
After having a delicious breakfast, I went to Olinda, another World Heritage Site. Then I had lunch with ex-President of AIESEC Canada Vito!

With Vito

Then I went to thhe downtown to continue my tour. I asked a guy to take a picture of me and he ended up being my personal photographer. I got him some juice to be courteous and we parted ways. 

Associação Comercial

I walked around a bit more and all of a sudden, all the buses stopped and people started protesting. I thought to myself I’ll take the metro, but everyone thought so too, naturally. It was a stampede, and I had to catch my bus to the next city. I took a taxi, but there was traffic on the streets too. By the time I reached the hostel, the protests had ended. I took the bus to the metro. I wasn’t going to make it, but at that point, I had been in Brazil long enough to know that buses and planes usually leave late. I was right, and although I was ten minutes late, the bus didn’t leave until another ten minutes. I got to João Pessoa at night and started looking for a hostel. I had an address, but it was too far. I asked the taxi drivers and they sent me to one which was nearby. The price was incredibly cheap ($7), but as I stepped into the room, I knew why. It stank of mould and everything was old. It was the shittiest hostel I’ve ever been in. Never mind hostel, the shittiest building I’ve ever had the misfortune of being in. You get what you pay for, right? On the bright side (not so bright, though), I had the room all for myself, there was a double bed, a TV, a fan, a table and chairs. Oh, and there was room service too! It’s funny how they had all that but not the basics: cleanliness and quality. Then I thought I heard some people having sex in the other room. I went to investigate, but then I figured it was some guy watching porn (yes, the TVs had porn).

Day 5 - João Pessoa

After rotting in the room for about eight hours, I had a cold shower and went sightseeing. It was very easy to see everything because I had a map, and there were signs everywhere. Then I went to the most Easterly point in the Americas. I met someone who drove me around a little. I walked around and saw the beach and other things. Then I had an all-you-can-eat buffet (including churrasco) for $13 only. I had to ask the waiter several times just to check. It was actually a really good restaurant, but it was cheap. That night, I went to Natal.

Praça Antenor Navarro

Day 6 – Natal
I woke up and went straight the beach. The hostel was so close that I managed to go to the beach, come back and take a shower before checkout. It was such a beautiful beach! It was about 25° but the water wasn’t cold. The golden sands reflected the rays of sunlight, and the water was very clean. There were no waves, no pebbles in the sand and a backdrop of hills and sand dunes. It was paradise. At the hostel, I just rested for a few hours. I had been walking all day for five days, and getting a bad night’s sleep, so I needed it. Then it started raining. Regardless, I went to see a sand dune park, but it was closed because of the rain. Scumbag Zeus strikes again. I still went to see the biggest cashew tree in the world. It was like a little forest. Then I took the bus at night.

Praia de Ponta Negra

Day 7 – Fortaleza

I arrived in the morning. There was no tourist information, so I just hopped on a bus. It took me a while to get to the downtown. I was right beside it, but I managed to waste an hour with my bus detour. I asked around and managed to get a map. There was quite a bit to see, but I managed. All in a day’s work. I ended up on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset there. There was a handcrafts market and people doing all sorts of things.

Ponte dos Ingleses

Day 8 – Teresina

I did not plan to come here in the first place. I had planned on going to another city in that state, but it turned out to be too far. Therefore, as usual, I went to the downtown and walked around. There was no tourist information but I followed the signs. I ended up having a nice day. I also went to a floating restaurant where two rivers meet. I went there by Moto taxi. Just as the name suggests, it’s a taxi using a motorcycle. It’s cheaper and kind of fun. Incidentally, this is the only capital in the Northeast which is not on the coast.

Igreja de São Benedito

Day 9 – Maranhão
I got to São Luís very early in the morning and I went on a bus to Barreirinhas. I had a few hours before the next bus to Lençóis Maranhenses. Instead of exploring the town, I decided to go on 9gag the whole time. I laughed a lot, so it was worth it. The main attraction was Lençóis Maranhenses. This place has little lakes within a desert. The sand is so pure that you would think you’re in the Sahara. There were barely any plants or rocks, just sand and lakes. It was unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Lençóis Maranhenses

Day 10 - São Luís

I got here the night before and went to a hostel. It turned out that they had no spots, so I was told to go to a hotel. It was actually very late, and I wasn’t about to get robbed on one of my last days in Brazil. So I jogged to the hotel and it turned out to be ok. A beggar followed me into the hotel, and she made it look like she was with me. Anyway, it turned out to be cheap, and it was a pretty good hotel. The building had this old charm to it. The next day, I set out for what would be my last sightseeing adventure in a new Brazilian city. São Luís is the only capital founded by the French. In the downtown, there are about 300+ old buildings. I think that it is potentially one of the best cities to visit in Brazil. Emphasis on potentially. Although it is a World Heritage Site, 90% of the buildings have not been restored, and the downtown is left for the poor and homeless. This is a trend in the Northeast, but I don’t understand. Usually, countries take care the most of the downtown or the oldest part of the city. In Brazil, they are indifferent. Even in São Paulo, the downtown is not the fanciest place.

 Feira da Praia Grande

I got back to São Paulo that night. It was great to be home, finally, and to use a proper shower and bed.

Courtesy, or Lack Thereof

Which is more important: courtesy or hospitality? Courtesy is defined as politeness and manners. Hospitality consists of being welcoming and friendly, and being kind. So, how can a population have one but lack the other? It’s pretty rare, but that’s the case in Brazil.

In Brazil, courtesy is rare. Don’t get me wrong. People are nice, but courtesy is more than that. It means being polite and considerate to everyone, including people you will never meet. It means respecting others. In comparison with Canada, Brazil has very little courtesy.

"Before entering the train, let people go out."
São Paulo metro

Where do I begin? Wherever I go, I see litter, even beside garbage bins. The amount of people who flush is equivalent to the number of people who don’t like football. People don’t wait at the metro for others to get out first, even though it says it on the door. Cars always have the right of way, and to hell with the pedestrians. Some people also decide to ignore the rule that people who want to stand still on an escalator should stand on the right, and let other pass on the left. If you forget something somewhere, you will never see it again. I had an umbrella and was told to go a few meters away to another counter to pay. I look at the umbrella and it’s gone. Also, lack of punctuality fits under the category of lack of courtesy, because being late is disrespectful.

"Maintain your right. Leave the left free for circulation."
São Paulo metro

But seriously Brazilians, y u no flush? That’s why all the bathrooms smell like urine. I don’t care if they don’t wash their hands afterwards, as long as they flush. It only takes one second. There is graffiti everywhere, even on historical monuments. Nothing is sacred, and almost everything will eventually have graffiti on it. There were also cases where people caused chaos where they saw free food. At a cultural event where many famous chefs came to make free meals, the people were pushing in line and it got a little chaotic. One of the chefs ended up staying at home.

Mother of Graffiti!

If you own a barking piece of annoyance (in other words, a dog), then it should go inside at night. I have been woken up many times at night because of the neighbours’ dogs. Once, I tried to go and beat the shit out of them (they say you have to face your problems) with my umbrella, but they chickened out. They were barking and moving away from the gate. Some fireworks would have been more effective.

On the other hand, Brazilians are hospitable. If you go to someone’s house, they will likely offer you food and drinks. They are keen to help and easy to talk to.

If it comes down to choosing one of the two, I think courtesy is more important, because the amount of people you don’t know is much higher than the people you do. Lack of courtesy affects everyone. On the other hand, you could find hospitable people in a country which mainly has courteous people, and they would be as hospitable as Brazuilians, and everyone would respect each other.

Lifestyle Brasileiro

This is not a deep analysis of the Brazilian lifestyle, but more like a general commentary.

Brazilians are happy and warm people. They are known for their hospitality and friendliness. They lead relaxed lives, although they do work hard. Contrary to popular belief, they do not go to the beach everyday, as portrayed in the media. Nonetheless, according to many polls, they describe themselves as happy, and are one of the happiest people on earth. A Brazilian’s main concern in life is family and friends. Making money, being successful in business, and owning material things is secondary. To quote many Brazilians: "I am poor, but happy." Personal relationships with other people ultimately determine the depth of human happiness. Brazilians are one of the most friendly and gregarious people in the world. Many Brazilians have contagious smiles without pretence or judgement.

Warm weather can equate to warm people. Most of Brazil is warm, beautiful, with palm trees, sun-drenched beaches, and seductive and exotic nature. Even people who are living in harsh cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro can be happy because they can escape their environment and go to the beach, where true Brazilian culture comes alive with Samba, Bossa Nova, Capoeira, partying, sun, bikinis, and a culture of the flesh.

Brazilian girls are not easy (well, the girls at Carnaval are an exception), but they are gorgeous. Brazilians are not very patriotic, and they like anything European or North American. They love Katy Perry. For example, instead of going to Manaus or Foz de Iguacu, they prefer going to Florida or New York, even if they’ve already been there. Some of the students I teach have already been to Disneyland three times, but they have barely travelled in Brazil. As many people here keep telling me, I know Brazil better than they do (I have been to 19 states).

Brazilians also tend to be late or not very organised, which can be problematic for me. All the flights and most of the bus trips I took were late. I have been late to work twice because of that. My boss is usually disorganised, and she picks on me for being organised. She says I should be more spontaneous, but the one time I took her advice resulted in me missing a day of work. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, especially when it comes to travelling.

Well, that’s a general idea of what life is life here. Oh, one more thing. Brazilians LOVE dogs. If the American Dream includes having a dog, then the Brazilian Dream includes having three. I will leave the very interesting subject of their droppings for the next post.

I leave you with this picture called Brazilianism

 

 Also, check out this 1942 Disney cartoon about Rio:

Português Brasileiro: The Language

Portuguese is a Romance language similar to Spanish. It is the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe. With a total of 236 million speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world. The Portuguese spoken in Europe and the Portuguese spoken in Brazil are further apart in terms of pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary than the English spoken in England and the English spoken in the USA.

Alphabet: The Portuguese alphabet consists of 23 letters (lacking the K, W and Y of the English alphabet), plus 11 letters with diacritics such as the Ç. Punctuation corresponds largely to that in English.

Phonology: Brazilian Portuguese is a syllabic language, in contrast to English. It contains about 9 vowel sounds and 19 consonant sounds. This is fewer than English, and there are fewer consonant clusters. These differences can result in the following pronunciation issues:

• failure to distinguish minimal pairs such as rich/reach, pack/puck or bitch/beach
• inaudibility of unstressed vowels at the end of a word, e.g., part (for party)
• the inclusion of vowel sounds before, between or following consonants, e.g.,  monthes (for months) or facybooky (for facebook)
• substitution of ear for hear or high for I.

This explains why even some very proficient Portuguese speakers of English never lose their accent.

Brazilian tongue speaks Brazilian Portuguese

 Verb/Tense: Much of the English verb system will be familiar to Portuguese learners since the same features exist in their own language. However, some significant differences exist, which may lead to mistakes of negative transfer. For example, interrogatives in Portuguese are conveyed by intonation. This results in questionable English such as You like me? or He came to school yesterday? The use of the double negative in Portuguese leads to such errors as I don't know nothing (Eu não sei nada).

Grammar: Just like French, there is a single possessive pronoun for his/her which agrees in gender with the item possessed. This can lead to ambiguity in sentences such as: She's having lunch with his brother (= her brother). There is only one question tag in Portuguese, in contrast to English which has several different ones depending on the tense and form of the opening words. The tag is simply né (isn’t it). Errors such as She's coming tomorrow, isn't it? are the result.

Vocabulary: Because of shared Latin roots there are many English/Portuguese cognates, which can facilitate the acquisition of a strong academic vocabulary. (There is less overlap in everyday vocabulary of the two languages.) Observe the following sentence:
A estabilidade econômica facilitou a prosperidade e criou uma maior qualidade de vida.
The economic stability has facilitated prosperity and created a higher quality of life.
Notice that with many words, all it takes is a simple transformation.

Portuguese words of an Arabic origin

A spelling reform in Portugal in 1911 made Portuguese spelling much more phonetic in order to help raise standards of literacy in the country. Almost everything is spelt the way it is said, with consistent exceptions.

Some interesting terms:

Portuguese	Literal Translation	Actual Meaning
café de manha	morning coffee	breakfast
eu estou com fome/frio	I am with hunger/cold	I’m hungry/cold
parabéns (for birthday)	congratulations	happy birthday
legal	legal	cool (as in cool party)/legal
meia (when reading a 6)	half	six
pois não?	because no?	can I help you
obrigado/obrigada	I’m obliged	thank you
imagina (an interjection)	imagine	you’re welcome
tudo bem?	all good?	how are you?

Misc: ‘The’ is added in front of all nouns, even names. ‘O’ is for masculine, ‘a’ is for feminine. For example, I am o Bader (the Bader).

Brazilians change the ending to –inha or –inho to describe smaller things, or to affectionately call someone. For example, cat is gato, and kitten is gatinho. Small is pequeno, tiny is pequeninho, and teeny tiny is pequenininho. Using this, my nickname would be Baderzinho.

Museum of the Portuguese Language, São Paulo

They use the word ‘feira’ after each weekday, which means market. Ironically, Sunday is usually the day with big street markets, but it has no –feira at the end.

Many nouns have a plural in Portuguese but not in English. For example, informations (informações). O trânsito no centro das atenções translates to The traffic in the spotlight (literal: attentions).

Last but not least, cars are masculine, but in French, Italian and Arabic, they are feminine. I think the Portuguese got it wrong, because when you go to fill up gas, you insert the…well, you get the idea. Therefore, cars are feminine.

Salvador

I went to Salvador (Savior) in the state of Bahia (Bay). It's the third biggest and one of the most visited. This was one of the best trips so far. I went sightseeing in the historic centre. Apart from the multitude of people trying to sell me stuff I don’t need, it was great. One guy came up to me, drew on my hand, and then charged me. I learnt my lesson the hard way: always say no to anything they offer.
 

Palácio Rio Branco

A Bahiana making Acarajé

Later on, I went to a religious ceremony. I discovered a new religion: Candomblé. This religion is unique to the Bahianos (people from the state of Bahia). They dress up in the traditional Bahiano costume and start going around in circles to the tune of Samba music. Then they evoke a trance. They believe that their ancestor’s spirits will enter their body. When they enter a trance, it is intense and some of them fall to the ground. It looked like they were being electrocuted, or that they had an anxiety attack, but apparently, that’s when the ancestors’ souls were coming in. Then they all dressed up in animal costumes. They were now evoking spirits from the jungle, or Africa. Either way, it was very different and quite intense.

Dressed up as a local

The next day, I did some more sightseeing, bought some souvenirs, and ended my night with a nice dinner. Take a look:

Moqueca de camarão (shrimp stew). Delicious!

Artesaneto (hand crafts store) in the Mercado Modelo

On the third day, I went on a boat trip. I met some Europeans and Brazilians on the way to the first island. There was a live band and people dancing. It was a joyful atmosphere, until it started raining. It got worse when we reached the island. Fortunately, it didn’t last long, and it was sunny for the rest of the day. The water was warm as well. Then we went to another island. This one had a shallow shore, so we couldn’t get there using the big boat. The boat stopped quite far, so we jumped off and swam to shore. It was pretty adventurous. We had an all-you-can-eat buffet and then we tried skipping stones. Then we went back to Salvador and parted ways. I went to the airport that night, although my flight was at 5:00 a.m. I ran into the Brazilians I had met earlier that day.

Life's a beach

Comida: Brazilian Food

Instead of writing about my last two trips, I will talk about something else for a change. After all, this is a blog, not a travelogue. Now that I have spent some time in Brazil, I can talk about the Brazilian culture. I will start with everyone’s favourite subject: food. Oh, and from now on, I will include pictures (yay) so that you don’t have to read anything if you don’t want to.

Instead of giving you a list of what people eat here, (you can find that on Wikipedia), I will talk about the things I like the most.

Appetizers/Snacks:

Salgados: Salty snacks mostly sold in lanchonetes (canteens or corener snack shops).
    a) Pão de queijo: It's just cheese and bread, but I love it.

   

     b) Coxinha: A chicken croquette shaped like a chicken thigh.

    c) Pastéis: Fried pastries with a wide variety of fillings. My favourite is Pastel de Queijo (cheese).

Acarajé: Peeled black-eyed peas fried in palm oil. This snack from the North East is served split in half and then stuffed with a spicy paste made from shrimp, ground cashews, palm oil, tomatoes and hot sauce.

Main Courses:

Rice and beans: An extremely popular dish, considered a staple food. Usually accompanied with some kind of meat. Also typical fare in Brazilian fast food restaurants.

Feijoada: A stew of black beans with beef and/or pork and sausages, white rice, steamed cabbage, flour and other accompaniments. It is a typical dish in Portuguese and Brazilian cuisine. In Brazil, feijoada is considered the national dish. The name comes from feijão, Portuguese for "beans".

  

Churrasco:  Grilled beef, pork or chicken, with many different cuts. Usually, one goes to a churrascaria (staekhouse) and can try many diffferent types. My favourite is Picanha, which is the top sirloin.

Sweets/Fruits/Juice:

Brigadeiro: Sweetened condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder heated in a pan or in a microwave to obtain a smooth texture.

 
Goiabada: Guava, sugar and water.

Tropical Fruits: Açaí, passionfruit, starfruit, and many other tropical fruits are shipped from the Amazon all over the country and consumed in smoothies or as fresh fruit.

Caldo de cana: Sugar Cane juice. I never tried it before coming to Brazil.