Brazilian Food: What I Miss Most

by Marcela Eyer

Time is a speed demon, definitely! I have already been in Toronto for more than 6 months , and now I’m ready for the final race. How could I survive without rice and black beans? What did I understand about Canadian food?? Before coming, I had a conversation with a friend who had already spent time here. He warned me: “Take care with the food. It’s going to be difficult for you not to gain weight. In Toronto, you can find everything you are looking for and even more that you weren’t looking for! Meals come in large portions!!"

In fact, food does come in healthy portions here. And as my friend had predicted, I have gained some kilos (because I don’t wanna to say a  lot).

However, how I miss Brazilian flavour!! If I tell you that the Brazilian typical meal is made with rice, beans, salad and a protein (such as beef, chicken, fish, and even, eggs), you might think: “What is the big deal?? We have all of these here!!”  This is kind of true, but here is what I’ve been missing.

Photo courtesy of Leandro Moreira

 

The Brazilian rice is made, normally, with more garlic, onions, and salt. The few times I ate beans here, except in the Brazilian restaurants, beans were drained before serving so you get just the beans. In Brazil beans are served with the cooking liquid. In Rio de Janeiro, the city where I live, people are used to eating the black beans heavily seasoned with garlic, parsley and green onion. Beans and rice = the perfect combination!!!

Talking about perfection, I can’t forget the Brazilian barbecue!

Photo courtesy of carlaarena

I’ve already arranged with my family to go to an all-we-can-eat steak house at the moment I arrive in Brazil. I can’t wait to eat sirloin steak with the meat juice still flowing.

Normally, the side dishes are rice, molho à campanha (a sauce made with olive oil, vinegar, pepper, onion and tomato), farofa (toasted cassava flour), french fries or fried onions, fried banana and salad. Hmmm... I’m already salivating....

I’ve been dreaming of creamed spinach, mashed pumpkin, cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, spaghetti with ground beef (cooked by my dad!!), dried beef with mashed yuca, pepper with ground beef...

Photo courtesy of dob diver

As a snack, nothing is better than pão de queijo (a Brazilian cheese row) or hot French bread with butter or with eggs.

I don’t like drinking soda as much as other beverages. Because of that I prefer drinking Mate, a kind of Brazilian black tea very common in Rio and which we can drink cold or hot. My favourite beverage for sure!

However, sometimes, I crave for a natural juice. Here it is too difficult to find... :(( My favourites fruit juice flavours are mango, pineapple, tangerine, peach and watermelon. Served really cold and without sugar!!

What about a really cold coconut water after jogging at the beach??

Koni is another important word in Cariocas’s  (people who were born in Rio de Janeiro) food vocabulary because in the last 5 years it has become so popular. Koni is a Japanese snack bar which serves several types of Temaki. It might sounds strange to a Japanese person, but I love ordering Temaki made with salmon, cream cheese and parsley; or another one that mixed steelhead salmon, tuna, sesame, green onion and masago.

Photo courtesy of trondwilhelmsen

Although I’ve been missing all of these things from my country, I’m leaving Canada in less than one month and, for sure, I’m gonna miss Toronto a lot too. The experience has been incredible. I will not forget all the people I met here. My daily menu is probably not going to include Korean, Indian, Thai, Saudi Arabian, Jamaican, Greek foods anymore and I thank Toronto for introducing me to all of these different flavours.

But, I will not miss black pepper at all!!