I love cheese. Seriously, I’m a big fan, it’s one of the main reasons I don’t have one of those svelt, uber-bodies that you see on television (one of the reasons – there are others, like weaknesses for butter, paté, wine, beer and aversion to exercise). But anyway, please know that I love cheese. And I miss cheese from England – real Cheddar, Stilton, Blue Wensleydale, Stinking Bishop… drool.
Stinking Bishop – not a classic name, but a seriously good cheese.
Although I think of myself as being fairly adventurous when it comes to food, I am also a creature of habit, particularly when it comes to my everyday working life.
Me proving my food-adventurousness with the help of a guinea pig (and several glasses of wine).
I sometimes think that the title of this blog is a little misleading. Originally I had planned to concentrate on all the delicious and (to me) previously unknown food I discovered in Rio, but as time passed I found there were all kinds of other interesting things that I wanted to write about. Now my selection criteria have broadened to include anything that I would show/tell a curious friend who hadn’t been to Brazil.
Sure there’s some food in there, but there’s quite a lot of other stuff as well (this is a sneak-peak of the new-look Eat Rio coming soon).
But I’m still into the food! I have plans to tell anyone interested about a whole bunch of great Brazilian dishes, ingredients and perhaps even a few of what I deem to be Rio’s best places to eat.
So today I’m going to tell you about a Peruvian, a Mexican and a Southeast Asian I met in Rio. They have quite different personalities but all three are totally yummy.
I wouldn’t say that I didn’t like Brazilian food when I first got here, but it did take a little time to get to know it well enough that I could appreciate the difference between, for example, good farofa and bad farofa – at first they all just taste like weird, dry powder. After a while you get a feel for it and you start to understand why some places have people spilling out onto the street while others stand empty.
One criticism you could level at mainstream Brazilian food is that it can be a little bland and stodgy. I’ve learned to love rice, beans and farofa but there are times when I long for a lamb bhuna or a Thai green curry.
Indian food. Sigh - que saudade…
I remember a guy from New Zealand once telling me about a rather disconcerting experience he had whilst living in Japan. He was walking down the street, munching on a sandwich, when he started to get an uncomfortable feeling, almost like he was being watched. Whenever he looked up at the people passing in the opposite direction, they would avert their eyes, but he continued to get an uneasy feeling that he was doing something wrong. Was that a hint of disgust he detected in their eyes?
Turns out it was. I’ve never been to Japan (so correct me if this is way off), but the Kiwi in question told me that he later discovered that to the Japanese, the idea of someone eating as they walk down the street is really disgusting.
Eating on public transport – surely a step too far for most people?
Well I have started to feel something not dissimilar here in Rio. I’m not talking so much about eating as you walk down the street, but my issue is still lunch related.