Brazilian

History

Indigenous peoples gave Brazil cassava (mandioca), its flours (farinha, tapioca) and many fruits. Portuguese colonisers brought pork, beef, salt cod and sweets; millions of enslaved Africans shaped the cooking of the north-east, especially Bahia, with dendê (palm oil), coconut and dried shrimp. Gaúcho cattle herders in the south developed churrasco. Italian, German, Arab and Japanese immigrants from the late 19th century transformed São Paulo and the south. The craft of the Bahian acarajé sellers (baianas) is registered as Brazilian national heritage (2005).

Well documented

Geography and influences

A vast country from the Amazon basin through the dry north-eastern sertão, the Atlantic coast, the central cerrado and the temperate southern pampas.

• Indigenous Tupi and other peoples
• Portuguese colonisers
• West African (Yoruba) cooking in Bahia
• Italian, German, Arab and Japanese immigrants

Regional variations

Bahia and the north-east

Afro-Brazilian dendê cooking: moqueca, acarajé, vatapá; sertão dried beef (carne de sol).

Minas Gerais

Pão de queijo, tutu de feijão, slow pork dishes, wood-fired stoves.

Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

Feijoada, bakery and immigrant (Italian, Japanese, Arab) food.

The south (Rio Grande do Sul)

Gaúcho churrasco and chimarrão (mate).

Amazon (Pará)

Tucupi, jambu, açaí, river fish.

Festive and seasonal food

• Feijoada on Saturdays
• Festa Junina corn dishes (pamonha, canjica, curau)
• Bacalhau and rabanada at Christmas
• Brigadeiros at children's birthday parties

Signature dishes

• Feijoada
• Moqueca baiana
• Pão de queijo
• Coxinha
• Acarajé
• Vatapá
• Grilled picanha
• Farofa
• Brigadeiros
• Pastel de feira
• Escondidinho de carne moída
• Feijão carioca
• Bolo de fubá (Brazilian cornmeal cake)

Not on the site yet: Churrasco, Açaí na tigela, Tacacá (Pará), Pão na chapa, Caipirinha