Thursday, November 15, 2007
Beans and Rice: They’re Very Nice
Brazilian food: down here in the Dirty South they’ve got their own gauchos, and as in Argentina, beef is big. Churrascarias, with tie-clad waiters standing at attention to bring you piles of meat, are pretty much everywhere (not that I’ve had time to go to one). They also drink a lot of the (here called) yerva mate. But there are some major differences. Top among them is the absolute dominance of black beans and rice (which form the core of all meals) and the popularity of fried cod dishes (part of the Portuguese culinary legacy—Brazilians really dodged a bullet on that one, as for a while the Dutch were the major colonial power in Brazil, and if they hadn’t been ousted by the Portuguese, the locals might have been stuck eating raw herring sandwiches). Then there’s the presence of a number of non-mate drinks with strong pharmacological properties, notably juices and sodas made from guaraná, a small berry that’s a powerful stimulant. Where I am the fruit scene is relatively tame—apples, oranges, avocados, relatively few really exotic things. It’s too far south here to grow the Amazonian fruits, and preservation and export are unheard of—if it can’t be obtained fresh, it isn’t obtained. Apparently Rio’s markets are far more diverse in terms of produce, and if you go to an actual Amazonian city like Belem or Manaus a produce stand might as well be from another planet.
Brazilian food: down here in the Dirty South they’ve got their own gauchos, and as in Argentina, beef is big. Churrascarias, with tie-clad waiters standing at attention to bring you piles of meat, are pretty much everywhere (not that I’ve had time to go to one). They also drink a lot of the (here called) yerva mate. But there are some major differences. Top among them is the absolute dominance of black beans and rice (which form the core of all meals) and the popularity of fried cod dishes (part of the Portuguese culinary legacy—Brazilians really dodged a bullet on that one, as for a while the Dutch were the major colonial power in Brazil, and if they hadn’t been ousted by the Portuguese, the locals might have been stuck eating raw herring sandwiches). Then there’s the presence of a number of non-mate drinks with strong pharmacological properties, notably juices and sodas made from guaraná, a small berry that’s a powerful stimulant. Where I am the fruit scene is relatively tame—apples, oranges, avocados, relatively few really exotic things. It’s too far south here to grow the Amazonian fruits, and preservation and export are unheard of—if it can’t be obtained fresh, it isn’t obtained. Apparently Rio’s markets are far more diverse in terms of produce, and if you go to an actual Amazonian city like Belem or Manaus a produce stand might as well be from another planet.
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