24 replies to this topic

[hillvalley]

My class has left the desert and Egypt and moved on to the rainforest and Brazil. My kids already want to know what we are going to eat. I have a small list started, but I find better answers here.

So if you were a 10 year old kid in Brazil what would you eat? What wouldn't you eat?

What can I bring in to freak 'em out again? (Between sushi and Egyptian eggs, I have a reputation to uphold here!)

As always, my students and I thank you!

[tsquare]

Check out the food from Bourdain's tour of Brazil for ideas...he must have eaten something strange along with all the drinking..."How to be a Carioca". Tony?

[hillvalley]

Is it possible that there is a Cook's Tour I haven't seen? In Mexico he ate crickets, which would be great, but I don't think my principal would go for it


I found a recipe that appears to be similiar to Dulce de Leche. Is it used in Brazil?

I also found a recipe using black beans, which would be good since it is a familiar food.

Any thoughts?

[tsquare]

Is it possible that there is a Cook's Tour I haven't seen?  In Mexico he ate crickets, which would be great, but I don't think my principal would go for it


I found a recipe that appears to be similiar to Dulce de Leche.  Is it used in Brazil?

I also found a recipe using black beans, which would be good since it is a familiar food.

Any thoughts?

I think Brazil may have been one of Tony's favorite binges. Good luck finding it if you haven't seen it already. Such luck!
(Mmm, he ate lots of food on the beach, lots of meat, and fejoda in the 'hood. What else...) Oh yeah, the Speedo visuals.

[tryska]

caipirinhas?

no?


eh, it was worth a shot...

[tryska]

perhaps this will help.....

http://www.cookbrazil.com/

Edited by tryska, 24 February 2004 - 10:23 AM.

[edsel]

Is it possible that there is a Cook's Tour I haven't seen?  In Mexico he ate crickets, which would be great, but I don't think my principal would go for it


I found a recipe that appears to be similiar to Dulce de Leche.  Is it used in Brazil?

I also found a recipe using black beans, which would be good since it is a familiar food.

Any thoughts?

In portuguese it's doce de leite.

Black beans and rice (arroz e feijao) is a basic part of the Brazilian diet. A full-blown Feijoada is a very elaborate affair and a huge amount of preparation. You might try just the basic rice 'n' beans combo. If you can find some manioc meal (farinha de mandioca) you could accompany it with farofa. It kinda looks like sawdust, which might amuse the class.

[hillvalley]

Is it possible that there is a Cook's Tour I haven't seen?  In Mexico he ate crickets, which would be great, but I don't think my principal would go for it


I found a recipe that appears to be similiar to Dulce de Leche.  Is it used in Brazil?

I also found a recipe using black beans, which would be good since it is a familiar food.

Any thoughts?

I think Brazil may have been one of Tony's favorite binges. Good luck finding it if you haven't seen it already. Such luck!
(Mmm, he ate lots of food on the beach, lots of meat, and fejoda in the 'hood. What else...) Oh yeah, the Speedo visuals.

It's all coming back to me. Ahhh, the speedo image was stuck in my head for way too long. Now it's back.


Thanks for all the links. I'll check them out this evening.

We will definately make the doce de leite and put it in hot milk!

The beans and rice are also in, I got a simple recipe off a teacher web site.
Any unusual items I should know about?

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks


By the way, do you think Tony would come give a lecture on the eating habits of Brazillians? Or perhaps the proper way to wear a speedo?

[chromedome]

I know an ex-pat Brit in Rio...I'll make inquiries.

All I know of Brazilian food myself is the Bahiana specialties from Amado's novels. Haven't tried making any of them, though...and dende oil might be a challenging grocery item in DC.

[carioca]

10 year olds edat what their parents give them. Rice & beans with some meat is norm when people can afford the meat - Seafood in coastal areas. Bananas too -

[hillvalley]

Any ideas of what I should do with doce de leite? Maybe something with bananas?

Are baby bananas common in Brazil?

[curlywurlyfi]

do your kids enjoy music? there are some great Brazilian compilations out there at the moment. Other than that, what about fried plantains - mmmm.

Fi

[chromedome]

My friend in Rio suggested that you check out this site for recipes and context. Hope this is helpful...

[hillvalley]

Thanks Chrome. That must be the site for Brazillian cuisine. It's the same one that edsel recommended

As for the music, I have started nagging our music teacher for some. Last month we played a different African American musician every few days at lunch. The kids seem to really enjoy it, so I will move to music from the country du jour.

[hillvalley]

We started our Brazilian food lesson a few days early today.

I started off with the bribe of soda. Brazilian soda made from Guarana. Anybody know how to pronounce it? I found pics on the Internet of the fruit and did a quick compare/contrast lesson with orange soda. Most of the kids really liked it. Tastes like cream soda. I only gave half a cup though because it is supposed to be full of caffeine and we had an assembly later in the day.

Next were hearts of palm. I know, not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Brazil. We probably will not get to any other South American countries so I threw it in here. The tofu a few months ago went over better. One kid liked it. But she likes everything. Oddly enough, the two teachers who are really picky eaters loved the hearts. Go figure?


I ended with Dulce De leche. Straight. On a spoon. My Latino student didn't like it, but he doesn't like sweets a whole lot. My new kid only liked it after everyone else had declared their love. They were still hungry so I passed out pretzels and had everyone dip them into the ddl. Big Hit! I have promised that we will make Hot Dulce De Leche in Milk later this week. Thank goodness it cooled down outside.



Friday will be the rest of the tasting. I am making the black bean dish, possible with them at school. Soaking bean overnight would be a great compare/contrast lesson too.

We are going to have plantains a few ways. I got a bag of plantain chips at frozen friend plantains. I am so excited by these. Fried plantains would be too dangerous to make at school and I have never really fried before so this is a great solution. I also am going to get a fresh one and some baby bananas.

To drink I have another kind of Brazilian soda and coconut water. I am going to try to get some kind of nectar as well.

I wish there was some way to take them to a Brazilian bbq.

[ronnie_suburban]

Awesome hillvalley!

Pretty sure that Guarana is pronounced gwa-rah'-nah. It is a fruit that contains a naturally-occuring stimulant in its seeds. The extract made from guarana seeds is actually more potent than caffeine but doesn't actually contain caffeine. Lately there has been a push here in the U.S. by several nutraceutical companies to get guarana extract beverages on the retail shelves.

It is used as a stimulant and a cure for headaches in the regions where it is grown.

Probably a good thing that you held back on the portions...the stuff has quite a reputation.

FYI, here is a link that leads to some good info about Guarana (click on the 'background' link after you arrive at the linked site).

=R=

[hillvalley]

Thanks for the link Ronnie! I got most of my information for the lesson off of it earlier today

I had read about the caffine thing, which is why I kept the portions small. I was accused of being mean by my head teacher, until I explained to her the caffine effect. Then she wanted to know why I would give it to them. rrrrrgggggg.

I asked about the pronunciation because on one site they said it was gwuada-na. I know very little about Spanish and even less about Portugese so I have no idea how to say it.

[tryska]

it's that that rolling r spanish and portuguese use. in the good ol US of A tho, you can get away with gwa-rah'-nah as ronnie said.

[jpyvr]

uarana. Anybody know how to pronounce it?

It normally would be gwa-rah'-nah, but it isn't, cuz in Portuguese there's an accent over the last "a". So...correct pronunciation is gwa-rah-nah' with definite stress on the final syllable.

BTW, ice cold in the Brazilian heat, it's terrific! But very sweet...

[hillvalley]

WE could use some Brazillian heat right about now.

Thanks for the proper pronunciation lesson! We had the rest of our Brazillian food last week. I will post about the lesson later (when I am not in a night school class!).

[Jason Perlow]

Whoa you gave preschoolers guarana drinks?

Were they bouncing off the walls all afternoon?

[hillvalley]

Nah, even better. I gave that much caffine to special ed. 9 and 10 year old boys

It was only a little........

There was only a little more climbing of the walls than usual. They keep asking for it though.

Edited by hillvalley, 16 March 2004 - 03:45 PM.

[hillvalley]

Brazillian Food Part2

I have created a monster.

Seven monsters actually. All they think about is Doce de leite in warm milk. They start and end each day asking for it. They bug and nag and nag and bug for more. They scheme amongst themselves about ways to convince their leader to feed the new habit.

All to no avail.

[bhelpuri]

I guess it's too late to be joining in here.

Still, there are all kinds of snack food that you can approximate (or actually source) in the USA that could give kids a strong idea of what their peers in Brazil munch on.

1) Empadas - these are essentially no different from the easily available L. American (and Caribbean) empanadas. Small pastries filled with meat, or shrimp, or those palm hearts, etc.

2) Pasteles - small fried turnovers, similar fillings to the empadas.

3) Bolinhos - little fried fish balls, usually made with bacalhao.

4) Pao de Queijo - this snack food above all, small rolls baked with a mild cheese (usually from Minas Gerais) inside.

5) Aipim Frito - essentially cheese fries, except made with yucca.

[hillvalley]

Thank you for all of the suggestions, but unfortunately we have moved on to Australia.

Dulce de Leche and fried plantain chips have become regular parts of our classroom diet