What’s in your churrasco? Photo: paulandaline
Brazil has some of the tastiest treats on the planet. Current South America traveler Russ Slater gives us a primer on what to know before digging into ten of Brazil’s best dishes.
Feijão and Farofa
This, served with rice, is the number one dish in Brazil. Feijão is black beans that have been boiled with onion and garlic. Sometimes the beans are cooked with pork, in which case it is called feijoada.
Farofa on top of feijão with a helping of rice is sublime. These dishes will generally accompany any meal that you have in a Brazilian restaurant and will always be in abundance at the all-you-can-eat and per kilo restaurants.
Açaí
Elsewhere in the world açaí (a berry-like fruit) is criminally expensive and normally exists as a powder mix or concentrate. In Brazil, it can be found on every corner, available as a juice, milkshake, ice cream or blitzed up with granola for a special treat.
Amazing Açaí. Photo: smelliesocks
Churrasco
Argentina gets all the glory for great barbecue but Brazil can offer more than ample competition. Their sirloin (picanha in Portuguese) is a beautiful thing – a huge lump of meat covered in rock salt cooked high over a barbecue tenderized to perfection.
You will need to go to a churrascaria to get this but beware: Asking for a complete churrasco will mean you get every last piece of the animal barbecued, from the chicken’s heart to the pig trotters.
Maracujá
There are so many types of passion fruit in Brazil that each one has its own name. Maracujá is by far the best. Chopped in half and eaten with a spoon it will provide a blast of citrus-y goodness. It also makes a good alternative to lime in caipirinhas.
Coxinha com Catupiry
Snack food in Brazil almost exclusively consists of fried parcels of meat. Coxinha is a personal favourite; a cone containing chicken at the top and mashed potato at the bottom, with a flour coating.
It is especially good with catupiry (cream cheese), which is sealed inside the coxinha next to the potato. One of these is enough to keep hunger at bay for a few hours. On long journeys, their presence at every service station is a godsend.
Pudim de Leite (Pudding of Milk)
This is a classic pudding made from condensed milk, fresh milk, eggs and sugar. It is a circular dessert of white jelly-like sweetness with a caramel-style bottom. They are available as tiny snacks or as huge puddings which can be taken home for all the family to enjoy.
Aipim Frito
Made from yams and fried as cubes, aipim frito are very similar to chips, yet with a tougher consistency. Very good with salt and ketchup!
Bolo
Brazil loves cake, which they call bolo. In fact, it is one food that can be eaten at any time of the day. It is available at restaurants, corner shops, street vendors and generally any place that sells any type of food.
Beans, beans, good for your heart. Feijão. Photo: trasel
Bolo is often made with corn flour (polenta) instead of wheat flour and is sometimes made with a combination of the two, giving it a different texture entirely. Try flavors like chocolate, pineapple and coconut.
Pastéis / Empadas
I have mentioned coxinhas but perhaps even more popular for snack food are pastéis. These are very similar to empanadas or pasties and will generally have a beef filling. They can be bought on the street ridiculously cheap but can also be bought in restaurants, where they offer a huge variety of flavours.
Empadas are also worth trying. These are cooked in the oven and are like a tiny pie. They will normally have the same fillings as pastéis, but will often also have a vegetarian option.
Cajú
The cajú fruit is perhaps most well-known for giving us the cashew nut, but it’s quite a tasty fruit itself. It can be eaten whole but my preference is mixed in a juice as solo it can be a little bitter.
You will recognize the fruit in shops, as it will have what looks like a giant cashew nut attached to the top of it. When the nut is in this state it is highly allergic to eat and will most likely bring the devourer out in a horrible rash. The nut it needs to be roasted before you can eat it.
About the Author
Related Posts
21 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
Thanks, Xander for your attentive reading and corrections, and for helping MatadorNights make this post more authentic.
Maracuyá is the Spanish spelling, it seems for maracujá. I found many instances of both spellings (through Google Argentina).
After checking on what you had to say, we’ve implemented your corrections.
I’d love to try that carne do sol you mention. Sounds delicious!
↵ -
My pleasure; I’m sorry for being that spelling correction guy!
Carne do sol is beautiful, comparable to south african biltong. I hope you get the chance to try it one day….make sure it’s in the central north-east of Brazil!
↵ -
I miss this so much it hurts….every bit of it.
↵ -
I had the cajú fruit for the first time in Tobago this summer. It was so sweet and delicious. However, the skin is very bitter. I’ll be heading to Brazil for the first time in about a month and I look forward to trying these foods. Thanks for the info.
↵ -
Great one!
But you missed out a few things and specially my favourite ones: Pao de queijo and Palmito (cheesebread and palm hearts). Also brigadeiro, beijinho, pacoca, etc etc etc
It made me miss Brazilian food sooo much!↵ -
Man I loved eating Coxinha at every bus stop! Wasn’t so keen on what i’m sure where udders served up at a churrasco!
↵ -
I am a vegetarian, so, yes I did struggle somewhat when I was in Brazil! I loved the acai mixed with granola, served on the beaches. Pasteis with hearts of palm was really good. On my first visit to Brazil, I had some fejoada, did not realize it had some meat until too late. I saw a piece of meat with animal hair! I gagged on that! The pizza was different, Brazilians put ketchup and mayonaisse on that! There are ways to be able to eat vegetarian in Brazil, just depends where one visits. I found the buffet style restaurants had way more options. Have to be very creative. My boyfriend’s dad is a vegetarian and he has managed all these years.
↵ -
Nope, brazilians do not put ketchup on pizzas. You probably visited Rio de Janeiro which has this unholiness to the pizza. To eat the best pizza in the country you must visit São Paulo, packed with pizzarias on every corner.
↵ -
I saw this in Belo, Brasilia…I have not been to Sao Paulo, so can’t comment. My bf, whom lived in SP, said there are so many different restaurants. A lot depends on the region, the restaurants, any where. I don’t disagree with you. I did see it in Rio, at the mall. I have to make a trip to SP sometime:)
↵ -
oh how I miss all of that! Can’t say I’m much of a fan of maracuja but empadas, pudim de leite, arroz com feijao… give them to me any time and I’m happy!
I agree with Milene, pao de queijo and brigadeiro are also a must!
Thanks for the post. You’ve made me hungry.
↵ -
Cool!
Miss my country a lot! Saudades!
Great guide by the way! Gonna send to all my friends I met here in Africa!Thanks for writing it!!!
↵ -
My mouth just severely watered. Though I haven’t been to Brazil, I did indeed partake of some unbelievable churrasco’s in Chile and Argentina, looks amazing.
The caju fruit also brings back some excellent memories from eating them in Congo.
Great guide to the munch of Brazil, can’t wait to go there and indulge!
↵ -
Hey luasol.
Im a vegetarian myself and this is a bit strange to my fellow Brazilians
But I tell you, you can always survive! There are amazing vegetarian restaurants in SP (Lotus and Gopala Prasada to name a couple) and sometimes you can even pay half price at the Churrascarias and enjoy the variety of salads available at their salad buffets. Eat grilled Queijo Coalho which is sort of a Haloumi Cheese and grilled pineapple as well. Although you have to face the poor dead animals on the skewer around you all the time lol which can be quite uncomfortable if you are a strict vegetarian.
Monthly I think, it also happens the Verdurada which is a political/gastronomic/musical meeting in a place where you can buy yummy vegan food prepared by Hare Khrishna.For non-vegetarians:
About pizzas, I might have had a few times pizza with ketchup but Im not a big fan of it and I quite agree to the unholiness title that JP gave to it.
For pizza by the slice go to Pedaco da Pizza on Rua Augusta. It is amaaaazing!
Or pretty much in any padaria (bakery) as well, they are all yummy. Even bad pizza is good. Dont leave without trying sonho (dreams, sort of doughnuts) and carolinas (profiterole filled with caramel or much better described Doce de Leite itself) and everything else you can fit in your belly.Oh well, I soo miss it!
↵ -
Pizza is pretty boring outside of the São Paulo Italian places.
Sweet maracujá can be eaten with a spoon. Don’t go trying to eat the regular maracujá like that, unless you like sour surprises.
Others to go on this list: guaraná da amazonia (the shakes, not the soft drink), cuscus de milho, queijo coalho, charque/carne de sol, acarajé, mugunzá, galinha cabidela (chicken stewed in its own blood), cajá/siriguela/tapereba (for juice), cozido (super meat/veggie stew), ingá (fruit in a pod, tastes like vanilla), casquinha de siri (crab meat), sururú, all the caldinhos…
Anyway, this list could go on all day.
Go to the local markets to catch all the fruit, but stay away from jaca. Also stay away from buchada de bode (unless you want your Brazilian culinary experience to turn into an episode of Bizarre Foods).
↵ -
I wanted to put this out there-would you agree the food is very salty?
↵ -
Men! those photos of different Brazilian cuisine is mouth watering. Even though I have not tried eating any Brazilian food but looking at the photos alone I can tell that it’s yummy.
↵ -
Nice postings about brazilian food… but, my God!
I’ve never put catchup or mayonaise on my pizza.
I know that these condiments are requested for some
patrons at some places but, believe me, this is an exception, not a rule.
There is a (huge) lot of places where the simple presence
of catchup/mayonaise isn’t even allowed. Bellieve me.
In your next visit to Brazil ( São Paulo) try most traditional
places like Speranza, Bráz, Camelo, Castelões… and you’ll be
eating the REAL brazilian pizza. It’s really good. You’ll see.↵ -
Hello there, good post about our foods. I’ll agree with those who said Pão de Queijo, Guaraná, and the amount of heart of palms we eat in our salads are missing from the list.
I’m leaving a comment for a minor correction though. The coxinhas aren’t made with potato, at all. The dough the chicken filling is wrapped in is a mix of flour, vegetable oil and chicken broth. This mixture is stirred stove top until it cooks and unsticks from the pot, becoming a dough which is then filled with chicken and deep fried (it’s not flour coated either).
↵ -
OMG I miss Brazilian food sooooo bad!!! My husband is a native, but took a vacation to FL and we met. He took me to Brazil when I was 6 months Pregnant, And boy did I have a great pregnancy! I was underweight and needed to gain more. I ate like a pig In São Paulo! You are also missing the best food that I became addicted to BRAZILIAN STROGANOFF !!! Especially at Baked Potato restaurant at the mall! Oh I died! And stroganoff pizza! Yummmmm I love Brazil!!! lol
↵
