So! Week 16: 4 months (ish) in?! What?!
This week I thought I'd talk about a fairly huge topic: FOOD! Because who doesn't like to talk, read or know about food?
Ok, so simply put: Brazil is a Foodies Dream! Why? Because there is a lot of variety of fresh fruit, veg, meat and fish available! For example, you can buy freshly squeezed fruit juice pretty much everywhere you go, and I'm now hooked on Passion Fruit (maracujá ("mah-rah-coo-gah") juice. Will definitely be missing that when I'm back. They even have it available in the food courts in local shopping centres.
Right! As I've started with fruit juices, I'm going to begin the blog with them.
Most places you go to eat, whether it be a restaurant, food outlet, bar, beach bar etc, will serve you freshly squeezed juice (as I've already mentioned). Some places will ask you if you want it with milk ("leite") or water ("agua"). I haven't tried it with milk but I'd imagine it was more milkshake-y. Personally I prefer it with water because you then get the fresh juice of the fruit. I don't think any place is better than the other but I got a great passion fruit juice from one of the food outlets in Iguatemi Shopping Centre, and a fantastic strawberry ("morango") fruit juice from a restaurant on the Lagoa lake (the first restaurant when you step off the boat); see first picture. They're fantastic, refreshing and you pay around £2 for one, which I think is brilliant; pretty sure you pay about three/four times that amount in England, especially if it's a tropical fruit. Tax-free juice equals winning!
Now on to fizzy drinks and sodas. I never really fancy these when I'm at home. I stick to juice, tea and obviously water. But when I'm travelling or on holiday, I can't get enough of them. Coke is extremely popular along with Redbull, Sprite, Fanta and other energy drinks. My fizzy drink of choice is Fanta, always has been, always will be when on the beach. In England there are quite a few flavours, but here they have three (that I know of): orange, passion fruit (yellow) and grape (purple). The first two I love, the third I think tastes a bit like cough medicine we were given as kids. See second pic for passion fruit Fanta.
Next one is slightly boring: water! Tap water is generally not drinkable, it is either unfiltered, or in the case of my building: so filtered it has a lot of fluoride (I believe) in it. I have and do drink the tap water from my apartment and have so far been fine, but I would recommend not being stingy and splashing out on bottles of water when you can :) I normally keep a big bottle of water in my room.
And on the subject of water, if you make it out to Brazil: get yourself coconut water ("agua de coco") from an actual coconut!! It doesn't taste of anything, it's pure water and it's delicious!! Best thing to get when you go to the beach!! I've only ever seen them on Praia Joaquina, but it's fairly popular. Oddly enough though I don't like it from a carton: smells weird xD
Tea!! A Brits water! Unfortunately, I've not been very impressed with tea here. There are quite a few brands like "Chileno" but I've quite often been buying Twinings (a British brand) simply because the native brands are very weak and you don't really taste anything. I myself am a huuuuuuuge tea fan. I will normally have about 6-8 different types of tea in my cupboard, simply so I have the choice for whatever I fancy at the time; if I have any lower than four brands in my cupboard, I have to go buy more. We decided in second year that I have as much variety in my tea as one of my housemates had in his beer collection. One thing that I would recommend trying is "Matte" tea when you're out here. It's a local tea made from ground tea leaves and you use a special wooden mug and a straw to drink it. Have it made by a local when you first try it! It's strong, but really good! (See last picture in slide show below).
This week I thought I'd talk about a fairly huge topic: FOOD! Because who doesn't like to talk, read or know about food?
Ok, so simply put: Brazil is a Foodies Dream! Why? Because there is a lot of variety of fresh fruit, veg, meat and fish available! For example, you can buy freshly squeezed fruit juice pretty much everywhere you go, and I'm now hooked on Passion Fruit (maracujá ("mah-rah-coo-gah") juice. Will definitely be missing that when I'm back. They even have it available in the food courts in local shopping centres.
Right! As I've started with fruit juices, I'm going to begin the blog with them.
Most places you go to eat, whether it be a restaurant, food outlet, bar, beach bar etc, will serve you freshly squeezed juice (as I've already mentioned). Some places will ask you if you want it with milk ("leite") or water ("agua"). I haven't tried it with milk but I'd imagine it was more milkshake-y. Personally I prefer it with water because you then get the fresh juice of the fruit. I don't think any place is better than the other but I got a great passion fruit juice from one of the food outlets in Iguatemi Shopping Centre, and a fantastic strawberry ("morango") fruit juice from a restaurant on the Lagoa lake (the first restaurant when you step off the boat); see first picture. They're fantastic, refreshing and you pay around £2 for one, which I think is brilliant; pretty sure you pay about three/four times that amount in England, especially if it's a tropical fruit. Tax-free juice equals winning!
Now on to fizzy drinks and sodas. I never really fancy these when I'm at home. I stick to juice, tea and obviously water. But when I'm travelling or on holiday, I can't get enough of them. Coke is extremely popular along with Redbull, Sprite, Fanta and other energy drinks. My fizzy drink of choice is Fanta, always has been, always will be when on the beach. In England there are quite a few flavours, but here they have three (that I know of): orange, passion fruit (yellow) and grape (purple). The first two I love, the third I think tastes a bit like cough medicine we were given as kids. See second pic for passion fruit Fanta.
Next one is slightly boring: water! Tap water is generally not drinkable, it is either unfiltered, or in the case of my building: so filtered it has a lot of fluoride (I believe) in it. I have and do drink the tap water from my apartment and have so far been fine, but I would recommend not being stingy and splashing out on bottles of water when you can :) I normally keep a big bottle of water in my room.
And on the subject of water, if you make it out to Brazil: get yourself coconut water ("agua de coco") from an actual coconut!! It doesn't taste of anything, it's pure water and it's delicious!! Best thing to get when you go to the beach!! I've only ever seen them on Praia Joaquina, but it's fairly popular. Oddly enough though I don't like it from a carton: smells weird xD
Tea!! A Brits water! Unfortunately, I've not been very impressed with tea here. There are quite a few brands like "Chileno" but I've quite often been buying Twinings (a British brand) simply because the native brands are very weak and you don't really taste anything. I myself am a huuuuuuuge tea fan. I will normally have about 6-8 different types of tea in my cupboard, simply so I have the choice for whatever I fancy at the time; if I have any lower than four brands in my cupboard, I have to go buy more. We decided in second year that I have as much variety in my tea as one of my housemates had in his beer collection. One thing that I would recommend trying is "Matte" tea when you're out here. It's a local tea made from ground tea leaves and you use a special wooden mug and a straw to drink it. Have it made by a local when you first try it! It's strong, but really good! (See last picture in slide show below).
So that leads me on to alcohol:
Beer is the popular drink of choice here and the etiquette here is you buy a big bottle of beer in a bar and share between two-five people. It's served in a cooler and you get given half pint glasses to share it out. Heineken is extremely popular and then there's the Brazilian brands: Brahma, Skol, Antartica, Devassa and there are some others but I can't remember what they are. Beer is quite "fraca" (weak) here. It's weird for me because I never drink beer back home, but I sometimes do here to be social, but mainly it's because: THEY DON'T HAVE CIDER!! :O My heart is broken! They supposedly sell cider in the Irish pub in Lagoa (The Black Swan), but I have yet to go and try it. Plus! Now that I only have a month left, I feel like I should wait til I'm home now and have the choice.
Wine is a fairly big deal here. It's much cheaper of course because it's all mainly South American made (eg. from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile...). I can't speak for white wine because I prefer red, but even the cheapest red wines (around R$15/£4-5) are really good.
Mixers/Cocktails: simply put: I never drink mixes, spirits or liqueurs unless I'm clubbing or out on a special occasion so I have no idea how cocktails compare here. The general vodka mix tends to be vodka and "energetica"(energy drink), not always Redbull. In most UFSC parties you will only have this as the option of mixer; in clubs you may get more choice. I've found that you get more "Western" drinks like Jagerbombs in the Centro. So if that's what you prefer: voila!
I'm not sure if you'd classify this as a cocktail or a mix but one thing that is a must if you come to Brazil is a Caipirinha! If you've been following my posts back from the Build Up you'll remember I explained exactly what this drink is on that page. As refresher though, a Caipirinha ("kai-pee-reen-yah") consists of cachaca spirit, chopped up and squeezed lime (or any other citrus fruit of choice), a tablespoon (unless you prefer it sweeter) of white sugar (because brown doesn't dissolve as well and turns it a revolting colour) and ice or cold water. Ice I can understand, but water?! I hear you cry. If you don't have any ice then run your glass under a cold tap for two seconds because it is a very lethal mix to be had on its own. The alcohol will go to your head very quickly. In first year we spilt some Cachaca and within about two minutes it had evaporated off the table while we were looking for something to mop it up with... Very strong stuff! I love Caipirinhas but again tend to stick with less alcohol content when having a casual gathering.
Beer is the popular drink of choice here and the etiquette here is you buy a big bottle of beer in a bar and share between two-five people. It's served in a cooler and you get given half pint glasses to share it out. Heineken is extremely popular and then there's the Brazilian brands: Brahma, Skol, Antartica, Devassa and there are some others but I can't remember what they are. Beer is quite "fraca" (weak) here. It's weird for me because I never drink beer back home, but I sometimes do here to be social, but mainly it's because: THEY DON'T HAVE CIDER!! :O My heart is broken! They supposedly sell cider in the Irish pub in Lagoa (The Black Swan), but I have yet to go and try it. Plus! Now that I only have a month left, I feel like I should wait til I'm home now and have the choice.
Wine is a fairly big deal here. It's much cheaper of course because it's all mainly South American made (eg. from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile...). I can't speak for white wine because I prefer red, but even the cheapest red wines (around R$15/£4-5) are really good.
Mixers/Cocktails: simply put: I never drink mixes, spirits or liqueurs unless I'm clubbing or out on a special occasion so I have no idea how cocktails compare here. The general vodka mix tends to be vodka and "energetica"(energy drink), not always Redbull. In most UFSC parties you will only have this as the option of mixer; in clubs you may get more choice. I've found that you get more "Western" drinks like Jagerbombs in the Centro. So if that's what you prefer: voila!
I'm not sure if you'd classify this as a cocktail or a mix but one thing that is a must if you come to Brazil is a Caipirinha! If you've been following my posts back from the Build Up you'll remember I explained exactly what this drink is on that page. As refresher though, a Caipirinha ("kai-pee-reen-yah") consists of cachaca spirit, chopped up and squeezed lime (or any other citrus fruit of choice), a tablespoon (unless you prefer it sweeter) of white sugar (because brown doesn't dissolve as well and turns it a revolting colour) and ice or cold water. Ice I can understand, but water?! I hear you cry. If you don't have any ice then run your glass under a cold tap for two seconds because it is a very lethal mix to be had on its own. The alcohol will go to your head very quickly. In first year we spilt some Cachaca and within about two minutes it had evaporated off the table while we were looking for something to mop it up with... Very strong stuff! I love Caipirinhas but again tend to stick with less alcohol content when having a casual gathering.
So on to food!!
There are definitely a few dishes to sample when you're out here, including Feijao (beans and sauce), Churrasco (meat (beef, steak, sausage... kind of BBQ/rotisserie style) and also Bacalhau (fish).
I don't know where you can get churrasco in Floripa, but we've had it multiple times when our landladys husband has cooked it. I also had it at Casa Brasil, a restaurant in Southampton (see Build Up page); but I think it's a chain restaurant. They offer an all-you-can-eat churrasco and you can have as much meat as you like and have six types to choose from. Soooooo worth it!!
The only trouble that I've found is that if you want say, a pizza, the ones in shops are way too salty and don't actually taste that brilliant. Same for pies or other pre-prepared food, it's all salty and just tastes rather revolting. So I miss that. And then I miss the variety of food styles. For example I haven't had curry for nearly half a year, so I'll definitely be going for one of them when I'm home.
What I do like here though is that you can buy a burger (etc) and it be good meat, nothing cardboard-y or McDonalds style. It's great! Like at Oktoberfest, I wasn't expecting my burger to be good meat, but it was delicious! As you'll see in the pictures, we even went to an event for all you can eat hot dogs!
In terms of sweet/pudding/desserts! One thing that you *must* try is "brigadeiro" ("brih-gah-day-roh")!! It's a sticky ball of milk chocolate with chocolate sprinkles on top. I had one and I couldn't finish it because it's very very rich! But they are definitely worth trying!!
There are definitely a few dishes to sample when you're out here, including Feijao (beans and sauce), Churrasco (meat (beef, steak, sausage... kind of BBQ/rotisserie style) and also Bacalhau (fish).
I don't know where you can get churrasco in Floripa, but we've had it multiple times when our landladys husband has cooked it. I also had it at Casa Brasil, a restaurant in Southampton (see Build Up page); but I think it's a chain restaurant. They offer an all-you-can-eat churrasco and you can have as much meat as you like and have six types to choose from. Soooooo worth it!!
The only trouble that I've found is that if you want say, a pizza, the ones in shops are way too salty and don't actually taste that brilliant. Same for pies or other pre-prepared food, it's all salty and just tastes rather revolting. So I miss that. And then I miss the variety of food styles. For example I haven't had curry for nearly half a year, so I'll definitely be going for one of them when I'm home.
What I do like here though is that you can buy a burger (etc) and it be good meat, nothing cardboard-y or McDonalds style. It's great! Like at Oktoberfest, I wasn't expecting my burger to be good meat, but it was delicious! As you'll see in the pictures, we even went to an event for all you can eat hot dogs!
In terms of sweet/pudding/desserts! One thing that you *must* try is "brigadeiro" ("brih-gah-day-roh")!! It's a sticky ball of milk chocolate with chocolate sprinkles on top. I had one and I couldn't finish it because it's very very rich! But they are definitely worth trying!!
Markets and shops:
Markets: they are supposedly the organic food shop equivalent, but do not be fooled! You'll know it's organic if there is still soil on the vegetable! Otherwise it has been brought from a larger chain food supplier. There is not a lot of difference, but just so you know :) One tip when you go to say, the Centro market, is to watch your produce on the bus back! I bought some papaya and it got horribly bruised on the bus ride home. Be careful!!
Supermarkets are plenty and varied. They tend to be cheaper than markets, but not quite as great quality. Corner shops tend to have good quality food - albeit slightly less choice - although again, it's a little more pricey.
Health food stores are not very common, but in Iguatemi Shopping Centre there is one. Here you can buy vitamin tablets/capsules (I bought natural iron tablets from there) and other alternative remedies.
Markets: they are supposedly the organic food shop equivalent, but do not be fooled! You'll know it's organic if there is still soil on the vegetable! Otherwise it has been brought from a larger chain food supplier. There is not a lot of difference, but just so you know :) One tip when you go to say, the Centro market, is to watch your produce on the bus back! I bought some papaya and it got horribly bruised on the bus ride home. Be careful!!
Supermarkets are plenty and varied. They tend to be cheaper than markets, but not quite as great quality. Corner shops tend to have good quality food - albeit slightly less choice - although again, it's a little more pricey.
Health food stores are not very common, but in Iguatemi Shopping Centre there is one. Here you can buy vitamin tablets/capsules (I bought natural iron tablets from there) and other alternative remedies.
Meal vocabulary:
*Café da manhã: breakfast
*Almoço: lunch
*Janto/jantar: dinner
*Café da manhã: breakfast
*Almoço: lunch
*Janto/jantar: dinner