January 30 – February 7 2020
I think this blog will be interesting to many people. Prior to my visit I had heard stories about the food in Brazil and I did not hear anything near as positive as I experienced.
The older I get the higher food gets on my list of preferred things to do. I think others will agree.
Food in Brazil is abundant, cheap, diverse and very good. I don’t think I ate anything processed or frozen the entire trip unless it was candy or some sweet treat. All the sugar that I consumed was from sugar cane. The cost of food was from 1/3 to ½ what you would expect in the US.
One of the most common dishes served traditionally and available on most buffets was rice and beans. Many of the meats were served fresh and grilled over wood on skewers and cut off to your preference. There were all sorts of sweet fruits and vegetables that I have never seen or eaten. At the end of the buffet line there would be a set of scales to weigh the amount that you have chosen to eat. The deserts would be complimentary.
A traditional tea type drink that they drink is called Terere. It is a social drink that people share the same cup with a specialized straw. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9
I am not a regular coffee drinker and when I do I drink decaffeinated coffee because I perceive that the caffeine causes some anxiety and jitters about 3-4 hours after I consume it. I had one regular cup of coffee at the NAICC meeting in Texas in January and the same thing as always happened. Therefore, I was scared to try Brazilian coffee because I could see they drink it strong and I was told that there is no decaffeinated coffee in Brazil. After a few days I tried it with none of the normal side effects. Afterwards I drank it every day. Strange thing isn’t it.
On a personal note about my experience I will preface it with this comment. For at least a couple decades I would describe my GI tract as “unhappy” or at times “angry”. I have been known to use Prilosec regularly or more recently I take a probiotic every other day. After three days in Brazil I came to believe it’s not the particulars of my body but more likely what I eat. After three day my GI tract was “very happy” with my changed behavior. I have tried to eat more healthy since I returned home.
Enjoy the pictures. I bet your mouth will be watering soon.
Al
Drinking kiwi and papaya juice Cheese market DinDin at the cheese market Signage Outside of market Sausage man for festival Sunday breakfast at DinDin’s farm dragon fruit with bread and cream cheese Porch view Employees have to sign that they had lunch Eating lunch at the farm Estrela Farm Kitchen at Estrela farm Preparing BBQ lunch at 7 Sheet’s Farm Traditional sausage Flavia (agronomist) and BooBoo Enjoying lunch Lunch Spring water running through logs Water running Stove at 7 Sheets Stove at 7 Sheets Banana with cinnamon candy Brahman hump steak DinDin at the steakhouse Papaya pudding Enjoying the pudding place mat at steakhouse Candy in corn husk Caramel candy that was in husk Lunch Lunch brought to farm Ground beef with olives Fruit mix Beans Stop for fresh sugarcane juice Can get different flavors of the sugarcane juice Sweet potatoes Butcher Shop Terere Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco dried beans Onions Root that tastes like a turnip Dried beans Dried beans Vendor selling leather Different peppers Misc within market Pumpkin Bananas, papayas and mangoes Spices being measured by vendor Pinha Pepper seed info Nice display of peppers Peppers Cucumber Sweet cake made from a cow hoof Raw sugar cane Alligator turnover with vegetables Jerk steak turnover with bananas DinDin and his mom Beef empanadas on the beach Kiwi and papaya drinks Beach food menu Stew beef with poached egg in Sao Paso Grapefruit breakfast at JFK Non-GMO labeled Almonds
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