Brazilian cuisine

Brazilian cuisine has European, African and Amerindian influences.[1] It varies greatly by region, reflecting the country's mix of native and immigrant populations, and its continental size as well. This has created a national cuisine marked by the preservation of regional differences.[2]

Ingredients first used by native peoples in Brazil include cassava, guaraná, açaí, cumaru, cashew and tucupi. From there, the many waves of immigrants brought some of their typical dishes, replacing missing ingredients with local equivalents. For instance, the European immigrants (primarily from Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland and Switzerland) were accustomed to a wheat-based diet, and introduced wine, leafy vegetables, and dairy products into Brazilian cuisine. When potatoes were not available they discovered how to use the native sweet manioc as a replacement.[3] Enslaved Africans also had a role in developing Brazilian cuisine, especially in the coastal states. The foreign influence extended to later migratory waves – Japanese immigrants brought most of the food items that Brazilians would associate with Asian cuisine today,[4] and introduced large-scale aviaries, well into the 20th century.[5]

Root vegetables such as cassava (locally known as mandioca, aipim or macaxeira, among other names), yams, and fruit like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, guava, orange, passion fruit, pineapple, and hog plum are among the local ingredients used in cooking.

Some typical dishes are feijoada, considered the country's national dish;[6] and regional foods such as beiju, feijão tropeiro, vatapá, moqueca, polenta (from Italian cuisine) and acarajé (from African cuisine).[7] There is also caruru, which consists of okra, onion, dried shrimp, and toasted nuts (peanuts or cashews), cooked with palm oil until a spread-like consistency is reached; moqueca capixaba, consisting of slow-cooked fish, tomato, onions and garlic, topped with cilantro; and linguiça, a mildly spicy sausage.

The national beverage is coffee, while cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, caipirinha.

Cheese buns (pães-de-queijo), and salgadinhos such as pastéis, coxinhas, risólis (from pierogy of Polish cuisine) and kibbeh (from Arabic cuisine) are common finger food items, while cuscuz branco (milled tapioca) is a popular dessert.

Regional cuisines

There is not an exact single "national Brazilian cuisine", but there is an assortment of various regional traditions and typical dishes. This diversity is linked to the origins of the people inhabiting each dam.

For instance, the culinary in Bahia is heavily influenced by a mix of African, Indigenous and Portuguese cuisines. Chili (including chili sauces) and palm oil are very common. But in the Northern states, due to the abundance of forest and freshwater rivers, fish and cassava are staple foods. In the deep south like Rio Grande do Sul, the influence shifts more towards gaúcho traditions shared with its neighbors Argentina and Uruguay, with many meat based products, due to this region livestock based economy – the churrasco, a kind of barbecue, is a local tradition.

Southeast Brazil's cuisine

Feijoada (left) and Pastel (right)
Pão de queijo, coffee and a little bottle of cachaça.
Moqueca from Espírito Santo State. There are two versions of Moqueca Recipe Dish inside Brazil: The Moqueca Capixaba and The Moqueca Baiana. The Capixaba Moqueca is a dish made with no palm oil, bell pepper or coconut milk in its ingredients, and the replacement for these ingredients left are: using of Annatto Spice and Sweet Olive oil Sauce with fresh Tomato and its found in the Brazilian Espírito Santo State, and Moqueca Baiana version is found in Brazilian State of Bahia
Stuffed Blue Crab Shells known as Casquinha de Siri being enjoyed in one of a Rio de Janeiro City's restaurant, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro City.
dCooked Crab
Cooked Crab with Tomato Sauce, being enjoyed in a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro
Frango à Passarinho or Chicken Bird Dish being enjoyed in a restaurant in the south of Brazilian State of Minas.

In Rio, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, the Brazilian Feijoada (a black bean and meat stew rooted, recipe registered for the first time in Recife, state of Pernambuco) is popular especially as a Wednesday or Saturday lunch. Also consumed frequently is picadinho (literally, diced meat) or rice and beans.[8][9]

In Rio de Janeiro, besides the feijoada, a popular plate is any variation of grilled bovine fillet, rice and beans, farofa and French fries, commonly called Filé à Osvaldo Aranha. Seafood is very popular in coastal areas, as is roasted chicken (galeto).

In São Paulo, a typical dish is virado à paulista, made with rice, tutu de feijão, sauteed kale, and pork. São Paulo is also the home of pastel, a food consisting of thin pastry envelopes wrapped around assorted fillings, then deep fried in vegetable oil. It is a common belief that they originated when Japanese immigrants adapted the recipe of fried spring rolls to sell as snacks at weekly street markets.

In Minas Gerais, the regional dishes include corn, pork, beans, chicken (including the very typical dish frango com quiabo, or chicken with okra), tutu de feijão (paste of beans and cassava flour), and local soft ripened traditional cheeses.

In Espírito Santo, there is significant Italian and German influence in local dishes, both savory and sweet. The state dish, though, is of Amerindian origin, called moqueca capixaba which is a tomato and fish stew prepared in a Panela de Barro(clay pot). Amerindian and Italian cuisine are the two main pillars of Capixaba cuisine. Seafood dishes in general are very popular in Espírito Santo but unlike other Amerindian dishes the use of olive oil is almost mandatory. Bobó de camarão, Torta Capixaba, Polenta are also very popular.

North Brazil's cuisine

The cuisine of this region, which includes the states of Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins, is heavily influenced by indigenous cuisine. In the state of Pará, there are several typical dishes including:

Pato no tucupi (duck in tucupi) – one of the most famous dishes from Pará. It is associated to the Círio de Nazaré, a great local Roman Catholic celebration. The dish is made with tucupi (yellow broth extracted from cassava, after the fermentation process of the broth remained after the starch had been taken off, from the raw ground manioc root, pressed by a cloth, with some water; if added maniva, the manioc ground up external part, that is poisonous because of the cyanic acid, and so must be cooked for several days). The duck, after cooking, is cut into pieces and boiled in tucupi, where is the sauce for some time. The jambu is boiled in water with salt, drained and put on the duck. It is served with white rice and manioc flour and corn tortillas

Center-West Brazil's cuisine

In the state of Goiás, the pequi is used in a lot of typical foods, specially the "arroz com pequi" (rice cooked with pequi), and in snacks, mostly as a filling for pastel. Also, a mixture of chicken and rice known as galinhada is very popular.

Northeast Brazil's cuisine

Vatapá
Bobó de camarão.

The Brazilian Northeastern cuisine is heavily influenced by African cuisine from the coastal areas of Pernambuco to Bahia, as well as the eating habits of indigenous populations that lived in the region.

The vatapá is a Brazilian dish made from bread, shrimp, coconut milk, finely ground peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste.

The Bobó de camarão is a dish made with cassava and shrimp (camarão).

The acarajé is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê (palm oil). Often sold as street food, it is served split in half and then stuffed with vatapá and caruru.[10] Acarajé is typically available outside of the state of Bahia as well, including the markets of Rio de Janeiro.

In other areas, more to the west or away from the coast, the plates are most reminiscent of the indigenous cuisine, with many vegetables being cultivated in the area since before the arrival of the Portuguese. Examples include baião de dois, made with rice and beans, dried meat, butter, queijo coalho and other ingredients. Jaggery is also heavily identified with the Northeast, as it is carne-de-sol, paçoca de pilão, and bolo de rolo.

Tapioca flatbreads or pancakes are also commonly served for breakfast in some states, with a filling of either coconut, cheese or condensed milk, among others.

Southern Brazil's cuisine

In Southern Brazil, due to the long tradition in livestock production and the heavy German immigration, red meat is the basis of the local cuisine.[11]

Besides many of the pasta, sausage and dessert dishes common to continental Europe, churrasco is the term for a barbecue (similar to the Argentine, Uruguayan, Paraguayan and Chilean asado) which originated in southern Brazil. It contains a variety of meats which may be cooked on a purpose-built "churrasqueira", a barbecue grill, often with supports for spits or skewers. Portable "churrasqueiras" are similar to those used to prepare the Argentine, Chilean, Paraguayan and Uruguayan asado, with a grill support, but many Brazilian "churrasqueiras" do not have grills, only the skewers above the embers. The meat may alternatively be cooked on large metal or wood skewers resting on a support or stuck into the ground and roasted with the embers of charcoal (wood may also be used, especially in the State of Rio Grande do Sul).

Since gaúchos were nomadic and lived off the land, they had no way of preserving food, the gauchos would gather together after butchering a cow, and skewer and cook the large portions of meat immediately over a wood burning fire. The slow-cooked meat basted in its own juices and resulted in tender, flavorful steaks. This style would carry on to inspire many contemporary churrascaria which emulate the cooking style where waiters bring large cuts of roasted meat to diners' tables and carve portions to order.[12]

The chimarrão is the regional beverage, often associated with the gaúcho image.

Coxinha is a popular Brazilian snack.
Brazilian cheese.

Also noteworthy are:

Drinks

Brazil has a variety of candies such as brigadeiros (chocolate fudge balls), cocada (a coconut sweet), beijinhos (coconut truffles and clove) and romeu e julieta (cheese with a guava jam known as goiabada). Peanuts are used to make paçoca, rapadura and pé-de-moleque. Local common fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, cocoa, cashew, guava, orange, passionfruit, pineapple, and hog plum are turned in juices and used to make chocolates, popsicles and ice cream.[15]

Typical cakes (Bolos)

Bolo de rolo
A Brazilian chocolate candy (Brigadeiro).
Paçoca
Pé-de-moleque
Rapadura

Daily meals

A Brazilian breakfast buffet.

¹ Main meals, that are served nearly everywhere, and are eaten in nearly all households above poverty line.
² Secondary meals. People usually have a meal at the tea time, while elevenses and late suppers depend in peculiarities on one's daily routine or certain diets.

Restaurant styles

A simple and usually inexpensive option, which is also advisable for vegetarians, is comida a quilo or comida por quilo restaurants (literally "food by kilo value"), a buffet where food is paid for by weight. Another common style is the all-you-can-eat restaurant where customers pay a prix fixe. In both types (known collectively as "self-services"), customers usually assemble the dishes of their choice from a large buffet.

Rodízio is a common style of service, in which a prix fixe is paid, and servers circulate with food. This is common in churrascarias, pizzerias and sushi (Japanese cuisine) restaurants, resulting in an all-you-can-eat meat barbecue and pizzas of varied flavours, usually one slice being served at the time.

The regular restaurant where there is a specific price for each meal is called "restaurante à la carte".

Vegetarian

Although many traditional dishes are prepared with meat or fish, it is not difficult to live on vegetarian food as well, at least in the mid-sized and larger cities of Brazil. There is a rich supply of all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and on city streets one can find cheese buns (pão de queijo); in some cities even the version made of soy.

In the 2000s, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre have gained several vegetarian and vegan restaurants.[16] However outside big metropolises, vegetarianism is not very common in the country. Not every restaurant will provide vegetarian dishes and some seemingly vegetarian meals may turn out to include unwanted ingredients, for instance, using lard for cooking beans. Commonly "meat" is understood to mean "red meat," so some people might assume a vegetarian eats fish and chicken. Comida por quilo and all-you-can eat restaurants prepare a wide range of fresh dishes. Diners can more easily find food in such restaurants that satisfies dietary restrictions.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Brittin, Helen (2011). The Food and Culture Around the World Handbook. Boston: Prentice Hall. pp. 20–21.
  2. ↑ "Way of Life". Encarta. MSN. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  3. ↑ Burns, E. Bradford (1993). A History of Brazil. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 38. ISBN 0231079559.
  4. ↑ (in Portuguese) One century of Japanese immigration to Brazil – News –Japanese immigrants helped a 'revolution' in Brazilian agriculture
  5. ↑ (in Portuguese) One century of Japanese immigration to Brazil – News – Immigrants made a city in São Paulo in a great egg producer
  6. ↑ Roger, "Feijoada: The Brazilian national dish Archived 2009-11-29 at the Wayback Machine." braziltravelguide.com.
  7. ↑ Cascudo, Luis da Câmara. História da Alimentação no Brasil. São Paulo/Belo Horizonte: Editora USP/Itatiaia, 1983.
  8. ↑ "A feijoada não é invenção brasileira" (in Portuguese). Superinteressante. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "O Carapuceiro (jornal)" (in Portuguese). Fundaj. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Blazes, Marian. "Brazilian Black-Eyed Pea and Shrimp Fritters – Acarajé". About.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Somwaru, A.; Valdes, C. (2004). Brazil's Beef Production and Its Efficiency : A Comparative Study of Scale Economies – 1–19.
  12. ↑ Sumayao, Marco. "What Is a Churrascaria?". WiseGeek. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  13. ↑ (in Portuguese) Culinary blog
  14. ↑ Castella, K. (2012). A World of Cake. Storey Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60342-446-2.
  15. ↑ Freyre, Gilberto. Açúcar. Uma Sociologia do Doce, com Receitas de Bolos e Doces do Nordeste do Brasil. São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 1997.
  16. ↑ "Vegetarian Restaurants in Brazil". Retrieved 2011-05-30.

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