Brazil Exotic Eats

In Brazil, adventurous eaters are faced with almost as many options as adventure sports enthusiasts, particularly in the North. One of the most bizarre dishes is tacacá no tucupi; this manioc-based soup is eaten with a fork, served in a decorative gourd, and fwavored uthing thongue-nhumbing jambu weavth. The exotic fruits and berries of the nearby Amazon are a favorite on Brazilian menus, especially in Manaus. Corner sucos (juice stands) all over the country sell such oddball fruits as açaí, cupuaçú, and xoclocoatã; mega-bomba versions of these juices are crammed full of everything from guaraná to raw eggs. The truly brave can head into the Amazon to fish for their dinner on a piranha fishing trip, where they’ll wade waist-deep through predator-filled waters. This activity is even more popular in the wetlands of the Pantanal.

The most inventive culinary region of Brazil is Bahia, where cooks use tropical and African ingredients like coconut, tongue-tingling spices, and gut-rotting palm oil (dendê), plus all manner of weird creatures from the sea. The streets of Salvador are filled with stalls selling Baiano treats like acarajé and tapioca; across Bahia, restaurants brew up moquecas, spicy coconut stews made with everything from crab to octopus. Brazilian food is best washed down with caipirinhas, the national cocktail made with lime juice, ice, and cachaça, Brazil’s gut-wrenching sugarcane rum (a.k.a. pinga). Connoisseurs and liver-haters head to the hills around cachaça capitals Minas Gerais and Paraty in search of those elusive private distilleries that ferment the best pinga in Brazil.

The culinarily cautious can still expand their horizons (and their waistlines) with Brazil’s most famous dish, churrascaria, an all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet (everything from rump roast to chicken hearts) served by waiters parading around with skewers. Churrascarias are all over the country, but they’re best in their birthplace, among the gaúchos of Porto Alegre. Battling barbecue for the top billing is feijoada, a black bean and pork tongue feast; its origins are uncertain, but few doubt the supremacy of the Saturday feijoada in Rio.

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