Brazilian Cuisine

Brazilian cooking is the product of three cultures: the indigenous peoples who brought manioc and corn, the Portuguese who brought the meats and the sweets, and Africans who brought palm oil and clay-pot cooking.

Feijoada

The national dish: black beans with several cuts of meat cooked for hours, served with rice, farofa (toasted manioc flour), orange and finely shredded greens. A whole day's meal, usually eaten on Saturday.

Churrasco

Meat salted with coarse salt only and grilled on long skewers over charcoal, then carved directly at the table. The simplicity is deliberate — salt and fire, nothing else.

Manioc

Manioc (cassava) is Brazil's staple starch, and from it come farofa, tapioca and pão de queijo — the small chewy cheese breads eaten at breakfast.

Bahia and dendê

The cooking of Bahia state is closest to its African roots: red palm oil (dendê), coconut and prawns, and its best-known dish is moqueca — a fish stew with coriander and coconut milk.