Food and drink Archives - Page 15 of 39

Coffee Down Under

24/09/2013/19 Comments/in Food and drink

A few days into my two week trip to Australia, the jet-lag is gradually starting to relent. Rio is 13 hours behind Melbourne, so my body clock has been trying to sabotage my plans by urging me to wake up and do things at 4am and then crash mid-afternoon. Luckily for me I have a not so secret weapon to beat my endogenous clock into submission.

After a 6 month stint of abstention, I recently decided to come back to the wonderful world of coffee during a trip to Lima. After chatting to a Peruvian coffee farmer and then seeing the fruits of his labour, I wondered why I had stopped drinking coffee in the first place and decided it was time to get back in the game. A couple of weeks later I am reaping the benefits of that decision.

Caffè Macchiato – strong black coffee with a drop of milk. In Brazil this would be known as Café Pingado.

Coffee is a big deal in Melbourne. If you want the coffee ordering process to go smoothly then you will quickly need to learn the meaning of terms such as ‘flat white‘ and ‘long black‘ – just asking for a coffee will result in as exasperated look from your barista (this is the voice of experience speaking…).

In Australia, making good coffee requires a proper machine. This Expobar has twin boilers meaning you’re less likely to run out of steam when making multiple cups.

Leaf-cutter Ant Beer made by Lamas

18/09/2013/4 Comments/in Food and drink

The beer situation in Brazil is an interesting one. Brazilian beer is often maligned (I should know, I am chief maligner), yet I have met more serious beer enthusiasts in Rio than in any other city.

To give an example, my brother-in-law Rodrigo regularly meets up with a group of friends for tasting sessions. They taste 2 national beers and 2 imports and rate them according to a complex set of criteria. When I was lucky enough to be invited to one of these sessions, I was really surprised at the level of ~~obsession~~ knowledge they showed. The scores from the last 3 years of tastings were stored and analysed in a spreadsheet! These guys take beer seriously and really know their Amber Ale from their IPA.

One of Rodrigo’s top recommendations: Eisenbahn’s Strong Golden Ale.

The truth is that although the most commonly available (i.e. mass produced) beers in Brazil are pretty boring, there are plenty of excellent, well made Brazilian beers if you can track them down (for an ongoing review, check out the Good Beer Guide at The Book is on the Table). But what if they don’t stock these cervejas artesanais near you? Well then you can Faça Você Mesmo! (Do It Yourself!)

Chowzter Awards – the Rio result!

17/09/2013/2 Comments/in Food and drink

Anyone who has been anywhere near Eat Rio or the Eat Rio Facebook page recently will potentially be getting a little tired of hearing about Peru. For those of you who haven’t been following proceedings, I flew to Lima just over a week ago to take part in the Chowzter Latin American Fast Feast Awards.

I have to say that I had a seriously good time: hanging out with fellow food-obsessed people, drinking the occasional pisco sour, eating delicious ceviche – it’s a great way to spend a weekend. But it wasn’t all fun – there were some nervous moments. Yes we were there to have a good time, but we were also there to represent our cities (and countries) of Latin America.

As the ceremony got under way, our compère for the evening took us through a countdown of what had been judged to be the 50 most tasty ‘fast feasts’ in Latin America. As I heard dish after delicious dish described, I started to wonder if my photos and descriptions of Rio’s nominations had been enough. We were up against mouth-watering tacos from Mexico City, empanadas from Buenos Aires, ceviche from Lima and arepas from Caracas. Against such stiff competition, would the judges really be impressed with any of Rio’s offerings?

Mistura 2013 and Chowzter

13/09/2013/6 Comments/in Food and drink

A few days ago I showed you some of the faces of the Mistura 2013 festival in Lima – today I think you should see some of the food! I was a big fan of Peruvian food before the trip but I have now progressed to devotee.

Before I get going, I want to say a big thank you to Jeffrey Merrihue and Justin Mellot of Chowzter. These guys helped organise the whole weekend and introduced me to a whole bunch of brilliant people and delicious food. Muito obrigado amigos!

This will be a bit of a photo-fest and fair warning – some of these shots may make you feel hungry, others not so much (especially if you’re fond of guinea pigs…). Those of you who are squeamish may want to pass on the final video in the post…

OK, let’s get started!

[This is a lightbox gallery – just click the image to see them full-screen – but don’t forget to watch the 2 videos at the end!]

The view from the plane as we flew over the mountains. Moments later we descended through the cloud towards Lima.

Ferro e Farinha: Food Trucks come to Rio

12/09/2013/15 Comments/in Food and drink

This is Sei Shiroma.

I first heard from Sei through an email I received a year or so ago. Back then he was living in New York, working in advertising and planning a move to Rio. Today he is a food obsessed gringo, living in Rio and married to a carioca (sound familiar?). He is also something of an inspiration.

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