Soups and Stews in Botafogo: Feijão, Angu e Cia
A few months after I arrived in Rio, I got my first job. I was working half way along one of Botafogo’s main streets, Rua Voluntários de Pátria. Back then, life in Rio was a bit scary and bewildering, full of lessons to be learned: how to catch a bus, how to get a waiter’s attention and how to have lunch.
That last item might seem strange (what is there to learn about lunch?), but I soon found that my London lunching tradition (a quick sandwich eaten at my desk) wasn’t going to work in Brazil. The idea of eating at one’s desk seems to be rather repulsive to Brazilians, and on this question I have come to see their point. I soon realised that I needed to find somewhere outside of the office to eat. I took to the streets of Botafogo in search of something quick, convenient and delicious. Here’s what I found:
This little street-cart is called “Feijão, Angu e Cia” (which translates roughly as ‘Beans, Polenta and Co’). Its owners, Carlos and Sonia, have been selling soups and stews to the hungry people of Botafogo for the past 8 years.
Husband and wife team, Carlos and Sonia, set up their stall every week day morning on a street corner just a few minutes’ walk from my old office. They have 8 huge pots bubbling away on their cart – 4 classics which are served up every day and 4 which change according to the day of the week.
One of the classic dishes is Angu à Baiana, a soft, creamy, gooey polenta (fubá) topped with a rich meaty stew which can contain minced beef, sausage, offal or chicken giblets (or a combination of all four). I know that words like offal and giblets turn a lot of people off, but those who can get past their sensibilities and just eat the stuff, will discover a rich, satisfying treat.
Angu à Baiana: gooey, creamy fubá (polenta) topped with a rich, meaty stew.
I visited Carlos and Sonia again yesterday to get some photos and ask a few questions and as I watched them work, I realised that their success was not only due to their delicious stews and soups. People who clearly worked in very different jobs would sit down on the simple plastic stools and chat to Carlos, Sonia and each other as they enjoyed their lunch.
Carlos chats away to a (very) happy customer.
Carlos showing off some of the articles that have been written about his business in Brazilian media.
In contrast to the hustle and bustle of Botafogo at lunchtime, this little street corner offers a calm place to sit down, pass the time of day and enjoy a hearty bowl of something home-cooked and satisfying.
Linguiça (sausage) with mixed vegetables.
‘Cassoulet’.
The delicious topping for that angu.
So if you’re tired of the usual lunchtime fare or simply want something cheap and satisfying on a chilly/rainy day in Rio, drop by to say hello to Carlos and Sonia and try a bowl of something delicious.
Feijão, Angu e Cia opens Monday-Friday from 11:30 – 22:00 on the corner of Rua Voluntarios de Pátria and Rua Dona Mariana. Prices range from R$9 to R$13. Tel: 96974-6761
Being from the USA, I love to see enterprises like that here in Brazil. Ostensibly selling food, in my opinion they vend something far more important than simple street fare. They sell FREEDOM. Where I come from, the ability for someone to even start an enterprise like theirs, let alone be successful with it, has been made almost impossible, by laws and regulations that are supposedly to protect the public, but in reality they more so protect corporate investors. I know it sounds corny, but every time I eat at a place like that, I feel like I still know what the flavor of freedom is.
Hey Carlos – I know what you’re saying there. There are times when the chaos and the bureaucracy of Brazil drive me crazy, but Rio really does feel like the city of opportunity sometimes. Another great example of this would be Sei, a guy from Brooklyn who moved down to Rio, built a mobile pizza oven, called it Ferro e Farinha, and then set about making the best pizzas in town. He and his team were so successful that they will be opening a ‘bricks and mortar’ place in the very near future. And the best bit? It’s going to be about 10 minutes from where I live!
In case you missed the original post about Sei and his pizza truck, here’s the link.
I remember that post, about the pizza truck. Not my call, but it seems to me that going bricks and mortar would negate what I thought was the most innovative and advantageous part of the overall approach, the mobility. If it were me, I think I would expand with more rolling stock, so as to serve an ever wider territory. What were you doing, before you switched to doing EatRio and food writing fulltime? I know you were living in Sta Teresa and spending a few hours each weekday going to and from your job (which I guessed was probably in Barra), but you never said what it was. I am just curious…….
Hmmm, I guess what you lose in mobility, you gain in capacity. I think one of the drawbacks of all that success was that people were having to wait 2 hours for a pizza. It’s a testament to how great that pizza was that people were prepared to wait, but I guess Sei wanted to be able to serve more people more quickly. I wonder if he’ll completely discontinue the mobile oven or keep that running as a side-line…
I was previously working as a business analyst/programmer before I switched to full-time food writing and culinary guiding. Yes, it was a 2 hour journey to get from Santa Teresa to Barra – 4 hours daily commuting is way too much – those were 2 tough years! :-/
And frankly even tech jobs don’t pay well in Brazil, as far as I have seen. I am a career mainframe programmer myself, the COBOL world. There are mainframe jobs in Sao Paulo that I am qualified for, but they only want to pay like 4000 reais per month. Ridiculous! That comes out to around 25 reais per hour. I made 60 dollars per hour as a consultant in the USA prior to retirement. I can make more money here in Brazil teaching English. I have my doubts that Brazil will ever have enough private sector jobs to reach the point where job supply is at least equal to the demand for them. There is just too much government bureaucracy and red tape that inhibits business growth and job creation. Glad I am just a retiree here……….
BTW, I also have first hand experience with the grind of bussing it in Rio. For most of 2012 I was going from Recreio to Copa Monday thru Friday. The TO part of it in the mornings was not too bad because the Castelo bus stopped right next to where I lived, and I departed early enough in the mornings to beat the traffic, so it was usually a 50-55 minute ride. The return rides back to Recreio were agony though, never less than 2 hours, often 3+ hours, just inching along hour after hour. Without my Kindle and notebook computer I could not have handled it.
Oh man – I do NOT miss those days and I’m sure you don’t either. Life is too short for putting up with that kind of bother.