Living
Edward Finney
Oct 2 2008

The daily fare of the typical Brasilian can become quite boring for a foreigner who is used to a more diverse diet but some meals can be quite interesting and delicious. Lunch for the typical Brasilian family is normally the big meal of the day and they usually have a two or three hour ``lunch Hour`` to sleep it off. It is usually the onmipresent rice, beans, macaroni, salad, meat, chicken or fish accompanied by vinegrette(chopped onions, tomatoes and cilantro with vinegar)and farofa(a coarse flour made from a tropical root vegetable called macaxeira or mandioca). There is little variation. Supper is usually soup and/or sandwiches.

In the restaurants however, the food can become quite diverse and delicious. Probably the most famous meal throughout Brasil is the churrasco; an enormous selection of barbequed meats roasted on sword-like skewers. In a fine restaurant, the selection maybe over 25 varieties of meat from chicken hearts to filet mignon. And it is all available for a reasonable fixed price. You begin your feast with an enormous salad bar with everything imaginable accompanhied by a few ice cold draft beers or a caipirinha made from the local sugar cane distilled firewater mixed with sugar and crushed fresh limes. It is the authors recommendation that you stop at two or you may not enjoy what follows. And what follows is an amazing display of glutiny. . . . . . . before you can even finish your salad bar and drinks, in come a parade of waiters who are constantly walking about the restaurant with swords loaded down with every meat known in Brasil. . . . . all direct
from the barbeque pit. As the waiter hovers over your shoulder, you put your fork into whatever looks appealing and he slices it off onto your plate and moves on to the next hungry diner. That will soon be follow by another waiter with a sword loaded down with another type of meat. . . . . . it goes on and on and on until your belt breaks and you scream for mercy. NO ONE leaves a Brasilian churrasco hungry.

Another delectible meal comes from the sugar cane plantations and the slave quarters of old. It is called feijoada and consists of highly flavored black beans with pork pieces that the padrão of the plantation didn´t eat. . . . . that is the pig´s nose, tail, ears, feet etc. Nowadays of course, the feijoada is made without the undesireable pig parts and includes the good parts that the plantation owner used to eat. The black beans are served with collard greens, rice and orange slices. Delicious! Always available on Saturdays and sometimes on Wednesdays.

Here in João Pessoa, a delightful seaside city in NE Brasil, the selection of fresh seafood is varied and delicious. Every morning the small fishing fleet comes ashore at Tambaú beach with a cargo of shrimp, crabs, lobster, shellfish and varied supply of local fish and all is available to the public and restaurant owners without the middleman. It is hard to find anything more enjoyable than a seaside dinner of FRESH seafood cooked in imaginative ways. Fish and shrimp cooked in coconut milk reflects the tropical environment in which we live. Braised tuna or swordfish, pampano, and dozens of other creatures of the deep are guarenteed fresh and will add a pleasant memory to your visit.

Courageous? Like to experiment? Food from the interior of NE Brasil can be a shock to the palate for the untraveled. Barbequed goat. Carne do Sol(sun dried beef). Charque(salted beef or whatever is handy). Buchada(stuffed stomach of something with chopped pigs liver and spices and vegetables). Arrumidinha, rubação, and a score of other interior meals that are best left undescribed are awaiting those that like to experiment with unidentified fare. Probably best to stick with the churraco.

Eating in NE Brasil can be a delight. . . .not sofisticatd or fancy. . . .just darn good, filling and different. Come hungry. Leave a few pounds heavier and satisfied. Can´t get any better than that.