Brazilian Food

The best known Brazilian dish is “feijoada” - a bean stew with pork that is served with rice, manioc flour and collard green. Feijoada is almost equivalent to a history lesson. The black beans were cooked by African slaves, rice and collard beans were brought by the Portuguese, and the manioc flour gave it an Indian touch. Click below for a recipe of feijoada and some other traditional Brazilian dishes.

Besides feijoada, there is an amazing variety of eats in Brazil. Just like the people, Brazilian food comes in all shapes and colors. For example, a typical middle class Brazilian breakfast would consist of coffee and milk, French bread with butter or cheese, and often fruits and juices. Fruits are delicious in Brazil.

At lunch time, the most popular meals consist of meat, rice, beans, and a salad, though chicken, fish and pasta are popular too.  These dishes are often accompanied with vegetables and “manioc” flour, also called "farofa".

From left to right: bacalhoada, carne seca na moranga, breaded steaks, couscous

Manioc is a root. It was a staple of the Brazilian Indian’s diet. Nowadays, it can be served boiled or fried.  "Pão de Queijo", or cheese puff, is very popular in Brazil. It tastes particularly delicious when eaten just out of the oven. To accompany cheese puffs, the best soft drink is “guaraná”. Guaraná exists only in Brazil. It is made from a small red fruit from the Amazon Forest.

Manioc, cheese puffs, and guaraná – a heavenly combination 

Made with fruits, sweet condensed milk, eggs, or pure chocolate, Brazilian sweets are all wonderful!  At birthday parties, small sweets known as coconut kisses are hard to beat, together with “olhos-de-sogra”, made with prunes and cream, “cajuzinhos” made with sweet condensed milk and peanuts and “brigadeiros”, small condensed milk and chocolate balls.

Party time! Coconut kisses, brigadeiro, docinhos coloridos, bom bocado e cocada!

When the Portuguese arrived in the year 1500, the native Indians already ate manioc, corn, and hearts of palm.

Original indian eats: hearts of palm, pound cake,
tapioca, manioc cake e sweet corn bread.

The Portuguese settlers brought foods from distant lands: potato, rice, salted cod fish, and even sugar were imported early on.  Having found so many different fruits, they soon began to make fruit preserves.

The Portuguese also brought sweets made with eggs and milk. Later these basic ingredients were mixed with local ones, such as coconut or corn.

Portuguese sweets adapted to Brazil: “ovos nevados, ambrosia,
quindim, fios de ovos, pamonha”

Besides feijoada, other African contributions to Brazilian culinary are okra, and many dishes cooked with palm oil and coconut milk. A small bean cake known as “acarajé” is a typical dish from Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia.  The ladies who prepare these delicacies often ask whether your want them cold or hot. "Hot" means very, very spicy.

Thanks to immigration, European and Middle Eastern cuisines became very influential on Brazilian diet. French bread, German apple pie and Lebanese "taboule" are easily found all over the country.

International imports (strudel, German cake, grape leaf “cigars”, taboule, lamb)

Italian dishes are also found everywhere in Brazil. Pasta and many varieties of pizza have already become part of Brazilian everyday life.

Italian contributions : tiramissu, focaccia, polenta, pizza e gnocchi

One final reminder: when in Brazil, don’t forget to try the delicious ice creams made out of exotic tropical fruits!