Eat Rio Blog - Page 36 of 106

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.

Faces of Peru

10/09/2013/5 Comments/in Musings

For those of you who missed my last post, I have just got back from an amazing weekend in Lima. It was a great weekend in many ways – the food was seriously good, I met some very knowledgeable (and nice) people and I played my small part in representing Rio as one of Latin America’s great cities.

After a weekend so densely packed with goodness, I hope you’ll forgive me if there is a distinctly Peruvian flavour to the next few posts – as someone who has been living in Rio for more than 3 years, I found the contrasts fascinating.

One of the most striking differences I noticed was in the faces of the people I met. The Mistura festival had brought together farmers and producers from all over Peru and I found myself marvelling at their wonderful faces. Here is a selection of my favourites.

[I’ve put these into a Lightbox series, so just click on the first image to get started]

This is an olive farmer from Tacna, a region in southern Peru very close to the Chilean border.

Representing Rio!

05/09/2013/2 Comments/in Food and drink

Hi everyone! I have to be quick today as I’m very short of time and have a hundred things to do. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn, I’m flying to Lima! I’ll be in Peru’s capital for 2 reasons – an awards ceremony and a food festival!

Chowzter Latin American Awards

Chowzter is a website that makes recommendations for what it calls ‘Fast Feasts’ in more than 100 cities around the world. You can read more about them on their website, but basically they champion local, independent food purveyors with an emphasis on traditional dishes rather than ultra-modern gastronomy – you won’t find too many ‘foams’ or liquid nitrogen on their pages! I got involved with Chowzter earlier this year and have put together my own set of recommendations for Rio.

Tomorrow night I’ll meet up with the other Chowzter people in Lima for the Latin American Food Awards!

The 2013 Chowzter Latin American Awards. Go Rio!

Mostly this will be a great opportunity to meet fellow gluttons and discuss the relative merits of farofa, arepas and tacos (or later in the evening, perhaps we’ll put forward our arguments for the supremacy of cachaça, pisco and tequila!). Read more

Moacir Santos – Brazilian Jazz Legend

03/09/2013/3 Comments/in Art and culture

How do you feel about Jazz? As musical genres go, I have mixed feelings. There is certainly plenty of music that would be described as Jazz that I really like – music from Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Miles Davis come to mind. But then I also have some negative associations with this broad genre, ranging from tedious, throwaway elevator music to the esoteric, bordering on inaccessible, modern jazz that seems like very hard work (more of this at the end).

Well today’s Brazilian musician and composer definitely falls into the Jazz category that I like! Moacir Santos was born in a small town in the Northeastern state of Pernambuco in 1924. Moacir’s father didn’t stick around for long and his mother died when he was just 2. Effectively orphaned, Santos was taken in and put through school by a local family, but at the age of 14 he ran away from home.

At this young age, Moacir could already play saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, drums, banjo, guitar and mandolin. He travelled around the northeastern states looking for work as a musician. He settled for a while in Recife and found studio work, gradually building a reputation for his swing-style saxophone playing.

Moacir Santos’ 1965 album, Coisas (Things).