How to beat the Kilo
Although I think of myself as being fairly adventurous when it comes to food, I am also a creature of habit, particularly when it comes to my everyday working life.
Me proving my food-adventurousness with the help of a guinea pig (and several glasses of wine).
Sure, I like trying new food, but I can’t really be bothered to go exploring every lunchtime. I usually just mooch over to one of three or four favourite places near my office and see what looks good.
One Brazilian culinary establishment you may or may not have heard of is the Kilo Restaurant (Restaurante por Quilo). For many Brazilians the Kilo is where they have their lunch every day. They resemble a buffet – you grab yourself a plate and then pile it up with as much or as little as you want from a wide variety of dishes on offer. The difference comes when you go to pay – you place your plate on a scale and the bill is calculated according the weight! You take your weighing ticket and pay on the way out after you’ve eaten.
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| Ooh, a fancy kilo! |
Of course the quality, variety and freshness of the food varies and this is usually reflected in price. Some places are very fancy, with sushi and a big grill where you can order yummy cuts of picanha. At the other end of the scale, you will see ‘risotto’ which is blatantly just yesterday’s rice re-heated with a cheese sauce. And of course, the fewer people who come through the doors, the longer the food sits there ‘maturing’.
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| Is that chuchu?! Barf! Let’s go somewhere else… |
It’s actually a great system but you have to know what you’re doing. When I first started going to kilos, I would waltz in and starting adding rice and beans to my plate like the naïf I was [aside: I’ve always wanted to use the word naïf – feels great!]. Then I would sit down next to my colleagues and notice that although they had better, more filling looking meals, their weighing ticket showed that they were paying less than me!
You see, paying by weight means you have to look at things differently. Sure, beans are delicious, nutritious and filling, but they’re also heavy. I advise one good spoon of rice with minimal beans and light covering of farofa. If you want some vegetables, go light: lettuce, a couple of slices of tomato, then move on! Now get involved with the protein – a nice big piece of fish, or some tasty meat will satisfy your hunger without ruining your scorecard weighing ticket. For some people it is a daily game to optimise their selection to maximise on filling, tasty food whilst minimising weight.
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| Not a bad effort, though probably went a bit heavy on the potatoes here. |
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| Again, good selection. And well done for including some salad. |
Just kidding, I actually try to be more balanced than the dishes above, but you do see people (always guys) who treat the Kilo like a meat feast.
I never tried kilo in Rio but in SP there are same really great per kilo restaurants ( but expensive as well ).
Hey Anon! That sounds about right for SP – the glutton/food enthusiast in me loved my time there, but my bank manager told me not to return until I'd had a raise! ;)
Out of the meats I wonder which ones are most cost-beneficial. And would all the saturated fat found in evil linguiça weigh it down rendering it even less attractive?
And I see you used a post about food in order to *cater* to (yes, I went there- not ashamed) certain readers via chuchu bigotry. Oh the politics of fear and hatred, when will it end…
We shall overcome.
Gritty, was the use of 'render' intentional? Now *that* would have been an advanced-level pun that would have garnered top pun-respect marks (but you had to mean it, e eu tenho dúvidas…)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(food_processing)
Late commenting, but this is so great! Especially the token bit of salad in the second picture!
Heh heh, thanks Andres! Just looking at those plates makes me feel a bit sick. Did you ever see "The Meat Ship" on http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.tumblr.com? Terrifying…
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JnBtetGPTSE/SZXF0hQ7yNI/AAAAAAAAAQk/o_MDrJ2zIqw/20080212-The_Meat_Ship_23_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg