Jul 17 2008
Brazilian Cuisine, Remember the Samba!
It began like most ethnic food movements “do - with small restaurants in the neighborhoods where immigrants settled, small restaurants and cafeterias and cafes opened by those who wanted to offer a foretaste of the house of their fellow emigrants . The Chinese, Italian, Middle East, Thai - family bistros, cooking spread outside those cultures “district” from the good food and the word spread. The last “nouvelle cuisine” which is spreading like wildfire east of Brazil - a delicious mixture of three cultures, which meets in the dishes and delicacies that are not found anywhere else in the world.
To understand the cuisine of Brazil, one must understand a little of its history. The base of the Brazilian cuisine is in their root - foods that sustainable Brazilians - cassava, yams, fish and meat - but it bears the stamp of two other peoples and the Portuguese who came to the conquest and remained, and the African slaves they brought with them to work sugar cane. Brazilian cuisine is now a seamless amalgam of the three influences that among other in a unique and totally Brazilian style.
The staples of the Brazilian regime are root vegetables, seafood and meat. In cassava, from cassava roots is the “meal” of the region, and is eaten in one form or another almost every meal. The root of bitter cassava is poisonous in its raw state, but when prepared properly, the root of cassava and tapioca yields farinha, the basis for many dishes from the region. The Portuguese influence shows in the rich, sweet egg bread that are served at almost every meal, and in the dishes of seafood which are based “seafood” the coconuts and other fruits and vegetables.
The flat national, bobo de camarao is one of them, a delicious mix of fresh shrimp in a puree dried shrimp, manioc (cassava) meal, coconut milk and nuts, scented with oil palm called dende. It is the African influence is most apparent, though - as it is to be expected of people who worked in the kitchens. Pineapple and coconut milk, shredded coconut and palm hearts worked their way into dishes all day, flavoring meat, shrimp, fish, vegetables and bread. Brazilian food, unlike the kitchen of a large number of neighboring countries, promotes the sweetness rather than heat, more than any other cuisine of South America, it bears enjoy tropical island breezes rather than the warm wind Desert.
The most common ingredients in the cuisine of Brazil are cassava, coconut, dende, black beans and rice. Bacalao - cod - characteristics in many dishes derived from Portuguese, but flavored with typical insouciance with Brazilian cream of coconut and pistachio, it becomes a totally different food. It is typical of the attitude towards Food Brazil - an expression of a warm and open to people with food and sharing food is the basis of hospitality. Brazilian cuisine is like its people - all are welcome, all are welcome and all make their mark - without ever overwhelming the contributions of others.
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