Food, Glorious Food...

Dietary habits vary from area to area, and this does not hold true to all of Brazil, or even all of an area. But for the most part, this is what the first meal of the day is like:

Café da manhã (Morning Coffee) - Breakfast

Unlike in North America, it is the lightest meal of the day. It usually consists of bread and butter and a cup of coffee or chocolate milk, sometimes juice.

Coffee

Coffee has three levels of “strength”. I don't mean this taste-wise (though the flavour is affected), but rather how much coffee you put into the cup.

The weakest is “Pindago” (dripped). It has very little coffee, and is mostly milk. This is the kiddie version of coffee, with just enough to get the kids used to the bitter taste of the drink.

Next is “café-com-leite” (coffee with milk). It has a lot more coffee, but is still somewhat diluted due to the milk. Many people drink this in the morning instead of straight-up coffee.

The last is, of course, plain black coffee - café preto.

Bread

Our breakfast bread is not sliced bread. It's like an itty bitty mini loaf we call “pão de sal” (literally, bread of salt).

It looks like this:

Many of our sandwiches are made with this type of bread instead of sliced bread as well.

Chocolate Milk

We have two traditional brands: Nescau, and Toddy. In Brazil chocolate milk is not a drink just for kids. Adults may not usually drink it as much as children, but it's not embarrassing to drink a glass of Nescau or Toddy in the morning like it seems to be in North America.   

Coming soon... Lunch!