Eat Rio Blog - Page 4 of 106

Eat Rio Craft Beer Tours

27/07/2018/4 Comments/in Food and drink, Things to do

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 close; and I bought malted grains, hops and yeast.

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.

A Misto Quente Moment

20/07/2018/6 Comments/in Food and drink

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.

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

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

13/07/2018/3 Comments/in Food and drink, Musings

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):

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.

World Cup encounters and a tough gig for Lonely Planet

06/07/2018/4 Comments/in Musings

The Maze – a wonderland of tiles, art and curry.

Happy Friday readers! Having set myself the task of writing every Friday, I woke up this morning in a bit of a panic. Spare time is in short supply at the moment – in case you haven’t heard, there’s a World Cup on, and that means schedules are being squeezed and pushed around in order to fit in with the crucial fixtures. This is the third World Cup I’ve experienced since I’ve been in Brazil and it’s no exaggeration to say that normal life here gets put on hold when Brazil are playing. The cartórios (notary’s offices) just come right out and say “we’re not opening on game day” and the supermarkets close 30 minutes before Brazil games and re-open 15 minutes after. And let’s just say that most people who are (ostensibly at least) working don’t exactly have their minds on the job.

Street dance, a craft beer tour and a super sandwich

29/06/2018/4 Comments/in Food and drink, Musings

Hello readers! It’s been a while hasn’t it? Can you believe that at one point I was churning out between 4 and 5 blog posts a week? That’s about the number of posts I published in the entirety of 2017. Why the lack of posts? Well, it’s been a topsy-turvy 18 months and that kind of chaos doesn’t lend itself to writing upbeat, entertaining or informative blog posts (believe it or not, that’s what I aim for). So how come I’m back? Well, honestly, I’ve missed the writing and I’ve missed the interaction with you guys – Facebook and Instagram are all very well, but a blog feels less limited and less lazy. So here we go again!

Rather than dive straight into highfalutin articles on the state of politics in Brazil or analysis of some hot topic in current affairs, I thought I’d start out with something light and easy – a quick summary of some things I’ve seen in the last week. Let’s start off with this dance group who perform on the streets of Botafogo.