Eat Rio Blog - Page 25 of 106

Carnival Songs: Marcha do Remador!

28/02/2014/4 Comments/in Art and culture

The time has come. Rio Carnival 2014 is finally upon us and I have just enough time to squeeze in one more essential carnival marchinha to my growing list. Today’s classic comes from way back in 1964 (incidentally, I got my haircut yesterday and the women in the hairdressers were lamenting that no one makes new marchinhas anymore – why is that?).

I have to admit to a rather childish enjoyment of today’s song because of a naughty piece of crowd participation. But first, let’s hear an unadulterated rendition from the woman who made it famous, Emilinha Borba (remember she was the one that had a fight with another carnival singer over the affections of Orson Welles):

Photo Post: Mujique-se!

27/02/2014/4 Comments/in Musings

Mujique-se – ‘Mujica yourself’.

Is there a more popular national leader serving today than José Mujica of Uruguay? I’m sure we’ve all heard of his headline grabbing legalisation of marijuana (for which he was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize), but did you also know that during the 1960s and 70s he was a guerilla leader who served 14 years in prison, including 2 years at the bottom of a well?

But probably more than his progressive policies, his popularity seems to be due in large part to his lack of apparent interest in personal wealth and its trappings. In a continent where those in power are notorious for their associations with corruption and organised crime, how refreshing to see a national leader pass up the opportunity to live in an opulent presidential palace in favour of living on his wife’s modest farm; a leader who routinely looks reassuringly dishevelled, drives a beaten up old VW Beetle and reluctantly accepts a skeleton staff of just 2 body guards.

Wouldn’t it feel like progress if a few more world leaders took the advice in the graffiti above and made themselves more like Mujica?

Rio Carnaval 2014 – Off to Paquetá!

25/02/2014/10 Comments/in Things to do

Arriving on Paquetá, we were struck by the tranquil atmosphere due to the lack of cars and motorbikes.

Well, I’m officially in a full-on carnival state of mind! Last Saturday, some friends and I went to a bloco called Pérola de Guanabara (Pearl of Guanabara) which was held on the island of Paquetá. Paquetá is a small island in Guanabara Bay that you can visit by taking a 1:15hr ferry ride from Praça 15. It was my first visit to the island so I was already pretty excited, but to combine it with my first bloco of 2014 was an extra bonus. Little did I know that the highlight of this special day would be the ferry ride home!

Cobogó

21/02/2014/7 Comments/in Art and culture

Recife, 1929. Three engineers, Amadeu Oliveira Coimbra, Ernest August Boeckmann and Antônio de Góis, are on their way to the patent office to protect their new innovation – a ‘hollow structural element’. Somewhere between a brick and a tile, these ‘structural elements’ would go on to become one of the iconic elements of Brazilian Modernist architecture.

The only problem was the name – what were they going to call these things? They all wanted some credit for the innovation, but somehow the Coimbra-Boeckmann-Góis Brick didn’t sound like it was going to catch on. Instead they took the first 2 letters of each of their surnames and christened their hollow bricks Cobogó.

A few years later, Cobogó was used to cover the entire façade of the huge Caixa D’água building in Olinda.

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.