Brazilian food is amazingly good - if you happen to be a carnivore. The Brazilian food I'd tried before coming here was pretty limited - the odd caipirinha and a couple of visits to churrascarias. While both these have figured prominently to date, there are several new things I've discovered about food & drink here.
First, this place is awash with delicious varieties of fresh tropical fruit. Papayas, melons, guava, passion fruit - the list is quite long. Breakfast time has been a delight, with the fruit assortment and an equally big assortment of breads and pastries.
Fruit juices are also very good, and available everywhere. I've tried coconut juice here - not as great as that from my home state of Kerala (which means Land of Coconuts, by the way) in India. I may be biased, though. I tried a couple of acai smoothies as well - terrific ! Acai is an Amazonian “berry” from a palm, enjoying its moment in the limelight. Guarana - a sugar source - is also commonly found in juice form, but that was not really to my taste - reminded me of ginger ale.
Acai (left), Guarana (right)
In the interest of scientific research, I've been studying caipirinhas - a cocktail made with limes, ice, sugar and cachaca (a rum-like alcohol distilled from sugarcane), quite extensively. I am yet to find the perfect one, thus the quest must continue. Oh the travails !
Caipirinha – the subject of my intense research here
My colleague from New Zealand, Mike, has been on similar quest for the finest Brazilian beer. While I haven't sampled half as many as he has, I did try Brahma, Skol and a few other lagers - quite good ! They call drafts here "chopp", and the typical 600 ml bottle is served in a beer koozie with several small glasses - the theory being to share the beer amongst friends and kill the bottle quickly and not have to face the prospect of downing the last warm glass by yourself. That theory has been working quite well for us.
Brahma ? No, Brahma !
Cold beer sold here - in tiny glasses, though
My work day lunches tend to be at "kilo restaurants" - you buy stuff from a vast buffet and pay by weight. The ones I like have featured the typical country food of the state of Minas Gerais. Uberlandia and the region around it is famous within Brazil for its cuisine - so I guess we got lucky food-wise to be assigned to Uberlandia.
The lunchtime spread at Dona Conceicao, a “kilo restaurant” that we’ve visited a couple of times.
Amongs veggies, mandioca (cassava or yucca) and heart of palm have featured prominently in many of my meals to date. The typical evening snack is Pao de Queijo - a ball-shaped bread with cheese inside – delicious.
Pao de Queijo
Coffee is served in really small cups – a Starbucks venti would easily swallow 10-12 of the typical cups used here.
Coffee cup next to my battle-scarred mouse to give you a sense of the size
Not many international cuisine options here in Uberlandia. I walked past a couple of Italian places. I also saw a Japanese place at the mall and also what appeared to be a Chinese restaurant, and heard about an Irish pub, but haven't seen much else - not that I am craving.
Now on to churrascarias - the (mainly) steak restaurants where the waiters come in waves with grilled meats of all delicious cuts and descriptions in fearsome-looking skewers and carve them table-side with scary-looking machetes. I've been to two here, and tried many different cuts. Salt and garlic are pretty much the only seasonings they use, and the quality and freshness of the meat is really, really good. A special shout-out to picanha, a cut of meat that is typically Brazilian, but doesn't really seem to have an equivalent in the US. The churrascarias feature extensive salad bars as well – this helps pace yourself. They are quite affordable - dinner cost us BRL 29 (or US $ 13) here, compared to the ones near my home in Washington, DC which are easily three to four times that amount.
Yes, please! Getting down to business at Churrascaria Tropeiro
Seafood has been absent largely - we are a thousand kilometers from the sea, and that is reflected in our plates. Another area that I am yet to research is sobremesas (desserts). Save the odd spoonful of papaya cream or doce de leite, I have been too stuffed at the end of the main meal to really do justice to the desserts. Further research on this topic will be a focus in the coming weeks !
I am trying to figure out how Akila, my vegetarian wife, is going to survive a week here - hope Rio & Sao Paulo have more vegetarian options than Uberlandia !
#ibmcsc brazil
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