I developed an addiction to pão de queijo, these little balls of tapioca with cheese. For some reason, I found them disappointing when I first tried them in 2002: I think I was still very French and I was expecting real cheese inside, instead of a cheesy flavour. I love them now!

I also love Brazilian empanadas, filled with much more than ham and cheese. I like the yogurts with exotic fruits, the many juice bars, fresh corn on the beach, churros… Brazil also has varieties of bread: pão de milho (corn bread), pão Australiano (dark bread made with three different types of flour), French rolls, avocado bread, coconut bread, banana bread… And the desserts! Rio seems obsessed with bolos, you can buy a slice of these simple bundt cakes—orange, chocolate, goiaba, fubá (corn), aipim (manioc) etc.—pretty much anywhere. If you really feel like it, there are more elaborated cakes and sweet breads, the stickier, the better. In doubt, pick something sabor brigadeiro, a traditional Brazilian doce, a bit like chocolate fudge, made of cocoa, butter and condensed milk.

It’s hard to dislike Brazilian food. Sure, when it’s 40ºC, I don’t feel like eating a hearty stew with rice and beans, but food is plentiful, colourful and cheap and you’re sure to find a snack that keeps you going.

Each city or region has its way of doing things. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo seem to like stuffed croissants, while they were hard to find in Floripa, a city that had tons of different empanadas but fewer kinds of bread. Rio has the most kinds of bolos but São Paulo and Curitiba had amazing profiteroles, and so on.

I can’t think of a food I dislike or that disappointed me… except maybe the misshaped bananas? But I later learned that there were two main kinds of bananas here: banana-d’água (Cavendish) and banana-da-terra (small plantain).

One of the many juice bars in Copacabana
One of the many juice bars in Copacabana
Coffee in a corner store in Centro
Coffee in a corner store in Centro
Corner store in Centro
Corner store in Centro
Street market in Copacabana
Street market in Copacabana
Street market in Copacabana
Street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Exotic fruits in a street market in Copacabana
Regional food in a street market in Copacabana
Regional food in a street market in Copacabana
Fish in a street market in Copacabana
Fish in a street market in Copacabana
Coffee break
Coffee break
Pão de queijo
Pão de queijo
Brazilian "pastels"
Brazilian “pastels”
Savoury croissants
Savoury croissants
Carolinas (same as the French "profiteroles")
Carolinas (same as the French “profiteroles”)
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4 Comments

  1. Holly February 22, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    I had never associated Brazil with food somehow! Probably because of all the stick thin super model-types there :p but I have always wanted to feast on exotic fruits – I can’t even imagine what they all taste like!

    Reply
    1. Zhu February 25, 2016 at 10:24 pm

      Believe it or not, Brazilians are not that thin, most are very curvy in a good kind of way!

      Reply
  2. Shannon February 23, 2016 at 6:04 am

    You’ve made me hungry! When I had a Brazilian housemate, he would sometimes make different dishes (some of which you mentioned here). I never tried one that I didn’t like. They were always so tasty!

    Reply
    1. Zhu February 25, 2016 at 10:24 pm

      That’s how I feel about Brazilian food. Never ate something I didn’t like!

      Reply

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