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It began as most 'ethnic food movements' do - with small
restaurants in the neighborhoods where immigrants settled,
diners and lunchrooms and tea rooms opened by those who wanted
to offer a taste of home to their fellow émigrés. Chinese,
Italian, Middle Eastern, Thai - from family run bistros, the
cuisine spread as those outside the cultures of the
'neighborhood' learned of the good food and the word spread. The
latest 'new cuisine' that is spreading like wildfire is
Brazilian - a delicious blending of three separate cultures that
comes together in dishes and delicacies that aren't found
anywhere else in the world.
To understand the cuisine of Brazil, one must understand a
little of its history. The base of Brazilian cuisine is in its
native roots - the foods that sustained the native Brazilians -
cassava, yams, fish and meat - but it bears the stamp of two
other peoples as well: the Portuguese who came to conquer and
stayed, and the African slaves that they brought with them to
work the sugar plantations. Brazilian cuisine today is a
seamless amalgam of the three influences that interweave in a
unique and totally Brazilian style.
The staples of the Brazilian diet are root vegetables, seafood
and meat. Manioc, derived from cassava root, is the 'flour' of
the region, and is eaten in one form or another at nearly every
meal. The bitter cassava root is poisonous in its raw state, but
when prepared properly, the cassava root yields farinha and
tapioca, bases for many dishes of the region. The Portuguese
influence shows in the rich, sweet egg breads that are served at
nearly every meal, and in the seafood dishes that blend 'fruits
de mer' with coconut and other native fruits and vegetables. The
national dish, bobo de camarao is one of these, a delicious
mingling of fresh shrimp in a puree of dried shrimp, manioc
(cassava) meal, coconut milk and nuts, flavored with a palm oil
called dende.
It is the African influence that is most felt, though - as is to
be expected of the people who worked in the kitchens. Pineapple
and coconut milk, shredded coconut and palm hearts worked their
way into everyday dishes, flavoring meat, shrimp, fish,
vegetables and bread. Brazilian food, unlike the cuisines of
many of the surrounding countries, favors the sweet rather than
the hot, and more than any other South American cuisine, it
carries the savor of tropical island breezes rather than the hot
wind of the desert.
The most common ingredients in Brazilian cuisine are cassava,
coconut, dende, black beans and rice. Bacalao - salt cod -
features in many dishes derived from the Portuguese, but
flavored with typical Brazilian insouciance with coconut cream
and pistachio nuts it becomes an entirely different food. It is
typical of the Brazilian attitude toward food - an expression of
a warm and open people to whom feeding and sharing food is the
basis of hospitality. Brazilian cuisine is like its people - all
are welcome, all are welcomed and all make their mark - without
ever overwhelming the contributions of the other.
About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition expert specializing the
Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food. Visit
http://www.food-and-nutrition.com/ for more information on
cooking delicious and healthy meals.
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