Corny Stop Motion
As I wandered home last night I passed a guy standing at a little metal cart selling sweetcorn (milho). This must be one of my favourite street foods – there’s just something pleasing about selling this as a quick snack.
I know he doesn’t look it, but this guy was actually very friendly. It’s just when I took the photo (I did ask!) he put on his stern face.
Whereas most snacks are high in fat or sugar (or both!), here is a yummy snack that is relatively good for you. The sellers use the outer leaves of the corn as the wrapping, so there’s no need for plastic bags and all the usual packaging – once you’re finished you are only throwing away a biodegradable husk and some leaves! I wish it was more popular everywhere.
However, last night I didn’t buy sweetcorn. I bought pamonha (sounds like pam-ON-ya).
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| Pamonha – a corny parcel of goodness. |
Pamonha is a corn-based food. The corn kernels are cut, scraped and grated from the husks. Then the inner goodness is separated from the tough skins, to leave a golden yellow sludge. This is boiled and mixed with milk, butter, salt and sugar (there are sweet and savoury versions). The sludge is cooled a little and then poured into parcels made from the outer leaves of the corn, tied with string or an elastic band and finally boiled in water. If you want to see this process in action, check out this clip – skip to 5:05 to see them making the little parcels (I know if I tried this it would be a disaster!).
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| I love these little carts – everything looks so neat, like a boat’s galley. Pamonha parcels are lined up front right. The big pot contains boiling water for cooking corn and you can see the outer leaves, back left, which are used as wrapping. |
Soooo, do you want to see what they look like inside? [say yes] – Great! Because instead of eating my pamonha right there on the street, I took it home so I could give you a look inside. To continue on from my recent ‘unboxing cacau‘ video, I decided to try another little stop-motion filminho:
I quite like pamonha. The one I bought yesterday was a bit too sweet for me (surprise surprise!), but you can get nice savoury ones with cheese and sausage added. One of these meaty savoury pamonhas once saved my life during a brief road-side stop on a very long, hungry bus ride in Northern Brazil.
Other things to know about Pamonha:
=> The word is used in some parts of Brazil to mean a cowardly or stupid.
=> They are often sold from a car/van which pumps out a recording telling everyone how delicious the pamonha are…
=> Apparently pamonha sellers are becoming scarce and have largely disappeared from São Paulo – how sad. I think everyone in Brazil should try to support their local pamonha seller!
Surprising, i have passed so many Carts of sweetcorn vendors but have never seen these pamonha, or ever felt like Pam (read pamela anderson) was on me! :P Have to say they have chosen a a good enticing marketing name for stuff :D
Iam in office and can´t hear the music but something tells me Unboxing Pamnha has something to do with baywatch?? :D
On Serious note, need to Try it out, never seen one though.
I love pamonha! It's delicious and also super filling. Here in Bahia, it's especially popular during the month of June – Sao Joao season.
Ha ha! Vim, it's The Beach Boys singing Sloop John B :) There is actually a truck that sells them somewhere in Glória because I often hear them playing the sales call "PAMOOOOOOONHA!" (when I first heard it I thought they were saying "MACOOOOOOOONHA"!!!)
@Brasilicana – I'm hoping to do a road-trip up to Bahia fairly soon. I definitely want to try the pamonhas on the way as several people have told me the ones here in Rio aren't nearly as good as those sold further north…
Your handling of the cutlery while working on the pamonha indicates anger and resentement towards the corny fellow. The selection of Sloop John B suggests a person on a troubled journey in search of a safe place to harbor. The fact that you noticed the stern face on the pamonha seller reveals a search for guidance during these difficult times, in hostile waters.
Summarizing: you are sailing in a sea of uncertainty and taking it out on the pamonha.
Or you just like pamonha and wanted to write a post about it.
Gritty, one of your theories is correct. Neither of them win the EatRio-Respect points though, sorry.
Hi Tom,
I am one of Rachel's Rio Ranters… and found your great blog that way. I love your blog! I am an aussie living in London longing to be a carioca…! Having spent a great deal of time in Rio your blog makes me sigh with saudades for all the yummy food I miss and all the familiar places. Anyway – Hi! Feels only polite to finally introduce myself as I feel I am beginning to know you (good blogs do this!). Although while I am absolutely not a stalker – ask Rachel about when I totally by chance met her at a party when I was last in Rio – to say a star struck moment would be close!!! The world can be very small. Tchau, Rebecca
Something to do with the cook eating all the corn, or just a case of you having a corny taste in music ;-)
Tom, Send me some of that milho. Me hungry! Me Want Milho!
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for taking the time to say HI! It's actually really nice to know who's bothering to read all my ridiculous ramblings :) I'm not 100% sure what this blog is meant to be (a bit of everything I guess) but I really enjoy writing it and if you like reading it then that's even better! Are you blogging about London?
@Paul – Bingo! You got it (grrr, not the corny taste in music, the cook eating all the corn!). It was the first tune that popped into my head that mentions corn. All 10 EatRio-Respect points go to you. You must be so proud ;)
@Alex, you're going to have to wait til you get here! Have you chosen a city yet? When are you planning on coming over?
Love this! So Brazilian! I get scared that with all the new "rules" we'll lose these guys…
I know what you mean Rachel. I suppose that when big international events come to town, city hall wants to make everything look pretty. If that means cleaning up an abandoned praça or something then that's great. But I really hope they don't sanitise the whole character and tradition out of the city.
Ughhhh I still have a year. January 2013, kill me. But I'm still not sure if it'll be both Rio and SP or just SP. Anyway I'll be there for a year so I'm sure I'll pass a few weeks in Rio at least.
Tom,
Great look for the new blog! Love it. you’ll have to explain to me (when you have time) how you managed to film that clip of the pamonha in stop-motion. I look forward to more posts.
By the way – that photo you took of the sky darkening – do you have it in hi-res?
J x
Hi Jihane, how’s it going? Glad you like the new site!
I actually spent an evening doing a longer (but possibly even more ridiculous) stop-motion film recently. Just need to tweak it a little before it’s ready for it’s cinematic release ;)
RE the photo, yup, I snapped it with my Nikon so the orig is pretty decent resolution.