The Carioca Guide to Street Food
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.
There are so many good things about this book that it’s hard to know where to start. First off, I love the concept – it makes me so happy that there are people who value the street food of Rio enough to write a good book about it. The respect and love that the authors clearly have for the food and the people who sell it, shines through on every page. There is beautiful photography (from Marcos Pinto), fascinating interviews with the vendors themselves, recipes, tips, historical background (of the food, the vendors, the neighbourhoods of the city, etc). In a way it kind of frustrates me because it is pretty much exactly the kind of thing that I would love to do, if I had the time and a better level of Portuguese.
Left: Acarajé; Right: Empadas. (Photos: Marcos Pinto)
As well as loving the book in general, I also get a little thrill when I finally get to try food from one of the vendors that is featured in the book. They aren’t all located conveniently in Zona Sul though – in fact there is a guy who sells sandwiches made out of pão de queijo (genius!) and it kills me that he is all the way out in Bangu (a neighbourhood miles away).
Carlinho, who sells pão de queijo sandwiches. Please come to Zona Sul!!! (Photo: Marcos Pinto)
I guess all this positivity about a product that sells for money makes this whole post sound like a big advert. Well I can tell you I have no vested interest here, other than that I want projects like this to succeed. I found out this morning that there is a blog and there is also a trailer for a short film that comes with the book:
This short clip features quite a few of my favourite street vendors. The guy who wears a full suit to sell peanuts up on Rua Pinheiro Machado, the cheeky guy who gets everyone laughing as he sells his sweet Roscas, Oliveira the hotdog guy…
The book is in both Portuguese and English and, as I mentioned above, it comes with a short film on CD – all that for R$60 (approx $30 US; £20 GB). If you are interested in purchasing the Guia Carioca da Gastronomia de Rua, I found it in the shop at the CCBB here in Rio. I also just found it listed at Livraria Travessia (ISBN: 978-85-60504-20-6). And if you like the look of this in general, it appears that they’re trying to raise money to produce a second edition. I really hope they make it!
What a fun book! I love, love, love street food – beiju is a particular weakness of mine ;-) I also like the fact that street vendors are entrepreneurs; they’ve essentially set up their own micro-business – and if they’re good at what they do, they end up with way more earning potential and opportunities than quite a lot of the jobs available (particularly for those without a college degree, which is the majority of Brazilians).
That’s exactly it! Sure I love the food (I love it!), but the fact that people make a small investment in a cart or a stand or whatever and then start a little business of their own – it’s a great thing. They are almost always friendly, they’re helpful if you need directions and a lot of them seem to really care that they have a good product to sell.
p.s. I had no idea what beiju is. The guys I was out with last night told me it could refer to two things – either a tapioca-like thing, or something else (hmmm, cachaça does not help my memory!).
It’s a thin “pancake” made of tapioca, and it can be filled with savory items like chicken, cheese, or meat, or sweet stuff like chocolate, coconut, goiabada or doce de leite. I’m a total sucker for the sweet version :-p
Yum! (I’m saying that about the savory ones with chicken and cheese and stuff ;) )
SEND ME A COPY PO’ FAVOH
Alex, when I become best buddies with this Sergio Bloch guy and persuade him that he should just turn the project over to me, I’ll send you a copy. I won’t forget my friends when I finally make it ;)
Absolutely brilliant concept for a book – I am sitting here dreaming of those yummy things… somehow streetfood is the most evocative of travel memories. I love the clip where you hear the guy singing out “camarões” on the beach – although its one thing I will not eat from the street the sound of this has taken me right back to Ipanema beach in the sun… que saudades!
This is another fab book I worked my way through last year in Rio – and great photos also. Has the usual suspects but some ones in areas I was less familiar with and some real old Rio gems…
http://www.travessa.com.br/Busca.aspx?d=1&cta=1&tt=9788577341702&cbo=11
I’m hungry….
R
So true! If I ever leave Brazil for an extended period, it won’t be the belly-busting Rodizios I will think back on with a tear in my eye (or a rumble in my tum!) – it’ll be the pasteis, tapiocas, acarajés.
I will definitely get a copy of the bar book – I’m sure I’ve seen it around (maybe at a friend’s house), but really this is something I should have with me at all times. Thanks for the link!
Tom,
They aren’t asking for donations; basically they ask that readers leave a deposit when ordering the second edition. The reason for this is they need the money upfront to actually get the edition published. In case they don’t reach their goal of 39,000 reais then all deposits will be returned. This is what I understood from the link.
I quite like this since there are various categories for deposits – ranging from 15 reais, to rs 50, all the way to rs 10,000 ( one page add space on page 4, plus 200 copies of the book).
The best food stand in the history of humanity? That would have to be young Grittie’s Lemonade Stand, which I operated, on and off, during my elementary school years. However it is no longer in operation.
Never say never Gritty – if times get hard you could always dust off the apron and chef’s hat (I assume you wore a chef’s hat). Did you have a sales cry? Alô limão da persia! Alô açucar refinado!
I tried those sales cries but then people would say, ” Kid, if you want to increase sales it’s best you speak a language customers understand”. Fair point.
Btw it seems that many chefs are actually ‘downgrading’ to carts in America. This due to hard economic times. Well, during crisis or prosperity, I have always been told that Japan has the best food cart street scene in the world., I imagine because rent is always quite a burden there. Unfortunately though I’ve yet to visit Japan and eat at these carts myself (must be awesome :-) ).
Totally – I would love to go on an eating spree in Japan. There is a great chapter in Anthony Bourdain’s book, Kitchen Confidential in which he goes to Tokyo. Sounds fantastico.
That is awesome! I’m a street food whore myself. I am officially on the search for this book :)
Ah cool, I hope you like it (you’ll have grounds to sue if you don’t like it after that review!!)
Speaking of food I found this to be brilliant:
Notice what he says in the beginning of the video, then how fast he seasons and puts the bird in the oven so to hurry up and get it all done.
This guy must have an amazing wife. LOL.
Oh My, the guy wearing a suit and selling peanuts is still alive ! Even during the hottest sumer days he would be on Pinheiro Machado offering peanuts to the car drivers or circulating around the bars in Farani which were crowded with students from Sta Ursula & FACHA. This was beginning of the 90’s – he used to call a lot of attention then. He was a serious, quiet guy.
Wow, he’s been around for such a long time!
Yes, he always seems very noble to me. He is doing what some might call a humble job, and yet he is dressing very formally and taking it seriously.