Have you ever tasted Brazilian Food? - #TeamBrazil

This post is part of the Team Challenge between Connect Live 2019 Attendees, proposed by @ermest. Each member charged to write about a theme, but everyone contributed. In this post I describe the diversity of our country. This is one of the #teambrazil posts from this challenge, and you can find our main post here.

As a Local Guide, I love to rate restaurants, bars, street foods, etc. As a traveler, I had the opportunity to eat different kinds of foods in several states of Brazil. However, Brazil looks like an immense continent. We are more than 200 million people and have a diversified culture and cuisine. So, this text is the way I see this magnificent, simple, sophisticated, unique and all other adjectives in both English and Portuguese that fail to accurately describe what Brazilian food looks like.

Rice and Beans

Although Brazil has, indeed, a very diversified cuisine, there are two ingredients that bring us all together: “rice and beans”. Brazilians (myself included) are used to eating rice and beans every day. They are two nutritive, tasty and abundant ingredients. And believe me, it’s not only about mixing these two ingredients together but how they are prepared. If you come o Brazil, forget about expensive restaurants and look for a simple to order a “PF” (Prato Feito, which is something like a set meal, with both of these ingredients plus a salad and either meat, chicken or fish. Or even better, get invited by a Brazilian to eat authentic home cooking).

Feijoada – Our National Dish

You already know that we love beans. So, if rice and bean is our most common dish, our national dish that would, of course, include beans (also served with rice, by the way). It is Feijoada (a word derivate of the Portuguese word for beans, which is “feijão”). With some variations, you can probably find Feijoada in almost everywhere in Brazil. Feijoada is a mixture of beans and pork, with beef (usually dried meat), served with rice, seasoned manioc flour, and cabbage. I have recently written a post about Feijoada, so you can check out more details here. Spoilers: Portuguese brought to Brazil a version of the French “Cassoulet” and Brazilians (especially African descendants) improve upon it and popularized it.

Mandioca, Aipim or Macaxeira

If Feijoada has both a Portuguese and African heritage, from the Indigenous people we received the “Manioc”, or Mandioca in Portuguese. Actually, we eat this root all around Brazil, but it has a different name in each region. In the South, Middle East and Southwest parts of Brazil (where I live), besides mandioca you’ll also find it as “aipim”. In the North and Northeast, the most common term is “macaxeira”. Anyway, you can eat manioc in different ways (fried, roasted, in soups, mashed, or as a flour). As it’s a native root from South America, it’s also very popular in other Latin American countries as “Cassava” (a Spanish word that was also borrowed by some English speaking countries).

“Carne de Sol”

What about when you love meat, but you need to find a way to conserve it without refrigeration? In Northeastern Brazil, they found a way. You may think I’m talking about “Jerked beef”, but our “Carne de Sol” (literally Sun Meat) has a unique, Brazilian flavor. It’s nothing more than a salted beef, which is exposed to the sun to get cured. It’s a traditional dish in the Northwestern, where it can also be called “Jabá”. In other parts of the country you can find “Carne de Sol”, but it’s more common you find variations of that, with different names and made from a different process (in the South it’s called “charque”, and in other parts of Brasil “Carne Seca”, which literally means “dried meat”). Charque and Carne seca are closer to “Jarked Beef”.

Churrasco

It’s not only the “mandioca” that brings us together with our Latin American neighbors. We also love eating meat. If our Argentinian “Hermanos” have their “Assado”, we have our “Churrasco”. You can find Churrasco in a lot of restaurants that offer Buffet service, it in a “Churrascaria”. And, of course, we also like to bring family and friends together and make a Churrasco at home. Churrasco is a traditional dish in the South of Brazil (the region closer to Argentina and Uruguay), but its popular all throughout Brazil.

Fish and Sea Food

Brazil’s coastline extends for 7.491km, and we have some of the largest rivers of the Word like the “Amazon River”. Fish is an important food in Indigenous diet, so of course, we love to eat fish and all kinds of seafood. We love, for example, to eat shrimp, be it at home, in restaurants or at the beach. I prefer to eat freshwater fish, like Tambaqui, Pirarucu, and Pintado. Recently, I’ve eaten a delicious North recipe that was: “Tambaqui Fish and Jambu, Uarini Flour, red pepper, Brazilian nuts and coriander with Tucupi sauce”. I’m sorry for not explaining what is “Jambu”, “Uarini” and “Tucupi”, but this text is already quite long, so you’ll have to come to Brazil and taste these unique ingredients yourself.

Extra Photos:

Have you ever eaten Brazilian Food? What os those dishes would you like to try? What is your national dish? Share with us.

If you noted, Rice, Beans, Manioc and Cabbage are four ingredients very common in Brazilian Cuisine. What are the most common ingredients in your country?

P.S.: Have you ever heard about Coxinha and Pastel? I’m working in an additional text “Brazilian Street Foods and “Deserts”.

EDIT: Part 2 of this text is out. Please check here.

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Parabéns! São tantas coisas que existem na Cultura Gastronômica do Brasil que vamos precisar criar um tópico específico… rs rs rs

Agora precisamso descobrir se o feijão fica em cima, ao lado ou embaixo do arroz… rs rs rs

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@LuizDeFreitas73 Obrigado por comentar, verdade a diversidade é enorme. Além da polêmica sobre se o arroz é por cima, por baixo ou ao lado, podemos lançar uma série de questões sobre comida: por exemplo, é bolacha ou é biscoito? Abraços

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I love this post @AlexandreCampbell , even if I already had dinner

Churrasco is something that is quite easy to find in Italy too, and I love it, and I have tried Feijoada in Portugal, in a Brazilian Restaurant (I love it too)

But what really surprised me was the Polenta, that is a dish typical from Veneto, the Italian region where I live.

Do you know that Veneti (people living in Veneto region) are also called “Polentoni” (Polenta eaters)?

Thank you for letting us know a bit more of your country every day

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Hi @AlexandreCampbell ,

thank you for this other great post from #TeamBrazil … delicious food and nice pictures!

Well done all!

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Hi @ErmesT , Angu and Polenta (they are similar, but a little different – basically, my second pic is polenta, with a lot of stuff, and my forth pic is angu, what is just cornflour and water – in the forth) are very common in Brazil, mostly in Brazil countryside, especially in the state of Minas Gerais. I was raised in a small village in the State of Rio de Janeiro (but close to Minas Gerais border) and we used to eat it almost every day. Cornflour is very abundant, cheap and you become satisfied. And it was one of my favorite dishes. Every time I go to my parents’ house, my mother knows that she has to cook “angu”. BTW, Brazil was very influenced by diverse peoples, and probably Italians give us our polenta and angu).
Thank you @LuigiZ or your comment. Have you ever eaten Brazilian Food?

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Thank you @AlexandreCampbell for this interesting post with rich contein.

It is interesting to read about many dishes ,which I have never heard.

Thank you for excellent photos of dished,which look very tasty.

I like the dish Feijoada.

The national dish in my country Russia are-Pelmeni,Yha(fish soup),shchi(cabbage doup), blini(pancakes), borsch, piroszki.

Thank you for nice post.

Best wishes from Moscow

Inga

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Hey @AlexandreCampbell ,

Thank you for the detailed post, everything looks great and I must say that I had the privilege to try Escondidinho de frango e farofa which is another Brazilian dish. It was definitely something new for me but nevertheless, it was tasty!

And to answer your second question, our traditional ingredients would definitely be white rice, potatoes and white bread. They are included almost everywhere as they are very satisfying.

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Hi @helga19

Thank you very for your comment. I’ve never eaten Russian Food, but in the Russian World Cup I watched a lot of video about Russian and your food looks very tasty. :slight_smile:

Hello @MoniDi , “Escondidinho” can be made with potato or manioc and farofa is made with manioc flour. We really enjoy manioc here (hahaha). Rice, potatoes and white bread offer us many possibilities in cuisine, and they are, indeed, very satisfying (and tasty, of course). Thanks for sharing. :slight_smile:

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A culinária do Brasil é fruto de uma mistura de ingredientes europeus, indígenas e africanos. Muitos dos componentes das receitas e técnicas de preparo são de origem indígena, tendo sofrido modificações por parte dos portugueses e dos escravos oriundos da África. Esses faziam adaptações dos seus pratos típicos substituindo os ingredientes que faltassem por correspondentes locais. A feijoada à brasileira, prato típico do país, é um exemplo disso.

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Oi @0lavo , concordo plenamente com você. Pegamos as influencias portuguesas, africanas, indígenas e usamos os ingredientes locais e demos o nosso tempero. Obrigado por comentar.

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Nice post @AlexandreCampbell ! The photos look very professional. I have tried polenta, churrasco, and mandioca as they are eaten here too. Rice and beans isn’t so common, but I have tried it when eating Venezuelan dishes.

I’m looking forward to the day I finally go to Brazil to try the rest of the traditional food you shared. Thank you!

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@Jesi Thank’s Jesi. I’m a journalist and like so much to photograph (and I use Photoshop to edit them also:) ). Hope that you can visit us soon. You’ll have a Local Guide in Rio de Janeiro! :slight_smile:

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@AlexandreCampbell さん、こんにちは。

とても美味しそうなブラジル料理を紹介して頂きありがとうございます。

どの料理もとても美味しそうです。

Feijoadaは二人前で三人分くらいの量が出てくるんですね。

白米の隣にあるのは皮が剥かれたフルーツはレモンですか?

とても綺麗で美味しそうです。

日本に遊びに来たらぜひラーメンを食べてください。

とても美味しいラーメンがたくさんありますよ🍜

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Hello, @AlexandreCampbell

I have never tasted Brazilian Food yet. So I searched for a restaurant serving Brazilian Food in my region but I couldn’t find it.
I’ll keep in mind it and if I find a restaurant, I’ll try it. Especially, Feijoada looks tasty for me:-9

Thank you for sharing this nice post!

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Nice post @AlexandreCampbell !

I can remember, the Feijoada in Canasvieras, the grilled cheese in Ipanema Beach in Rio, the shrimp in Barra da Tijuca, peito de frango grehlado in Pipa , milho quente! ( It’s the best) in Camboriu and in all the beaches.

Always, always and always with a mouthwatering frozen Skol or Antarctica!

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

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Olá @0lavo ,

Bem vindo ao Connect e prazer em conhecê-lo.

Eu gostaria de lhe informar que eu movi o seu post para o tópico Have you ever tasted Brazilian Food? - #TeamBrazil para manter a comunidade mais organizada, pois, eles são similares.

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Yes @AlexandreCampbell have tried several times Brazilian food but in Brazilian restaurants in other countries, I remember exactly the Churrasco and the Carne de Sol from your description but I’m sure it is not the same as the ones you can eat in Brazil.

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Olá @AlexandreCampbell ,

Muito legal esse post sobre a nossa comida, deu um mix de sensações aqui, saudade e fome ao mesmo tempo hehehe.

Hoje em dia eu ainda cozinho sempre nossa comida, o escondidinho de frango com cream cheese (não te requeijão aqui) e a farofa que a @MoniDi provou foi eu que fiz. =) Não é muito fácil achar os ingredientes que temos no Brasil aqui, nem o arroz e feijão são os mesmos, mas eu adapto e tanto fazer a melhor versão possível.

Tem um post bem legal Pastel: comida típica de São Paulo - Brasil sobre a origem do pastel da nossa amiga @alexandradias

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@AlexandreCampbell feijão sempre em cima, e claro que e bolacha, kkkkkk

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