It's Tradition!

Traditional foods in Brazil vary greatly from area to area. So much so that you can often tell where one is from by what traditional foods the start naming off.

Quibe

Okay. Quibe is technically traditionally Lebanese, but in Brazil it is as common as any officially traditional food. Which makes sense, considering there is a larger population of Lebanese in Brazil than in Lebanon itself. 

Quibe is made with a special type of wheat that is soaked in water for hours so it puffs up and is then mixed with meat and spices. It can then be fried (a traditional snack at birthday parties), baked, or eaten raw with olive oil and bread.

Raw quibe (the centerpiece), ready to be enjoyed. 

Fried quibe, a staple food at birthday parties. They can be made to have fillings as well.

Food, Glorious Food...

It's Tradition!

Traditional foods in Brazil vary greatly from area to area. So much so that you can often tell where one is from by what traditional foods the start naming off.

Pamonha

A paste made with corn and milk that is wrapped in corn husks and boiled into a a dumpling. May have filling, or may not. Once it's boiled it has a solid (yet somewhat crumbly) consistency.

What Pamonha looks like inside the husk

Newly made pamonhas

Mandioca frita

Fried cassava. Cassava is a type of tuber root not unlike a potato. It's a popular vegetable in Brazilian cuisine in many ways, one of the most popular being fried cassava. (Cassava is sometimes also known as manioc).

Raw cassava cut up  and piled for the supermarket

Fried cassava

                                                  Food, Glorious Food...

Almoço - Lunch

Lunch is the most important meal of the day. The overall content of what one is eating varies, but the staple lunch food is rice, beans, and some type of protein (usually meat or a fried egg or something). 

We often have a little dish of “batata palha” (straw potato) on the table to add to the rice (it's also popular on stroganoff). Batata palha is comprised of thinly cut potatoes that are then fried into matchstick-thin potato sticks. They're similar to Hickory Sticks. 

Batata palha

There are many traditional meals that are also commonly eaten for lunch.