Food and drink Archives - Page 11 of 39

British Bangers in Rio

18/03/2014/11 Comments/in Food and drink

Over the last 6-12 months I’ve come across some individuals living in Rio whose culinary activities have made me feel joyous and inspired. Joyous because they’re bringing something new and delicious to the table in Rio. Inspired because they have confirmed my growing belief that people who make great food and possess an entrepreneurial spirit can be successful here in Rio, without needing to have thousands of dollars to invest.

First there was Sei who set up Ferro e Farinha to introduce Rio to two new concepts – great Neapolitan style pizza and the Food Truck model. F&F is now doing so well that the lines of hungry customers start forming before Sei and his team even arrive!

Then there was Daniel and Luis whose Mexican food project, Fiesta Mexicana Autêntica Comida Caseira, has been drawing people from as far away as Niterói and beyond!

Last weekend I met my newest Rio food hero – Jane:

Expats doing it for themselves

12/03/2014/29 Comments/in Food and drink

In contrast to scaremongering right-wing politicians, I believe that immigrant communities make big cities better. Imagine London without its rich pockets of immigrants from the Caribbean, China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, and so on. It might still be a good city, but would it be a great one? I doubt it.

As an immigrant myself, I have first hand experience of some of the challenges and emotions faced by people living in a new country. Of course some of the classic economic difficulties that immigrants face have been easier for me because I have the advantage of a good education, but I’ve felt homesick, lost, confused and isolated at times and I’ve even had people tell me to go back to where I came from. Once I was even on the receiving end of that classic accusation: You’re stealing our jobs and our women! (“women” plural? Don’t tell Mrs Eat Rio!). Happily most of my interactions with the locals have been far more positive!

But however much we enjoy our new life, I’m sure all immigrants/expats miss things that they can’t get in their new home. To be honest with you, I never bothered that much with Marmite back in London, but once I moved to Rio I found myself longing for the stuff. And what do we do when we can’t have something from home? We fill our suitcases or we make those things ourselves!

Sadly I haven’t succeeded in formulating my own Marmite (Mrs Eat Rio would probably leave me if I did!), but recently I decided to have a go at making another British favourite – crumpets!

Temos Carne de Rã! …Huh?

10/03/2014/16 Comments/in Food and drink

For people learning Brazilian Portuguese, one of the first unintuitive pronunciation lessons you need to learn is that in certain contexts, Rs sound like Hs. “Rio”, “Barra” and “Rato” sound respectively like “Hee-o”, “Ba-hah” and “Hatt-o”. This can lead Brazilians to utter rather amusing mispronunciations of English words such as ‘Hock and Holl’ (popular music that emerged in the 1950s) and ‘Hugby’ (contact sport involving an egg-shaped ball).

The subject of today’s post is another such word: Rã. Probably the easiest way to describe the pronunciation of rã is to say that it sounds almost exactly like the English quizzical “Huh”. But what is it? Rã is the word for frog and you find this word in some unexpected places!

Kebab Chic and a Mexican Correction

20/02/2014/2 Comments/in Food and drink

One of the things I try to do with Eat Rio is publicise food-related projects that I think deserve support and recognition (my motives are entirely selfish – as a resident of Rio, I want the food scene to improve in terms of variety, quality and value for money). So when I hear about something interesting – someone making neapolitan style pizzas in a mobile pizza oven; a couple of guys making authentic Mexican food in a Favela – I’m always keen to know more.

Last week I had a call from Yves (remember the Cheese Maverick?), telling me that he was about to start doing something new – he was calling it Kebab Chic. My curiosity was well and truly piqued, so I took a friend down to Travessa do Comércio to find out more.

Brazilian Peppers: Biquinho and Ubatuba Cambuci

11/02/2014/14 Comments/in Food and drink

People just love to take things to extremes don’t they? Whether it’s buildings, cars or paella dishes, it seems like there’s always someone who feels the need to make them taller, faster or wider. So when it comes to chilli peppers, I suppose it’s hardly surprising that there is a constant drive to come up with the new ‘Hottest Chilli in the World’ (in case you’re interested, the ‘Trinidad Moruga Scorpion’ was recently beaten into second place by the ‘Carolina Reaper‘).

Now don’t get me wrong, in the right context I’m all in favour of the spicy hit of a good hot habanero, but I certainly don’t sign up to this ‘hotter is better’ attitude which seems to be far more about macho posturing than anything culinary. Instead I’m going to tell you about two of my favourite Brazilian pepper discoveries, both of which sit way down the other end of the Scoville Scale.

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