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The great Brazilian bar food competition

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Back in 1999, a guy called Eduardo Maya came up with an excellent idea. Eduardo has a rather inspiring story I think – a native of Rio, he spent some of his adolescence living in London during which time he developed an interest in food. After graduating in Mathematics, he moved back to Brazil to work a job in finance (we haven’t got to the inspiring bit yet, that’s coming up next).

After some time, Eduardo realised that he didn’t want to work in finance anymore and somehow landed himself a job hosting a culinary themed radio show (I had no idea such things even existed!). And then came his idea: A competition between all the botecos (bars) in the town of Belo Horizonte, state capital of Minas Gerais, where he was working at the time. The competition was dubbed Comida di Buteco.

Eduardo Maya. Chucked in his job in finance and decided to do something he loved. Seems like it worked out well for him. When I look into those spooky eyes though, I'm just glad he decided to use his powers for good...

 

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Hungry? Eat a knee!

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If you ever find yourself feeling a little peckish in Rio, there is a whole range of delicious lanches (snacks) to choose from – ultra cheesy pão de queijo, juicy chickeny coxinha, salty crispy bolinhos de bacalhau to name a few of my favourites (ooh, how could I forget bolinhos de aipim?).

But one I haven’t mentioned until now is the joelho (sounds like ZHWELL-yo). Now then, if you go to Google Translate you’ll find that joelho is the Portuguese word for knee. Strange name for a snack you might think. But take a look:

 

Cheese and ham with savoury pastry folded around the outside. They do look a bit ‘knee-ish’ don’t they?

 

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The Yakuza drinks White Horse

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I had to do a bit of “work” this Saturday. I’m using the quotation marks there to indicate that it was only nominally work, because in fact I went to a bar to drink cachaça. However, it was work because I was on an assignment which hopefully I can reveal in a week or two (mysterious right?). Anyway, I was carrying out my assignment in a bar I’m particularly fond of in the neighbourhood of Catete, not far from where I live. As far as I can tell, the bar is officially named Britan Bar, but the owner is called Zé and so the name that most people use is Bar do Zé. 

Bar do Zé is old and dusty, it doesn’t have air conditioning, it doesn’t look particularly clean and Zé doesn’t seem particularly friendly. For all these reasons it is my favourite bar in Rio.

Bar do Zé - ramshackle in the best possible way.

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The Carioca Guide to Street Food

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Some time back I picked up what is pretty much my favourite Brazilian food book. It is called Guia Carioca da Gastronomia de Rua (Carioca Guide to Street Food), the work of Sérgio Bloch, Ines Garçoni and Marcos Pinto, and it is brilliant!

Such a great book if you’re into food and aren’t afraid to try something away from the air-conditioned safety of a restaurant.

 

The book lists 19 street food vendors in Rio, covering all the major categories, from fruit salad on the beach to acarajé in Santa Teresa, caipirinhas in Lapa to empadas (little pies) in Guadalupe. For each vendor we take a look at the food they sell, find out a bit about the particular street or square that they frequent and there is an interview in which we learn about how the vendor came to be where they are today and what they like about their job.

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