Brazil Travel Blog

Oh, how I love going to the sacolão (the greengrocer’s)! There are always plenty of photo opportunities and, if that wasn’t sufficient enough, hardly a visit goes by without the discovery of a new and strange variety of fruit (and believe me, there are far more exotic varieties of fruits and vegetables than the yam shown on the following photograph).

Last Sunday the guys at the greengrocer’s had piled up a phenomenal amount of oranges, on an obvious attempt at defying gravity. Actually, the sacolão has all to do with masses of piled fruits, everywhere. Do not miss the chance to visit a sacolão during your stay in Brazil.

Japanese temakis (large cone-shaped pieces of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end) are well known by fans of Japanese food, especially in São Paulo. And unknown to the vast majority of the population.

Out of a sudden, temakis became popular in Rio de Janeiro, where they are referred to as cones. In a short period of time several temaki restaurantes have opened and there is even a fast-food chain specializing in temakis. Among the reasons for their success, the fact that they are eaten with your hands (no need to use chopsticks), they contain rice (Brazilian staple food) and they are prepared with natural ingredients in a healthly way (no frying pans to be seen).

Who would imagine, a melon ice lolly (Popsicle) is becoming a craze in São Paulo. It all began on the oriental quarter of Liberdade. We saw the ice-cream for the first time in July. So many people walking around holding a green lolly. When we tried to buy one to taste it, it was sold out. Since then, what could have perfectly been kept within the boundaries of the Japanese community, reached other parts of the city. Today you can buy your melon ice-cream on the avenida Paulista and even in the small Japanese supermarket of our very own part of São Paulo.

In actual fact, the product comes from Korea, and is manufactured by Bing. One wonders what the logistics of transporting ice-cream from Korea to Brazil must be like. Visions of hungry sailors stuffing themselves with ice-cream come to mind.

As well as the melon ice lollies, you can also buy other Korean delicacies such as watermelon ice-cream or red beans ice-cream.

While on the supermarket last week, we came across a new type of snack. Packed in the same bag as traditional crisps [chips], you now have the choice of mandioca (cassava, manioc) and inhame (yam). We bought a bag of each to find out what they tasted like.

Mandioca (also known as aipim and macaxeira) is part of the staple diet on several parts of Brazil. What we found inside the bag had an excellent appearance, with hints of the real texture of mandioca. A pity the taste was quite bland. We couldn’t help but recall all those fried mandiocas we’ve eaten so many times at the beach!

Inhame is an edible root vegetable quite popular in the north and northeast of Brazil, as well as in the Caribbean. The contents of the bag had an elaborate appearance as well. As I hadn’t tasted real inhame before, I can’t compare it to the industrial thing. However, the taste was much nicer than the mandioca in the other package. The cool beer we had on stand by went down really well along this seemingly unique Brazilian snack.

To refer to cachaça as the national drink of Brazil might seem a bit of an exaggeration, but the truth is that there is no other alcoholic beverage as popular in Brazil as pinga is - another popular name for cachaça. Cachaça is a cane spirit with a strength from 38% to 51%. It is an essential ingredient of caipirinha.

Small distilleries all throughout Brazil produce cachaça. The top-quality ones have traditionally come from the state of Minas Gerais.

Don’t be troubled if someone asks you whether you want a vitamina. As well as a substance, a vitamina in Brazilian Portuguese is a drink, very similar to a smoothie, but usually prepared with just fruit juice and milk. If you have misgivings about the hygiene of the place where you will be ordering one, skip the milk bit and go for just a fruit juice (suco).

Guaraná is a stimulant drink very popular all throughout Brazil. It’s the local alternative to Coca-Cola, Fanta, Pepsi and other products from the multinationals - mind you, the most famous brands of guaraná are bottled by those same multinationals.

The drink is made from the seed of the fruit of the same name (scientific name: Paullinia cupana). The small tree from which the fruit grows is found in the north of Brazil only - and in parts of Venezuela.

The big names in the guaraná market are Antarctica and Kuat. In the north of Brazil there are several local brands with no distribution elsewhere in the country.

In the state of Maranhão, and only there, you can drink the extraordinary Guaraná Jesús, Maranhão’s national drink. Paradoxically, the drink does not contain guaraná, it is made with cloves and cinnamon, that give Guaraná Jesús a sickly sweet flavour. For the Scots out there, Guaraná Jesús is to Maranhão what Irn Bru is to Scotland.

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Do you want some marmalade on your toast? Ask for géleia (de laranja), as marmelada in Portuguese means quince jelly/quince jam.

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The ubiquitous caipirinha is one of the best known Brazilian drinks, a massive hit with tourists. It is prepared with lime, sugar, crushed ice and cachaça - a fermented drink obtained from the distillation of sugar cane sap.

There are numerous variations of the caipirinha. The caipiroska uses vodka instead of cachaça. The traditional batidas, also known as caipifrutas, use fruit juice, as well as cachaça or vodka. The best caipifrutas are prepared with natural fruit juice. When the fruit is not available, frozen pulp is used instead.

Strawberry batida, peanut batida, cashew nut batida, passion fruit batida. A feast for the senses! Not to mention fruits that are only found in Brazil: acerola, cajá, graviola, pitanga, …

A common denominator to all these cocktails is that the ease with which they enter your body is directly proportional to the intensity of the hangover the following day. You can’t say nobody warned you…

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For those familiar with the Argentinian tenedor libre, not much is needed in terms of an explanation. The rodízio is its Brazilian cousin. For those unfamiliar with both, the deal is simple: you pay a fixed price, you eat as much as you want (drinks and desserts are paid separatedly).

The rodízio par excellence is the meat rodízio. Comfortably seated at your table, you contemplate a seemingly endless series of waiters coming and going with huge skewers containing different cuts of meat. Whenever you fancy a cut of meat, ask the waiter, and he’ll cut some pieces for you. In actual fact, you hardly ever need to ask, waiters at a rodízio restaurant are quite proactive.

Those in the know are aware that good things come to those who wait. You can skip the French fries, fried bananas, onion rings and inferior cuts of meat that will be doing the rounds at the beginning of your meal. No need to stuff yourself too early. If you are patient enough, you will be rewarded with some of the most delicious cuts of meat you will have tasted in your life.

Prices at rodízio restaurants start from R$15 and go up to R$70 or R$80 at the best restaurants. In most restaurants, as well as the meat, you will find a larguish salad counter with quite a lot of cooked meals as well. The idea behind this bewildering variety is to stuff you real quick so you won’t be too eager to taste the most expensive cuts of meat.

Vento Haragano is quite a good (and expensive) churrascaria in São Paulo. At its website you can see what a rodízio looks like and what are the cuts of meat being served.

As well as meat rodízios, there are now fish rodízios, prawn rodízios, pizza rodízios, sushi rodízios,… The sky (or rather, your stomach) is the limit!

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