The Cuisine of Brazil

Aside from football, in the collective imagination, Brazil is synonymous with music, exoticism, beach and sun. But its cuisine should not be underestimated!
Janaína Torres in São Paulo, named the world's best female chef in 2024, is today its most illustrious representative.

This cuisine draws its origins from Brazil's plural identity, history and geography, rooted in an exceptional biodiversity. Brazilian cuisine is rich in fruits and vegetables. It is at once simple, original, exotic and healthy. Every bite is a sun-drenched journey between Europe and Africa, set to the rhythm of Samba.
From the moment they arrived on this land, Portuguese settlers influenced the cuisine by adapting their own dishes using indigenous ingredients. It is a clever blend of local products such as cassava, black beans or coconut milk, and ingredients brought from Africa such as bananas.
The essential dish, inherited from this colonial history, is Feijoada, a black bean stew normally served with meat and white rice.

And for the party — a Brazilian essential! — become an expert in Caipirinha. A cocktail with uncertain origins...
Several theories nonetheless attribute it medicinal properties, whether for curing enslaved people of the flu in the 17th century, treating a cholera epidemic in the Paraty region in 1856, or even the Spanish flu in 1918.
Nowadays, with health conditions sometimes uncertain, here to help you is the prescription from Catherine, our Brazil expert... and her take on its therapeutic benefits...:

Take a large glass, 60 ml of Cachaça, 1 organic lime, 2 teaspoons of raw cane sugar, crushed ice.
Cut the lime into small wedges, keeping the peel on.
In the glass, using a muddler, crush the lime with the cane sugar.
Add the Cachaça and crushed ice.
Garnish the glass with a slice of lime and enjoy (in moderation...).

Saúde!