Making and hunting chocolate in Rio

At the very beginning of each of our food tours, the first thing the guide checks with the group is whether of them have any food allergies. The common ones are peanuts and shrimp, but the allergy list has a long tail and from time to time we encounter something unusual like sweet potatoes, strawberries or celery (I’m always suspicious of the celery ‘allergy’ as it usually turns out to be a case of [delivered sheepishly]: “Well, it’s not a very serious allergy really… Erm, well… I’m not sure if it’s officially an allergy at all. I just prefer not to… [trails off mumbling something about ‘adverse reactions’]”.

In any case, there is a golden rule when you first hear about someone’s allergy: you don’t gasp and then blurt out something pitying like “You can’t eat avocado? Oh that’s terrible! How do you live?“.

Some ‘pre-chocolate’ (AKA a cocoa pod) on the tree.

 

I don’t think anyone would feel all that bad for someone with a genuine allergy to celery*, but take a moment to imagine being allergic to chocolate.

No more chocolate.

Ever.

The allergy would be bad enough, but I suspect the shocked reactions, followed by sympathy, we be almost worse.

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Eat-Rio-Food-Tours-Brazilian-Wine-Tasting

Where can I find…?

The 12 months after the Olympics were tough for everyone working in tourism in Rio. It seemed like people just stopped coming here. I know plenty of businesses went under during that year and the rest of us suffered.

Everyone seemed to have a theory for this decline – perhaps it was because of the scare stories of crime and corruption published around the world while Rio ‘enjoyed’ the Olympic spotlight? Was it the woeful economy? Were people still worried about Zika? My money was on the more general idea that anyone who wanted to visit Rio probably did so between 2014 (when we hosted the World Cup) and 2016 – after that they went elsewhere. In any case, it was a tough time for tourism.

One thing that kept our spirits up during that lean period was that the people who did come to Rio were still absolutely loving the experience (both of Rio in general and of our food tours specifically).

Eat-Rio-Food-Tours-Brazilian-Wine-Tasting

O Rio de Janeiro continua lindo…

 

Well I’m delighted (and relieved) to report that things have been picking up over the last 6-12 months. Things are by no means back to their best, but here at Eat Rio Food Tours we’ve seen a noticeable and sustained improvement in visitor numbers. And despite the rampant Rio scare stories still doing the rounds, people are loving the tours and loving Rio in general. Here are the titles of our last 6 reviews on TripAdvisor:

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Eat-Rio-Beer-Team

Eat Rio Craft Beer Tours

NOTE: (April 2023) We are hoping to re-launch our craft beer tours later this year, but for now these are not running. However, if you’re looking for some excellent places to try craft beers in Rio, get in touch and I’ll point you in the right direction!

In last week’s post I made a brief mention of a failed attempt to visit beer supply shop (this went down shortly after I had experienced a mellow kind of nirvana at a nearby snack bar). Well I expect you’ve all been eaten up with curiosity ever since, plagued by questions such as:

Why a beer supply shop? and Did you go back another time when it was open? and, erm, What did you buy there? 

Well settle down people, because I’m going to respond to your pressing perguntas. The answers, respectively, are:

I was looking for some supplies to make beer; and Yes, I went back 2 days later about an hour before they were due to closeand I bought malted grains, hops and yeast.

grinding-malt

These are malted grains of barley. The process of malting is unthinkably cruel. First you encourage a grain to start germinating by adding water. Then, just when it gets going, dreaming of a full and happy life as a stem of grass, perhaps with plans to one day have its own child grains to continue the wondrous circle of life, you kill it by exposing it to hot air. Makes you think doesn’t it? Still, cruel or not, it’s essential for making decent beer so what can you do?

 

Regular readers will remember that I’ve made beer a couple of times in the last few years. On those occasions it was just some carefree fun which resulted in about 40 bottles of passably delicious home-brewed beer. But this time around things were different; this was serious. This time I was making beer with my Eat Rio colleagues and it wasn’t fun – it was work (…but also fun).

In this excruciatingly circuitous way (is anyone still reading?) I’d like to announce that we will soon be releasing our latest culinary tour experience – the Eat Rio Craft Beer Tour.  The beer scene in Rio is blowing up! Since 2012 there have been a plethora of local breweries popping up in Rio. When I first got here in 2010 you were lucky if you could find a place selling Heineken – nowadays there are dozens of speciality bars selling IPAs, APAs, Golden Ales, Bocks and Porters. Some are made in accordance with the old school traditions, others are flavoured with all kinds of exciting Brazilian fruits and spices. For a beer enthusiast in Rio it’s a wonderful time to be alive.

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Misto-quente

A Misto Quente Moment

The longer I eke out a living on the fringes of the food world, the more I realise that I’m often most enchanted by the simple things. Sure, the idea of a 12 course tasting menu (with wine pairings – yay!) is really exciting, and the reality can be pretty fantastic, but I started to notice some time ago that I generally get more units of pleasure out of something uncomplicated, like bread, butter and cheese, or a perfectly ripe and juicy pear, or a gooey, chewy, crunchy-topped piece of pork belly. This morning I enjoyed a little nirvana moment with the help of a Misto Quente.

Misto-quente

The misto quente – so bad it’s somehow good.

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Anna's eighty-eight

Thought For Food – Rio Summit 23-27th July 2018

Food, and all the industries involved in its production, preparation, sale and consumption, has a transformative effect on everything from landscapes and ecosystems to the lives of individuals and communities. Anyone who takes an interest in food would have to agree that these are interesting times. Whether we’re looking at how to grow and distribute enough food to make sure everyone has enough to eat or whether we’re thinking about restaurant projects that try to make a positive contribution towards the homeless communities or those previously incarcerated, there’s a huge amount of interest in this increasingly important sector.

Later this month there will be a meeting of some of the most forward thinking minds in the world of food, right here in Rio. The Thought For Food organisation will be holding a week long summit and academy with international speakers covering a diverse range of subjects such as “how to restore nature through agroforestry” and “new solutions for smallholder farmers”. If it sounds like something you might find interesting then you can get more details about the summit and academy here.

Speaking of putting the food industry to good use, I have to give a mention to one of my favourite projects here in Brazil. Gastromotiva is an organisation that, among other things, trains people from low income families to work in the restaurant and hospitality industry. I’ll be visiting their restaurant (linked to in the first paragraph) in the coming weeks and look forward to reporting back here on the blog.

OK, I’m short on time today so I’ll cut keep this week’s post short. Seeing as it’s been a bit link-heavy today, and perhaps a little short on diversion, the least I can do is leave you with a picture. Last weekend I snapped this, the rather wonderfully named Anna’s eighty-eight (Diaethria anna):

Anna's eighty-eight

If you’re wondering how I managed to get such a close-up without any motion blur, it’s because this particular specimen had already, ahem, ‘joined the great majority’. A most cooperative model.