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.

Rio Grande do Sul

I went to three cities in Rio Grande do Sul, the Southernmost state in Brazil. The first was Porto Alegre, considered the capital of the South and the Gaúcho culture. Upon arrival, I went to the Sunday feira (market) in the public park. Then I did a bus tour. I was able to visit most of the interesting places on the first day.

The next day, I went to two other cities called Caxias do Sul, the state’s second biggest city, and Gramado, nicknamed the Brazilian Switzerland by some. They were both elegant and clean, but the latter was more interesting. Everything about it was different from the rest of Brazil. The architecture was amazing, the streets were clean, the people looked and dressed differently, and the town had this good vibe. Other European elements include many restaurants, expensive stuff, cold weather, and a little snobbishness for good measure. There were Italian and German restaurants, creperies, and chocolatiers. The only Brazilian thing about this town was the language (which, ironically, is also European), although some people there spoke German and Italian as well. It was a delightful little town. To top it off, I went to a proper Italian restaurant.

The next day, I did some more sightseeing in Porto Alegre. I went to a museum which had a gyroscope. It was so much fun. On my way to dinner, two guys assaulted me. At first I thought they were begging, so I said ‘No’ and looked away, but then they caught me saying ‘um real, um real’ (Brazilian currency). I checked my wallet, but I didn’t have any change. Suddenly, adrenaline was pumping through my body, and I decided to run away. I put my wallet back into my pocket and escaped from their grip. One of them hit me on my face, but it wasn’t serious. Meanwhile, some people in their cars were honking their horns (this took place on a main street). As I was running away from the scene, I saw a police car. They honked the horn and I talked to them. Someone had called the cops, and they already showed up! I described my situation and told them that nothing was stolen. I could care less whether they were caught or not. I was just glad I got away without losing anything. So I had dinner, and that night I took a taxi to the airport. I got there around 11:00 p.m. and my flight was at 6:00 a.m. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I started writing (I was writing this blog entry). When I went to the gate to travel, there was so much fog outside that they closed the airports in São Paulo and many other cities across Brazil. The flight was delayed three hours.

Check out this video of my experience in the Pantanal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2wp4lw5ahM&feature=share