Brazilian Food

Although Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, the ethnic heritage is a blend of native Amerindian, Portuguese, African, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, Syrian, Lebanese, Japanese and others.

Cuisine varies regionally but the national dish is feijoada, a stew made with black turtle beans and various cuts of pork and beef, often served with rice and collard greens or deep-fried cassava or banana. Try it in Rio de Janeiro—the industrial southeast region is the area for which Brazilian cooking is renowned.

Foods of the south include sun-dried or salt-dried meats and churrasco, grilled meats on large skewers. In Parana you may find barreado, meat that is traditionally made in a ceramic pan placed under the soil to boil with natural heat from the sun. Many southern dishes originated from the gaucho (cowboy of the plains) style of cooking.

The cuisine of the north is distinctly indigenous. Pato no tucupi is a special duck soup made with manioc (a.k.a. cassava or yucca) leaves. Tacaca is another typical northern dish based on tucupi but includes shrimp, jambu (a flowering herb) and spices. It is often sold by street vendors called tacacazeira in Belem. In the northeast, you can enjoy moqueca baiana, a traditional seafood stew made with fish, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro and chile pepper.—Jennifer Capalbo

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