Brazil

Country - Brazil

Cuisine Description - Brazilian cooking history and cultural background explains the main styles and aliments found in today’s Brazilian cuisine. One of the first aliments that were consumed in this country is the corn or the corn porridge, which was developed by the Native Indians, who also brought the cassava meals, sweet potatoes dishes and fish cooking styles. In older times, all meat dishes were smoked and dried before eating. When Portuguese colonized Brazil in the 16th century, coffee, pastries and dried fruit began to be a part of the Brazilian diet.
Nowadays, the Brazilian diet includes some elementary aliments, which are constantly found in the authentic Brazilian recipes: beans, coconut, dendi oil, codfish, rice, lemon, shrimp and manioc. Beans, locally called feijao, are found in a wide spectrum of colors and forms: black, brown, pink beans, chick peas and black-eyed peas. coconut (cuco) is used in numerous soups, poultries, fish meals and desserts. Dendi oil (azeite de dendi) is a tropical extract of palm and colors the foods in an orange color. The codfish and the shrimp are usually consumed dried in appetizers, main courses and even puddings. The Brazilian style rice (arroz brasileiro or arroz simples) is flavored with garlic and black olives or tomatoes and most of the times served as sautéed. lemon (limo) is found in Brazil as green, very small and tart and the manioc (farofa) is usually sautéed in butter and served toasted.
The Brazilian cuisine is equally exotic and diverse as their culture. Despite being influenced by the South American and European cuisines alike, the Brazilian diet has managed to develop unique dishes and completely new cooking styles. Because of the size of the country and the diversity in climate, terrain and resources, several cuisines developed in different regions of Brazil.
Caruru do Par is a dish that is popular among the Brazilians from the North, although it’s starting to spread in other parts of the country. This dish is a combination of dried shrimp, okra, Onion, tomato, cilantro, and dendì oil. Seafood and shellfish is also very popular with the northeastern coastal regions of Brazil.
The Central and Central-Western regions have a diet that’s mainly based on fish from the important rivers and Beef and Pork from the vast ranches, along with the bounty harvested from the agricultural crops of manioc, corn, rice, and Soybean.
The south and southeastern region, is Brazil’s industrial heart and is home to some of the most exotic food recipes in the country’s cuisine. Feijoada Completa is one of these dishes and is the very popular in the region’s two big cities, Rio and Sao Paulo. The Feijoada Completa is a dish containing simmered beans and meat, although it can also contain rice, corn or ripened cheeses. Another tasty delicacy from these regions is the gaucho (cowboy), a sun dried meat grilled on wood fire or prepared as a churrasco (barbecue).

Brazil is divided into 5 major culinary areas. The Northern region, which includes Amazons, Amapa and Para, has a distinctive cuisine, represented by the fish diets (caruru do para – dried shrimp) and the Indian and Portuguese meals (because of the ancestors), which include: yams, peanuts and tropical fruits.
In the Northeast, the coast is very fertile, so sugarcane and cacao are very abundant. The Bahian cuisine of the Northeast includes vatapa and mqueca with palm oil, okra, black beans, farofa and paçoca. The tropical fruits are served a lot, too: mango, papaya, guava, orange, passion fruit and pineapple.
In the Central-West region, where Mato Grosso and Goias are found, the main dishes include hunting and fishing products, served with rice, manioc, Soybean and maize.
The Southeast is represented by the Pork, beans, maize and a wide variety of cheeses. Arroz e feijão (rice and beans) and tutu de feijão are all bean based meals consumed in this area.
In the south of Brazil churrasco (a kind of barbeque) is the typical dish, but the Italian and German influences are also predominant in this region: wheat-based diets, wine, leaf veggies and diary products. Grilled meats, accompanied by potatoes garnishes are also frequent, even if in older times, manioc was the aliment which replaced the unavailable potatoes in this region. Copyright Recipes Wiki