Food And Drink In Brazil

The national dish of Brazil is called feijoada. It contains black beans, pork sausage, tripe (stomach of cow or other cud-chewing animal), spices, and greens, and is served with rice. It's possible to eat these every day and in some regions it's hard not to.

Brazilians also use farinha as a condiment. This is made from the root of cassava, or manioc, a tropical plant that is native to Brazil. When it is cooked and dried, people sprinkle it on soups, meat, and stews and use it as flour in bread and puddings.

Every region of Brazil has its own special foods. Charque (dried and salted beef) is traditional in southern Brazil. In the Northeast and along the Amazon River, fish dishes are popular. The cowboys (gaúchos) of the southern grasslands eat a form of barbecued beef. Oranges, pineapples, bananas, papayas, mangos, and other varieties of tropical fruit are plentiful and popular.

Meals go in one of three directions: steak, chicken and fish. This makes up the typical Brazilian meal and is called set meal or plate of day in lanchonetes from Xique Xique to Bananal. They are typically enormous meals and incredibly cheap. Steak, big and rare, is the national passion. The best cuts are filet and churrasco. Chicken is usually grilled, sometimes fried. Fish is generally fried.

Coffee is Brazil's main beverage. Brazilians like to drink cafezinhos, tiny cups of sweet, steaming hot coffee several times a day. Another beverage is maté, an herbal tea. It is sometimes served in a hollowed-out gourd and drunk with a straw.

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