Basics - The Rough Guide to Brazil - page 32

Federação Brasileira dos Albergues de Juventude
( W hihostelbrasil.com.br) in Rio publishes an
excellent illustrated guide to Brazil's o cial hostels -
and there's a growing number of hostels that aren't
a liated with the IYHF, many of which are very good.
Demand for places far outstrips supply at certain
times of year - July, and December to Carnaval - but
if you travel with a hammock you can often hook it
up in a corridor or patio. A major advantage that
hostels have is to throw you together with young
Brazilians, who are the main users of the network.

from the interior of the Northeast, which relies on
rehydrated, dried or salted meat and the fruit, beans
and tubers of the region; comida gaúcha from Rio
Grande do Sul, the most carnivorous diet in the
world, revolving around every imaginable kind of
meat grilled over charcoal; and comida amazônica ,
based on river fish, manioc sauces and the many
fruits and palm products of northern Brazil. Comida
do sertão is rarely served outside its homeland, but
you'll find restaurants serving the others throughout
Brazil, although - naturally - they're at their best in
their region of origin.

Camping

The staples
Alongside the regional restaurants, there is
standard fare available everywhere that can soon
get dull unless you cast around: steak ( bife ) or
chicken ( frango ), served with arroz e feijão (rice and
beans), and often with salad, fries and farinha (dried
manioc/cassava flour that you sprinkle over every-
thing). Farofa is toasted farinha , and usually comes
with onions and bits of bacon mixed in. In cheaper
restaurants, all this would come on a single large
plate: look for the words “ prato feito ”, “ prato comercial ”
or “ refeição completa ” if you want to fill up without
spending too much. Hotel breakfast buffets can be
disappointingly uniform around the country: slices
of cheese, the ubiquitous pão de queijo (a savoury
cheese ball made with manioc flour), lots of breads
and cakes, fruits, coffee, cold cuts and some
variation of chorizo and scrambled eggs. “ Tapioca ” i is
ubiquitous in Brazil, though it usually refers to
manioc/cassava flour products (typically grainy
pancakes with sweet or savoury fillings) rather than
the sweet tapioca pudding familiar to foreigners.
Feijoada is the closest Brazil comes to a national
dish. It is a stew of pork leftovers (ear, pizzle and
other unmentionables that fortunately can be
fished out), sausage, smoked ribs and beef jerky
cooked slowly for hours with black beans and garlic
until mouthwateringly tender, served garnished
with slices of orange and pork crackling and
accompanied by shots of cachaça rum. It is a
national ritual for Saturday lunch, when restaurants
serve feijoada all day.
Some of the fruit is familiar - manga (mango),
maracujá (passion fruit), goiaba (guava), limão (lime)
- but most of it has only Brazilian names: jaboticaba ,
fruta do conde , sapoti and jaca . The most exotic
fruits are Amazonian: try bacuri , açaí - increasingly
seen in Europe and the US as a health food or juice
- and the extraordinary cupuaçú , the most delicious
of all. These all serve as the basis for juices and ice

There are numerous campsites in Brazil and almost
all of them are on the coast near the bigger beaches
- mostly, they're near cities rather than in out-of-the-
way places. They will usually have basic facilities -
running water and toilets, perhaps a simple restau-
rant - and are popular with young Argentines and
Brazilians. A few fancier sites are designed for people
with camper vans or big tents in the back of their cars.
Having your own tent, or renting one, is also particu-
larly useful in ecotourism regions such as the Amazon
and the Pantanal, where it can really open up the
wilderness to you. In all cases, however, the problem
is security , partly of your person, but more signifi-
cantly of your possessions, which can never really be
made safe. Great caution should be exercised before
camping off-site - only do so if you're part of a group
and you've received assurances locally as to safety.

Food and drink
It's hard to generalize about Brazilian
food, largely because there is no single
national cuisine but numerous very
distinct regional ones. Nature dealt
Brazil a full hand for these: there's an
abundant variety of fruit, vegetables and
spices, as you can see for yourself
walking through any food market.

Regional cuisine

There are five main regional cuisines in Brazil:
comida mineira from Minas Gerais, based on pork,
vegetables (especially couve , collard greens) and
tutu , a kind of refried bean cooked with manioc flour
and used as a thick sauce; comida baiana from the
Salvador coast, the most exotic to gringo palates,
using fresh fish and shellfish, hot peppers, palm oil,
coconut milk and fresh coriander; comida do sertão